Raising Prayer Warriors in Church

Today we have Pastor Finny Stephan Samuel in conversation with Pastor Priji on how revival is birthed by the Holy Spirit and not man. We also understand the need to raise prayer warriors who have a deep intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

Transcript:

Ps Priji: Greetings in Jesus’ name! Welcome to Church Talk Podcast. We have a dear man of God, Pastor Finny Stephan Samuel, whom the Lord has used amazingly for revival in India and worldwide. We are thankful to him for accepting our invitation.

Ps Finny: Thank you so much! I have been doing full-time ministry in the vineyard of Jesus Christ for 25 years. I’ve had the opportunity to go to Arunachal Pradesh as a missionary. My wife Sheeba and two daughters Rebecca Finny and Tabitha Finny are also in the ministry. We live in the central part of Kerala. These days, we travel with the Word of God to many places to minister to many people groups.

Ps Priji: Pastor, we would love to know, how your ministry and service to the body of Christ began and where did this ignition happen in your spirit?

Ps Finny: I have a pastoral family background. My father, grandfather and great grandfather were in the ministry. While I was growing up, though I was an active church attendee, deep down, my spirit wasn’t alive. I held active political positions, at St. Thomas College, Kozhencherry. I was Chairman of the College, University Union counsellor and an official at the University Union at Mahatma Gandhi University.

I desired a political career and went to Pune to do my LLB after my degree. There I attended an independent church pastored by C. N. Ninan and at that time, his son, Subash Ninan was pastoring that church. Attending that church was a turning point in my life, as, in 1992, Oct 11, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These encounters with the Holy Spirit repeated while I was at Pune. I decided to enter full-time ministry. I started spending hours in prayer. As no opportunities came my way, I started preaching in public places. I was only about 24 or 25 years at the time. That was the beginning of my spiritual journey.

Ps Priji: That was a beautiful encouragement for us to pursue God that way! I would love to know, as more people, especially the youngsters are getting saved, what should be the culture of the church to create an atmosphere for a hunger for the Holy Spirit; for an encounter with the presence of the Lord?

Ps Finny: We need prayer warriors, especially, night-time prayer warriors. earnestly praying for the move of the Holy Spirit in our church. My life was transformed because of the prayers of my parents. They understood that I was going in the wrong direction and were standing in the gap for me. This is what we need today, if we want youngsters to be filled with fire of the Holy Spirit and to be spiritual leaders, preaching the Word of God. When we study Acts 1:14 onwards, all of them were praying earnestly for another ten days and Pentecost was the result of that prayer. The spirit movement in all the major revivals like the Azusa, Wales, Pune and even Arunachal Pradesh, is because of earnest prayer. .

Ps Priji: Its amazing! I have seen posters of your revival meetings, calling people to pray at various seasons and on a regular basis, especially in the night-time. I know that the Lord is calling people to sacrifice their sleep and to make warfare in that season. Why is prayer so hard? People don’t find it so interesting to come to spend an entire night in prayer and in interceding. It’s easier to call people for a Bible study or for a worship meeting. As leaders, how can we motivate people to pray, fast and to break out hearts to see revival in our land?

Ps Finny: If we have an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, we will understand that it’s not from man or cannot be obtained by reading a book. The Lord is searching for such people who have intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit.. This is what being a prayer warrior is about. The Holy Spirit will help us to intercede for nations and He Himself is an intercessor, according to Rom 8:26. We also have Jesus, who is in Heaven who also intercedes for us, 24×7. On earth we have Holy Spirit who intercedes for us 24×7.

In this way, we can be used as a tool by the Holy Spirit for the nations. We tend to get distracted with the things of the world, but if we lose interest in these things, then we get the desire to spend more time with the Holy Spirit. He will share His heart and the burden of the cries of the world will be shared and that person will start praying with authority.
Only human bodies are allowed to have authority on this Earth, as the Earth has been given to man. So, the Holy Spirit needs a body to work. This is how things are changed and answers to prayer come on this Earth.

This is what happened in the life of Hyde, who came to Punjab, about 100 years ago, an intercessor, who had the experience of praying for 48hrs! Both the Punjab areas in India and in Pakistan are experiencing unusual revival. Even Evan Roberts, who spent hours in prayer, wetting the floor with his tears, resulted in the Wales revival. I know of people in Gujarat and in Kerala spending hours in prayer.

Ps Priji: So many times, we push people to pray, without pushing them into a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Only Holy Spirit can give us the grace and the power to have a burden to pray for the right things. How can we, the Church, posture ourselves to intentionally pray when we see a tangible need, like, right now, for the situation in Ukraine, earlier in Afghanistan, and in other nations where there is peacelessness in the land?

Ps Finny: There is a demonic realm moving in such areas, so we need to know about the spiritual atmosphere of those places. God needs His representatives to stand in the gap. We, as God’s children, were created, discipled and given the authority along with the Church to rule on this Earth, thereby, we can stop such wars. The end purpose is to be transformed and not just to remain holy and do nothing but to command the spiritual forces of darkness to move out of those places. Our responsibility is to bring peace on Earth, by our prayers; just like Moses stood between the Lord and the people of Israel, when HE wanted to destroy them; Just like we did during the COVID-19 pandemic. If prayers are not answered, pray repeatedly, until we get the answer; like the Church prayed until Peter was released from the prison.

Ps Priji: Amen! I want to know about praying for our Indian government, authorities and for the elections in 2024. How specifically should we posture our hearts to pray to get the right godly people in power who will help the move of God in the nation?

Ps Finny: 1 Timothy says to make all prayers and supplications for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority. At that time, the Church was praying for evil kings to change and even for good kings. We shouldn’t take sides for any party to win but pray for God’s will to happen, as it is in Heaven. We need rulers who are God-fearing and who will do good to HIS people, so that the Word of God can be preached with freedom. Even if someone with wrong agendas comes to power, we, as rulers, can take authority and stop him from doing evil to God’s people, by praying for them, for God to do a miracle in their lives.

Ps Priji: Pastor, could you please share a glimpse of the revival that took place at Arunachal Pradesh, through your ministry and life, and could you please pray for our listeners, so that the same grace that you carry for revival can flow and be imparted through this conversation and the prayer?

Ps Finny: Around 24 years ago, after my marriage, in Arunachal Pradesh, (where my wife was born and raised), I joined her cousin-brother, Ps K .P. Philip, who was pastoring a Malayalam church there. In the year 2000, a revival broke out in our church, particularly, in the area of healing.

An 18 yr old girl, who was blind from birth was healed. There wasn’t social media, or any other announcements, but by word-of-mouth, this news spread throughout Arunachal Pradesh. Long queues of people from all over Arunachal Pradesh would come to this church for healing and deliverance, with pastor praying from early in the morning until 4.00 in the evening! This revival spread everywhere. Every denomination, including the Baptist church, Catholic and the Christian Revival Church were revived. The Word of God was preached everywhere by the move of the Holy Spirit. We travelled throughout Arunachal Pradesh, preaching the Gospel and thousands were saved. It is still continuing. Young people raised by God are preaching the Word.

Every time we gathered, I could literally experience the tangible presence of God! Miracles took place and that started influencing their agricultural land; their harvest was a three-fold! Spiritual revival, revives the economy.

When we went to Arunachal Pradesh 24 years ago, people were living in poverty. Now, they have climbed economically. Spiritual richness have also caused deliverances in their health, with them testifying that their health bills being a zero! Previously, those working as government officials, would seek bribes from those who sought their help. I had an opportunity to minister to the local leaders and to the district officials. My preaching was interpreted by a local engineer, who was an alcoholic and who would take bribes, and who was delivered after accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
I preached to them, talking about the good the Church did and how, many who were alcoholics and addicts were delivered by the Lord; many stopped taking bribes. The revival affected every area of society. Polygamy was common, but after hearing the Word, the next generation was different.

I believe the same thing can happen to those listening because revival is not from one man but from the Holy Spirit, if you walk in Him. If you believe, the Lord can touch you in a supernatural way, an impartation can happen.

Lets pray: Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to share a few things with your precious dear people, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your servant. Thank you for using him through his media. Use him more mightily and powerfully. His church should experience a mighty move of the Holy Spirit in these days, Lord Jesus, amen! Hallelujah! Use him mightily Lord.

I also pray for all the people who are hearing this program, touch them Lord. You have a very specific plan for their life, Lord. As Moses was in the wilderness, he thought that everything will end with this wilderness. But Lord, you gave him a new beginning. Give these precious people a new beginning. If you can change that rod in the hands of Moses, you can do the same in the lives of these precious people who are hearing us, Lord Jesus. A supernatural touch, as Elisha, was doing his own responsibility, the mantle fell on him. A transfer took place all of a sudden in his life. Likewise, I pray for these precious people, let a mantle fall on them, Lord, an impartation, a transfer should take place. In the name of Jesus Christ, they should become nation changers, Lord, Hallelujah! They should influence thousands, Lord. You are going to entrust them with spiritual responsibilities and they are going to shine for you in the kingdom of God, in the vineyard of Jesus Christ, in the days to come.

Lord Jesus, as I pray right now, if someone is struggling with physical sicknesses, touch them and heal them, Lord. Healing is the right of the child of God. Yes Lord, touch your precious people and heal them, Lord. If some of them are going through financial struggles, Lord, you can perform a miracle in their life. Open a new door for them Lord. Let them prosper in the area of finances in name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I believe that some young people who are hearing me right now; Lord, this generation is for Christ, not for the devil. I claim these young people for the kingdom of God. Let them receive an empowerment right now, in the name of Jesus Christ. The fire of the Holy Spirit; the fire of revival; let them receive right now, the name of Jesus Christ. Oh Lord Jesus, thank you for performing miracles. Thank you for blessing this session. We give you glory, honour and praise. In Jesus name, amen.

Ps Priji: We receive that, Pastor. Thank you so much for giving us your time and for sharing your heart. We’d love to know how our listeners can be connected to you, other than through your YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/pastorfinny

Ps Finny: We are even available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PastorFinnyStephanSamuel, where we announce future meetings. Website : https://finnystephen.org/

Ps Priji: Thank you Pastor. We are blessed by your stories and your heart. We look forward to receiving from you again on this podcast.