FEATURE ARTICLE

Sam AwedaSaturday, September 30, 2017
[email protected]
Lagos, Nigeria

PRAYER FOR THE NATION - OCTOBER 2017

oday, I want everyone of you to join me in praying for Nigeria.

Our father, who is in heaven, I thank you on behalf of all the Nigerians and other people around the world who recognize your sovereignty, who recognize your supremacy in the affairs of Nigeria.

I thank you Father on behalf of all the Nigerians and all others, across the globe who are constantly seeking your face on behalf of Nigeria, who desire and pray that Nigeria be great, who desire that Nigeria be reckoned with in the comity of Nations.

I thank you Father on behalf of those who place their trust in you that you will heal Nigeria of all her present ills and who are selflessly working towards the healing. Father, I pray that you bless our efforts. Let our efforts have a free course.

Please rise against all factors that are working against our efforts. Father, please rise against all factors that are causing our set back.

Please rise against all factors that are responsible for our poverty, those factors that are decimating us.

Father give a repentant heart to the greedy and selfish who converts the money of the populace to themselves, who care less about the nation, who care less about the suffering of the people of Nigeria.

Father, except for your great mercy and loving kindness, Nigeria will have by now become history and we the people will have been consumed because those that govern us and we the governed including those who are supposed to know better ie our spiritual leaders are all a set of people who are deceitful, selfish, greedy and inconsiderate to other fellow human beings.

In the year 1960, we rejoiced that we were to start to govern ourselves and we were going to be in charge of our destiny. We hoped that we would contain our riches within our border and the British government would no longer cheat us or share our wealth with us. Almost 60 years have passed, our hopes are yet to materialize.

Of course the British left and we started to govern ourselves but our own blood who had been governing us had put us into worse situation, a lot worse than what we experienced under the Colonial Masters. Each change of government had stripped us naked, decimated us worse than the previous one it took over from, except a few.

Our School teachers rolled to us the benefits of what our new life would be as an independent nation, outside the rule of the Colonial Masters. Each pupil was given a cup, butter colour with a map of Nigeria inscribed on it as a memorabilia and a flag in green white green.

I joyfully joined other pupils at the Independent parade, wearing a wet school uniform. The teachers asked us to wash our uniforms soon as we left school, the day earlier. Then rain came and the uniform did not dry till morning.

We were full of hope when I resumed at the High School. Nations of the world referred to us as a promising Developing Nation. The dedication of the British to develop the nation still had a measure of influence on the people who took over the reign of the government from the British.

So the education at whatever level up to the University was good, qualitative and one of pride. University students had jobs during the summer holidays. Those who took the reign of the government from the Colonial rulers were dedicated to making everything work and making Nigeria great.

Anyone who had a child in the High School walked about with pride. Such parents were envied by other parents whose children were yet to enroll in any institution of higher learning.

The parents were hopeful that once those children graduate, the end to their days of struggle were over. And in deed it was so for sometimes.

I am a witness to the days when our primary school teachers with just grade three teaching certificate lived like a king, had their younger ones and children of relations live with them; sponsor their education, feed and clothe them. A University graduate of the time was seen as an averagely rich person.

We had no oil revenue at the time but the situation of things were good because there was honesty, there was the fear of God in the majority of the people of Nigeria.

The fear of God guided the behavior and actions of the majority.

Get rich quickly syndrome was not common.

The traditional rulers of each domain asked anyone of questionable character to exit the village or town. At those times, everyone was his brother's keeper. There was love among neighbours. Everyone offered help to whoever was in need without necessarily knowing him or her, expecting no gratification.

But in the twinkling of an eye, everything changed.

The most wicked of the spirit of Satan, which Jesus referred to as 'mammon' entered the air space of Nigeria and filled the heart of most Nigerians with wickedness, greed, cheating, fraudulent practices, get rich quick syndrome, inconsideration for the other fellow.

Life of fellow human beings means nothing to the other person today. Ritual killing in order to get rich becomes the order of the day.

We graduated from armed robbery to kidnapping of fellow human beings for ransom.

The children of the olden days' necromancers, money swindlers and magicians have disguised. They now wear designer shirts, designer coats, designer shoes, designer ties or cassocks, performing rituals with body parts of people they kidnap and burying some in their ritual houses, which they refer to as house of worship.

It is unfortunate that after 57 years we can no longer be described as a developing nation. Rather, we have been relegated to the group of eight poorest countries of the world.

But Lord, have we not read it in your word that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any nation? (Proverbs 14:34).

A o wa ti kaa Oluwa ninu oro yin pe otito nii gbe Orile-ede leke, ti ese si un fa egan fuun.

We departed the path of righteousness for unrighteousness and we are harvesting poverty and decimation.

Today in Nigeria, we have people who are stinking rich, who have acquired their riches from fraudulent practices and cheating of their fellow citizens while the majority of others live in abject poverty.

After the exit of the Colonial rulers, we have had changes in government many times, some of them through barrel of gun with loss of lives. Life, which no one is able to create. Meanwhile, we have rejected the Military rule; we said we should govern ourselves in a Democratic setting like other civilized countries. So the Military withdrew into their Barracks. But are we civilized in our minds like the other nations of the world, which we want to copy? Is our hearts circumcised? Can we allow the rule of law to take its course? So we have been worse off with subsequent governments.

We blame the Politicians for our woes. We accuse them of swindling us, we accuse them of robbing us to the bones, when we are the same people who aid and abet them. For example, we demand that they sponsor us to Holy land and they too use the opportunity to swindle us.

Our Politicians are our blood. They read our minds and they obey the dictates of our minds. We dictate to them how we should be governed. We have shown them that we are godless and corrupt, so they too govern us in corruption and it pays them.

We are so corrupt in our minds that we cannot trust them to govern us as it was in the past when the commonwealth was fairly distributed and everyone felt the impact of the government, when we had free medication for our illnesses.

So we force whoever wants to occupy any political post to cough out a large sum of money for us before we vote for him. By this, we rule out honest people who are willing to govern us in righteousness; those who can make life comfortable for us, which will make our journey to heaven smooth.

So we have bold people who offer themselves for political offices, who if they do not have the money, they look for money bags, who can sponsor them and they give us the money we want so that we can vote for them.

And what will naturally follow? They get to power and we do not have access to them again and when we do, we talk to them on our knees.

They convert the treasury for their personal use. And we travel on death trapped roads, seek medical needs in hospitals, which are ill equipped, our children attend schools, which are in dilapidation and salaries are not paid.

Who then is to blame, but ourselves? But had the Bible not warned us not to behave like Esau who sold his birthright for a single piece of meal? (Heb.12:16).

So our poverty is self inflicted. We decide to follow our foolish instinct rather than obey God and we are reaping the reward of our disobedience and foolishness. So our predicaments is our fault; erratic power supply, lack of potable water, lack of health care, education in chaos, killer roads.

Worse, we have added laziness to our problems. Able bodies sit idly waiting for the government to feed them. They go about begging for money to eat, constituting nuisance on the premises of Politicians. Politicians thereby turn some of them to thugs and hired killers. Politicians use them for their selfish ambitions in various forms.

Religious Leaders too have abandoned their spiritual role to guide, to correct, rebuke and reproof. They only pursue things that will yield them monetary gains. They have abandoned their jobs of leading their congregation to heaven for mundane benefits. They are more interested in lavish life style and building of Cathedrals and empires round themselves.

So Father, with all these our stupid behaviours where do we go?

So, on behalf of the suffering masses of Nigeria Father, I offer the following prayers;

  1. That you do according to your promise, as we read in Psalms 12:5 that "for the oppression of the poor and for the sigh of the needy, You will rise" So please rise Father. Please rise Father, because due to poverty many of the faithful are already dipping their hands in sin and they will not be able to enter into rest at the end of their earthly journey and they will go to hell.

  2. Father, you one time in the past sent Angel Gabriel to rescue Persia from the hands of one evil agent of Satan, described as the 'Prince of Persia.

Today, the most wicked spirit of Lucifer, which you Lord called the spirit of Mammon has laid siege in the air space of Nigeria, with effect that all, which preoccupies the mind of most Nigerians is how to be rich; fair or foul.

Politicians are greedy and selfish. The interest of the citizens is only on their lips.

They have seized the treasury and personalized it. At independence, we had hoped that the British was no longer going to share our wealth with us, but since then, our rulers have been hiding our riches which they steal, with them and in other nations of the world.

Other citizens defraud themselves wickedly.

Big people visit the thick forest to buy human parts from murderers to be used for money rituals. Evil people, will they be glad that their children are kidnapped and their body parts be sold for rituals?

Father, kindly send angel Gabriel again to dislodge this wicked spirit of Mammon from the hearts of Nigerians.

Please give them the understanding that their time on earth is brief but their time after they die is the most important.

Help them Father to live their lives in a way that they can be admissible into your kingdom after their earthly life. Let them not ruin their future heavenly life with the pleasures of this earth.

iii. Father help the trodden suffering masses to have a clear understanding of what you require of them so that they can be delivered from the hands of those who are stealing their wealth, thereby pauperizing them so that they too can be beneficiary of the wealth, which you have endowed this country with.

Help them Father to see their present way of life, which revolves round cheating and defrauding of their fellow citizens as foolishness but to take up your own wisdom which says that righteousness exalts a nation.

Help them to see reasons with your wisdom Father.

Help them to understand that their present way of duping one another, extorting one another will escalate the already bad situation and their future generation will suffer for it.

Father let them not do what will make their future generation to rain curses on them after they are gone. Father, please set their minds to the right.

iv. Father, help religious leaders on both sides of the isles to have the understanding of the precarious situation, which we are presently and for them to take all appropriate steps that are needed in order to turn the hearts of their different congregations to the right so that we can live our lives in peace and comfort, which will enable us to behave right, which will enable us reach heaven after we transit from this earth. Amen.

v. Father I can confirm that citizens of Nigeria have a zeal for religion but not according to knowledge.

You instituted religion so that it can be possible for us to please you in all that we do, which will enable us to live with you in heaven.

At the same time, if we practice the religion according to knowledge, it is bound to benefit us.

It is bound to make life comfortable for us.

Unfortunately religion in Nigeria is used to oppress and cheat.

We are happy to worship a human being like us than to worship you.

So please Father, give your people in Nigeria the understanding, so that we may use religion for our benefit and reject oppression in the name of religion, and we shall no longer cast our votes for evil people just because they belong to our religion but for those who have the interest of the citizens.

Thank you for hearing me in Jesus name. Amen!

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