I REMEMBER…
THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER LIFE.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Eph. 6:18 KJV)
When I remember Daddy Beckley, I remember a firm and long-standing in prayer. If there was anything people knew you with, it was your effectual fervent prayer life. You were a man of prayer. Prayer to you was an exercise in season and out of season. You prayed in your room, you prayed on the mountain tops. You prayed in the public places and in the solitary deserts. Withdrawing from public engagements and people like your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was an integral part of your life. You never joked with prayer. You strongly believed that prayer is the only potent weapon to gain victory in this on-going battle between the saints in Christ and the hordes of hell. And a Christian that will not pray will inadvertently suffer much. Praying was the oxygen of your life. If there was anything people, especially ministers of the gospel copied from you, it was your unceasing prayer life.
Much more exciting about your prayer life is the resounding testimonies of answered prayers! Your prayer life was the lifeline of hundreds of lives. Several testimonies abound to your intercessory prayers for people. To you, prayer was not just an act but a spirit. You possessed the spirit of prayer and the spirit of prayer possessed you. The impacts of your prayer life knew not the barrier of distance as men in distant lands and continents received divine intervention as a result of your prayers. The efficacy of your prayer life was what earned you the sobriquet “Bulldozer.” To you, everything is possible through prayer. And I mean everything. Your prayers moved many mountains of problems and difficulties in the lives of men. Many captives of sin, Satan and wicked men received deliverance at the instances of your prayer. Many sick people were healed and dead raised to life by the potency of the weapon of prayer in your hand. You were a skillful handler of the weapon of prayer!
God indeed, honour your prayer life with many signs and wonders. You have demonstrated clearly to us that if there is a man that would pray, there is a God who answers prayers. You seemed to have obtained a registered voice at the Throne of mercy where every good and perfect gift is first secured before they can manifest here on earth. The real “Bulldozer” in you is the prayer life that takes “NO” for answers. People call you Bulldozer because your prayers bulldozed mountains of problems in people’s lives. Your prayer life teaches the present day believer and Christian leaders that victory and success in life and ministry is inseparable from a consistent, dynamic and functional prayer life. You thought us by precept and practice that prayer is the lifeline of the Christian life. It was just everything to you. There was no time you could not pray; morning, noon and evening you always prayed. In fact, keeping prayer vigils was an integral part of your life. You always scheduled time for prayer. You constantly starved the flesh of food and other pleasures so that the spirit could be more alive and sensitive in the place of prayer. You had little or no time with technological devices like phone and television which unfortunately have become the grave yard of the prayer life of many Christians and even Christian leaders! It is true that we are in an age characterized with inventions of sophisticated electronic gadgets meant to make life easier. But anyone can become addicted and brought under the power of these lifeless objects such that they deprive us of the time that ought to be spent in prayer and communion with God. God wants us to use this world but not abusing it. Today, God is not looking for people or preachers who only talk about prayer but seldom pray.
Rev. S.K Beckley-the Prayer Bulldozer! A balance combination of the effectual fervent prayers and the sure words of prophecies stand you out among many of your contemporaries. Holding the weapon of prayers, you advanced forcefully into the camp of the enemies and plundered their kingdom. Spiritual warfare always excited you. You would not wait for the enemies’ arrival before launching attack; you always took the battle to the gates of the enemies. Without any shadow of doubt, we painfully missed your prayers-those unexpected moments when we suddenly receive your phone calls of prayer in response to what God must have shown you about us. But we are glad and confident in the fact that you have shown us and we have known the Heavenly Father Who always answered your prayers! Just like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, you have by covenant cut a name before God; and today, people can boldly call unto God in prayer as the God of S.K Beckley!
By your prayer life you have thought us that prayer, as practiced by many Christians and even leaders today is not a monologue but a dialogue between God and His children. It’s two-way; you speak to God, then God speaks back to you and vice versa. It is a koinonia i.e. fellowship, communion or interaction with God; where the natural is able to relate with the Supernatural.
Oh, that God would give us leaders who will travail in prayer over the flock of Christ; Christian leaders who will labour in prayer like a woman in child labour in order to bring forth the purpose of God in the lives of men. The church needs leaders who will talk less and pray more. The church of today is in dare need of leaders who understand the art of prayer and would pray until the will of God become established in the heart and lives of men. The Late Rev. S.K Beckley a.k.a Bulldozer was such a leader; a man of burning hearts and bended knees. We missed you greatly, though by others succeeded!
The tributes continues, watch out for the next episode…
