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When they came to a place where he named Mahanaim (God’s Camp), he sent messengers to his brother Esau, to inform him of his home coming. But the response Jacob got from his brother was terrifying. The messengers came back to tell him that Esau was coming to meet him with a four hundred-member elite squad. Instantly, Jacob was thrown into confusion. In panic, he thought of what to do. Then he prayed and sent gifts to appease his enraged brother.
You remember that Jacob dubiously took Esau’s birthright and blessings. It was now Esau’s opportunity to pay him back. And also after the flight of Jacob, Esau had regarded himself as the sole heir of their father’s possessions. He could have also thought that Jacob was coming back to displace him of their father’s large estate or at least ask for his own share.
Jacob knew the above possibility that was why he impressed it on the messengers to tell Esau that he was not coming home to struggle for inheritance, because God had already blessed him with oxen, asses, flocks, men-servants and woman-servants.
––Jacob and his family had now reached the River Jabbok, and as night came on, he sent his family across the ford of the river, while he alone remained behind. He had decided to spend the night in prayer, and he desired to be alone with God. It was in a lonely, solitary and unprotected place. Jacob bowed in deep distress upon the earth. It was at midnight. The reality of Esau’s threat to him, his children and wives came stirring in his face. He wept, cried and reminded God of all His promises to him.
And all of a sudden, a strong hand was laid upon him. He thought that an enemy was seeking his life, and he endeavoured to wrest himself from the grasp of his assailant. In the darkness, the two struggled. Not a word was spoken but Jacob put forth all his strength, and did not relax his efforts for a moment. He battled for his life.
This is exactly what the midnight prayer is all about. It is about the battle for your life and destiny. When you’re faced with life-threatening situations, when you’re faced with destiny- threatening circumstances, the best place to settle them is at the midnight arena. At midnight, you wrestle with God, with man and with spirits. And you know that when one is fighting a life-battle, you don’t really need to beg the person to be courageous. He faces the situation with his last strength. There are problems in your life today that I believe can only be dismantled by midnight prayers. And you must fight it as if it is your last battle.
Jacob told the being that wrestled with him that he (Jacob) would not leave him unless he was blessed. And this must be our attitude each time we are going into prayers. We must go into it with a ‘do or die’ mentality. Jacob persisted and prevailed. He refused to give up until he was blessed. Though sometimes, while praying, it will look as if the situation is getting tougher, but you must continue until you see the victory. Always bear in mind that a victorious end is guaranteed.
Jacob left that place a changed man. He got an everlasting name – Israel. All his fears were dealt with, and God also went ahead of him to soften Esau’s heart. Overnight, his fears turned into courage. He went on to meet his brother and his death squad. By this time, God had turned them to be his friends. In fact, the bible said that as Jacob was leaving the wrestling place – Peniel, “The sun rose” (32:31). The sun will also rise for you today, in the name of Jesus! There is nothing you cannot achieve through midnight prayers. Start today and testimonies will begin to run after you.
GOD OF HANNAH
Chapter Two
God of Hannah
Most people that exploit the potency of midnight prayer are those who desperately need the intervention of God in their situations. They have come to a stage where if God does nothing about their circumstances, then it will be over. I mean at crossroads. Before you will leave the comfort of your bed, depriving yourself of a sound sleep, to be crying and asking God to intervene in your situation, then you would have gotten to a place of despair in your life. Sometimes, God also allows us to come to that stage, so as to make us see our limits, and at the same time appreciate His ultimate ability to deliver and restore.
Let’s see the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:6-20,
“But Peninnah made fun of Hannah because the LORD had closed her womb. Year after year it was the same – Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Hannah would finally be reduced to tears and would not even eat…
“Once when they were at Shiloh, Hannah went over to the Tabernacle after supper to pray to the LORD. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. And she made this vow: ‘O LORD Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the LORD, his hair will never be cut’.
“As she was praying to the LORD, Eli watched her seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. ‘Must you come here drunk?’ he demanded. ‘Throw away your wine!’
“Oh no, sir!’ She replied, ‘I’m not drunk! But I am very sad, and I was pouring out my heart to the LORD. Please don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow’.
“In that case, Eli said, ‘cheer up! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.’
“Oh, thank you Sir,’ she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.
“The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the LORD once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the LORD remembered her request, and in due time she gave birth to a Son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I asked the LORD for him.”
This is a story you know very well. Hannah was married to a wealthy Levite – Elkanah from Mount Ephraim in Israel. The couple lived joyfully and in harmony, but could not produce children. After some years, Elkanah went and married a second wife – Peninnah. Peninnah came in and brought with her strive, jealousy, and acrimony.
Elkanah’s home that was once peaceful suddenly turned into a theatre of war. The evil of polygamy. Hannah was at the receiving end. As if it was not enough that she has been sorrowing for not having a baby, Peninnah began to remind her of how unproductive, worthless and unwanted she has become in that home.
Peninnah would make fun of her and even go to the extent of taunting her as they went to the church. After going through all these, the bible said that Hannah would cry and cry until she was reduced to tears, and would refuse to eat. I believe Hannah must have been a ghost of herself. Imagine a person that would cry, starve and sorrow always – for years.
This was the condition of this woman. In verse seven, the bible made it clear that this was the case of Hannah every year, “year after year it was the same.” It was the same childlessness, the same mockery, the same disappointment, the same fruitless efforts and the same dashed-hopes. I pray that every perennial negative situation in your life would be broken as you read this message, in the name of Jesus!
There are people who are going through Hannah-like situations today. They go into a new year hoping to get the best or at least get better. They hope for a better job, a better relationship, comfortable home, blissful marriage, higher spiritual level, etc. But that same year would end without them achieving any of these expectations. Some keep going in that circle of failure year after year. No promotion, no breakthrough. Something that looks like much motion and less movement.
Hannah came into that marriage with very high expectations, hoped year after year to realize them, but received disappointment, mockery, taunting and tears instead. Thank God she decided to settle it once and for all, and she chose to do that in the midnight. She knew that midnight is the most appropriate battle arena for desperate people.
After supper (in the night) one day at Shiloh, Hannah headed for the Tabernacle. She went there praying to God. She cried unto God to change her condition. God is always aware of what we go through, but most times, He waits to see our seriousness to change the situation. If you’re comfortable with your condition, God will also let you be. But if you will rise and face it squarely, holding unto God to do something about it, definitely, you will see His mighty hand bringing deliverance to you.
Hannah was desperate (Verse 15, Good News Translation). And she decided that her condition must be changed that night. Yes, until you’re desperate, you may not get anything phenomenal from God. I mean godly desperation.
Hannah went to the Tabernacle at night and prayed; “O LORD Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a Son.” She was serious and direct to the point. She was specific. “God all I need is a son and you will give it to me this night. Enough is enough!” I believe Hannah told God.
I hope you got something from that prayer. She started by reaffirming the almightiness of God. Though she was passing through terrible situation, God was still Almighty. Though, in deep anguish, in pain and crying bitterly, God remained the Almighty. He remains omnipotent, omnipresent and supreme. Our problems should not becloud our view of God’s almightiness, care, love, grace and sovereignty.
He remains God and will always be in control. No situation can change Him. Hannah said: “O LORD, you are the Almighty.” Then also, when going into midnight prayer, go with specific prayer points (unless you received some other prayer Rhema along the line). God wants us to be specific and organized.
After that night’s encounter with God at the Tabernacle, and the prophetic word from the Priest Eli, Hannah cheered-up and began to eat well again. She needed nobody to tell her that her prayer has been answered. One of the things you will notice after midnight encounter with God is that your burdens will be lifted off you. You’ll go into the next day full of confidence and full of God’s presence. That was why I said earlier that a midnight champion is unconquerable. It builds hope and capacity to wait for God’s promises and timing.
Hannah in due time gave birth to a son. Not an ordinary son, but one of the greatest prophets ever lived. God also gave her other sons and daughters. Great expectations are birthed through midnight prayers. God blessed Hannah. And instead of sorrow, pain and mockery, He put a new song on her lips. I see God putting a new song on your lips today as you go into midnight battles. Hannah sang:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD!
Oh, how the LORD has blessed me!Now I have an answer for my enemies,as I delight in your deliverance.No one is holy like the LORD!There is no one besides you;There is no Rock like our God.”PAUL AND SILAS
Chapter Three
Paul and Silas
Midnight prayer is the surest arena for breaking satanic bondages and limitations. No matter how strong and difficult the yokes, they cannot resist a persistent and prolonged midnight prayer. The devil knows this very well, and that is why he will do everything to discourage you from getting up in the midnight to pray. Midnight is like a spiritual highway, and like I say, most of the things that happen to us are programmed into our life at this period. So, when you also get up and battle at this nocturnal time, you’re invariably taking part in deciding what happens to your life.
There are so many people living in satanic bondages today. There are so many individuals, families and groups that are unknowingly struggling with satanic yokes. There are millions of people walking on the streets with their hands and legs bound in the spirit with chains by powerful satanic forces. I know this will sound strange to some people, but it is a fact. It is a spiritual matter. You can only be aware of this if the Spirit of God chooses to show you.
Recently, I saw in a revelation a woman I have known for more than 34 years bound with chains – hands and legs. I was shocked. If not that I was sure that the vision came from God and that I have personally passed through the same experience, I would have doubted it. Now, what has been happening in the woman’s life is also a sure confirmation of that revelation. She has not known anything called breakthrough since I knew her.
When you experience perennial problems in your life or in your family; year after year, you face the same kind of problems, or you feel you are hindered from crossing certain limits in life, then it becomes advisable to go into prayers and ask God to show you the source of your troubles. Most times, it is the work of Satan and the agents of his dark kingdom.
In Africa and also in some other parts of the world, it is not strange to hear that agents of darkness chain destinies, fruitfulness, progress, or even health of people in the spirit realm. Victims of such satanic manipulation will struggle throughout their life.
They will do every thing humanly possible to have breakthrough in life, but will never succeed. Some will even be programmed not to get married, not have babies or have a successful carrier. All these happen. We not only see them in the lives of unbelievers, but unfortunately, amongst believers also. And I believe this became possible because the church of today is not living in the fullness of the power of God.
We go to church and have mechanized services without His anointing. Remember that the word of God said that the anointing (the presence of God) will always break every yoke. But does the church of today have the anointing? Today, the church is unfortunately fast asleep, and remember that Jesus said that the enemy comes to sow tares while you sleep.
Midnight prayer is one of the ways that God will use to return the power and the anointing to the church and also to individual Christians. And when this power comes, it shall break every yoke, every chain and every satanic stronghold. Let’s see in the bible where and how the chains of the enemy were broken through this.
“They were severely beaten, and they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So he took no chances but put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fall off!”
Acts 16: 23 – 26You know the above story. At Philippi, Paul and Silas conducted a deliverance ministration that landed them in trouble. They were beaten, bound with chains and put into the inner dungeon of the prison. Dungeon is an underground prison cell. This is what was mostly used in those days. The Jailer also particularly instructed them to make sure that these men of God did not escape. This is exactly what Satan and his agents do to people in their captivity. They mess their victims up and also keep them as hostages. Like I said earlier, a lot of people are bound with satanic chains today. Millions all over the world!
These people move around like normal human beings, but when you see them in the spirit they are bound with fetters. This is usually done through witchcraft and other demonic manipulations. The victims of this kind of satanic influence will live all their life without any meaningful success, unless those fetters are broken. Some, their destinies would be locked up by these enemies. They will have nice dreams, work hard, but will never achieve them.
Others, their businesses, their wombs or marriages would be held. We have also seen cases where projects (like buildings) were stopped through this kind of manipulations. They will simply cripple the person’s source of income or inflict him/her with an incurable sickness and that will be the end of the project.
There are others that have been used for money rituals, sacrifices, etc. Though they are alive, but they will live as imbeciles all the days of their life. Others are also manipulated into sinful habits like drinking, stealing, prostitution, gambling, etc, and will be ultimately destroyed. We also see people who are held in bondages by demonic spirits e.g., marine spirits, ancestral spirit, territorial spirits, violent spirits, etc. We saw some in the bible.
Some of these things may sound strange, but they are very true! There is no limit to the operations and wickedness of the kingdom of darkness. And every environment has its own peculiar situations. We have seen a case where a lady in Africa, at her late 30s was married to a very powerful demonic entity that visits her all the way from India. I ministered to this lady personally.
This demonic personality comes with an invisible aircraft that only the lady will be seeing and dodging. Immediately the aircraft lands, a white man would alight from it and come to stay with her. After which it goes back to where it came from. It made it impossible for this very pretty and tall lady to get married in the physical or even go to school. Imagine, at that age she could not learn basic arithmetic or grammar. She would always have loss of memory. This was her situation until that yoke was broken.
We see this type of cases regularly in deliverance sessions. The operations of the kingdom of darkness are so vast and terrible that you would sometimes meet cases that you will find very difficult to comprehend. Some have been chained by Satan and demons assigned to watch over them like the Jailer was instructed to watch over Paul and Silas. Any demonic entity assigned to watch over you will be blinded from today, in Jesus’ name!
One can also be in the church and still be a victim of satanic fetters. When you live in sin, you go into satanic bondage. Ancestral links or evil arrows can also lead to this. (See my book ‘Breaking Generational Curses: Claiming Your Freedom’) Whichever is your case, God has promised to break the chains and set you free. In Isaiah 61:1, He says,
“… that captives will be released and the prisoners will be freed.”
He also said in the same Isaiah 49:24,
“Who can snatch the plunder of war from the hands of a warrior? Who can demand that a tyrant [Satan] let his captives go? But the LORD says, ‘The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved.”
Praise God! If those conditions describe your situation, then, this is the time for you to wake up in the midnight and fight for your destiny. It is sure a very serious business. You must go it violently. And you must not stop until the chains of the enemy are broken and all your blessings retrieved. Do it now!
Paul and Silas got up in the midnight prayed and sang unto God and what was the result? There was an earthquake in the place and the chains on their hands and legs were shattered. They all fell off! I have not seen any greater power than that of praise and prayer in the midnight. No chain of the enemy can withstand them. This is true. The prison doors were forced open. You can try it. Praise God for hours every midnight and see what your life will turn into. You will become a supernatural being instantly.
I have made enough comments on these ‘twin spiritual dynamos’ in this book and in others. You will soon read many shocking revelation on their effects in the spirit realm by former grand occult masters.
It is not only individuals that can be in satanic chains. Families, villages, cities, countries, even churches go into bondages. The primary aim of the dark kingdom doing this is to keep the people from the light of the gospel, to deny them God’s blessings and to permanently have control over them. We have also said earlier that the devil does not want man to have a close relationship with God. And that he knows the benefit of this type of relationship because he has once enjoyed it. He is envious of the position of man in God’s programme. He hates man and consequently, will do everything possible to keep him in perpetual bondage.
On the family level, there are many that live in terrible bondage. Some are in bondage of sickness, failure, and poverty. Others live in sinful habits. Some are suffering because of the attacks or evil arrows shot into their families by agents of the dark kingdom. I know a family that has three insane people. Then other families by their own practices have brought satanic yokes upon themselves through worship and sacrifice to demonic spirits. Some even have altars for these false gods right there in their homes. Some parents also dedicated or introduced their children into this worship of demons. All these attract the chains and bondage.
If your parents or forefathers served idols, demons or practiced any form of occultism, then there is an urgent need for you to undergo a deliverance process, so as to break the satanic chains off your life. You cannot serve Satan without being hooked by his fetters. Now, know that through persistent midnight prayers such satanic yokes and covenants in the family can be broken.
Then, there are cities, villages, towns and countries that are also bound with satanic chains and are kept in the enemy’s prisons. You know this by the way the people live, what they worship or by the things that happen in that environment. There are places you go and you can immediately discern the demon spirits that are in operation. Others worship different kinds of demonic territorial spirits and principalities.
I know of a village in the eastern part of Nigeria that serves a demon that lives in a lake. When it is time to sacrifice to this demon, the chief priest will take a live goat to the lake. There, the man will take the animal close to the bank of the lake, while holding the rope tied to its neck.
Then he will make some incantations and immediately a fish-like creature will come out of the water and start moving towards the goat. Once it gets to it, it will swiftly chop off the head of the goat and swim back into the water with it. Then the worshippers will begin to rejoice that the deity has accepted their sacrifice. They will return home to feast with the remaining meat; which they will cook and eat.
Others worship deities that live in the forests, on the trees, on mountains, etc. I know some villages that still worship snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and pythons. These reptiles would come into their rooms and stay. They are always treated as special guests. They can lie on your bed or even hang there, stirring at you in your kitchen. They must not be hurt, rebuked or killed. Go to Idenmili area of Anambra State and see this.
There are also territorial spirits that live in human beings, especially mad people. All these are spirits holding these places in bondage. They keep these areas in chains, and until they are challenged and driven away, the inhabitants of these places would be struggling with the yoke of the enemy. (We saw this type in Mark Chapter Five).
Some of these spirits hinder development, progress and even the gospel. The solution is engaging these demonic forces in midnight battles. Sometimes they will resist and even threaten you. In some cases, it will take many nights. But if you stand your ground and persist, they will ultimately bow and be forced to leave. But you must be prepared and well-determined. The bible said in Ephesians 6:10-12
“…Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power, put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil.’
“ For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”
I hope that message is very clear? The enemies we are battling with are a formidable and highly organized force. So you must know your stand in God and the dynamics of the war before you go into it. We will comment more on how to prepare for these battles later.