AkweyaTV: Intercession can be a largely unseen ministry—people may never know who has been praying for them. What has your journey as an intercessor taught you about prayer, persistence, and the power of standing in the gap for others?
Apostle Agbenyi Agbenyi: True intercession is, by its very design, a sacred and private affair. It is not a ministry built for the spotlight. As an intercessor, God entrusts you with people’s deepest secrets, their most desperate crises, and heavy burdens that are never meant for public ears. The core of my life has always been lived in the secret place.
Over the years, I have seen firsthand that standing in the gap alters realities. Persistence in prayer arrests tragedy before it unfolds. Just recently, the Spirit of God prompted me urgently to call an individual out of the blue. I insisted that we pray right then and there. A few minutes after we concluded that prayer, the individual was involved in a horrific car crash where the vehicle was written off entirely, yet their life was preserved without a scratch.
Beyond personal interventions, God frequently grants us the privilege to peer into the spiritual climate of cities, organisations, and governments. We see things before they happen, we pray, and we watch the counsel of God prevail, yet we do not run to the media or trumpet it on billboards. Frequently, people come to us for counsel, and before they open their mouths, God has already detailed their matters with graphic precision.
The greatest lesson my journey in intercession has taught me is that the altar works. When you take your place in the gap persistently, heaven intervenes on earth.
AkweyaTV: Your 50th-birthday celebration describes you as a father, mentor, and intercessor. What does spiritual fatherhood and mentorship mean to you, and what values have you deliberately tried to pass on to those you have mentored?
Apostle Agbenyi Agbenyi: Mentorship and spiritual fatherhood are indispensable. Every single human being needs a father, and everyone needs to be trained. A wise man once noted that the way up is down. You are simply not qualified to lead until you have thoroughly learned how to follow.
My life was irrevocably shaped by following Dr. Paul Enenche. Under his mentorship, I learned the discipline of praying for hours on end; the discipline of rigorous reading; the discipline of taking copious notes, reviewing them, and setting and executing concrete goals; and the humility of submitting even personal and marital matters to godly counsel.
A wise man once noted that the way up is down. You are simply not qualified to lead until you have thoroughly learned how to follow.
One of the great tragedies of the contemporary generation is the utter lack of patience to follow. Too many people want the crown without the process; they want the platform without the crucible. But until you submit to discipline, you cannot fulfill your destiny.
Because we understand this, we live with great restraint. There are things I cannot do, not merely because the world is watching, but because younger people are watching and emulating our pattern. Whenever I sit with the younger generation, I am deliberate about mentoring them, teaching them followership, and instilling eternal values. The next chapter of my life is heavily invested in pouring everything God has deposited in me into the generation coming behind us.
