As we prayed for Nigeria on Friday February 13, 2015, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and explained what I am about to share with you to me.He reminded me of the scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) which says “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God says He wasn’t just talking about the ‘regular’ sins here, but that the wicked ways are much broader; more encompassing! He said wicked ways include partaking of the ills of the society; enjoying and reveling in filth (lewd jokes, untoward associations etc); wanton living (gluttony, drunkeness, fornication and adultery); public denial of our faith (living like the world, failure to profess our faith in Christ); failure to share Christ with the world in obedience to His instructions; AND failure to pray or pray consistently for our nation NIGERIA! etc.
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I was a bit taken aback and wanted to argue with Him but He said “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” (1 Sam. 15:23). He said willfully disobeying His word is wickedness!!
Amongst others, the instruction is to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6) but many of us go through our days or weeks or even months without for once remembering to pray for this nation, our Jerusalem!
So, what’s the instruction now?
– humble ourselves
– pray
– seek His face
– turn from our wicked ways
We must pray for Nigeria, particularly regarding the forthcoming elections, and we will base our prayers on the word of God in Matthew 16:19(NLT) which says “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” This is repeated in Matthew 18:18 (NLT) “I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
God’s word tells us expressly that we have power and authority to determine what happens in our nation and in our lives. Proverbs 18:21(NIV) says “The tongue has the power of life and death…” This month, God is calling us to the place of prayer for our nation!
God is calling for faithful men and women who will lift up their voices for a minimum of fifteen (15) minutes daily, praying for Nigeria. Just 15 minutes daily, preferably between 9pm and 10pm, from March 1st to March 27th, and between 6am and 7am on March 28th! If we do this conscientiously, we would have prayed for 7 hours each before the votes are cast – petitioning God on behalf of our nation. Imagine that 1,000 Nigerians do this, we would have collectively lifted up our voices for 7,000 hours; 1,000,000 of us praying this way would translate to 7,000,000 hours! Wow! That’s a lot of prayers! (Isaiah 62:6-7) God cannot but respond to us as we passionately cry out to Him.
God is calling for faithful men and women who will cry out to Him on behalf of the land, who will take a stand to be watchmen over this nation (Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 33:7), will you be one?!
Following are a number of prayer points that we can use to pray:
– Let us pray that the 2015 elections will usher in the kingdom of God in our nation. Matthew 6:10 KJV “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Let us pray that the pervasive corruption and darkness will give way to righteousness and God’s justice.
– pray that through these elections in March and April, God will break the yoke of poverty over this nation! Matthew 6:11 says “give us this day our daily bread”.
– pray that God will deliver our nation from evil and the agents of darkness. Matthew 6:13 says “… Deliver us from the evil one!”
Reject leaders who will lead us away from God’s way and will.
– pray that God will choose our leaders for us in the forthcoming elections. Deuteronomy 17:15 NIV “be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses…”
Pray that we will rightly discern God’s will and vote accordingly. 1 Samuel 16:6-7 NIV “When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” [7] But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
– Pray and reject leaders who will enrich themselves at the expense of the people of this land. Deuteronomy 17:16 NLT “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the LORD has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’
Pray that God will judge all those who have corruptly enriched themselves and who continue to steal us blind!
– Pray that God will give us wise and knowledgeable leaders regardless of their tribe. Deuteronomy 1:13 NLT “Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.'”
Pray that God will give us leaders after His own heart who will lead us with the fear of God. Isaiah 54:14 NLT “You will be secure under a government that is just and fair.” We reject unrighteous leaders IJN!
– Pray that there will be no violence or bloodshed following these elections. Pray against political thuggery and violence. Isaiah 60:18 NIV “No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.”
– thank God for Nigeria. Indeed our walls will be called salvation and our gates Praise, for Nigeria shall be saved and her people shall live in peace and prosperity.
DECLARATIONS
We declare that God will heal and restore our land in Jesus’ name!
We declare that JESUS is Lord over Nigeria!
We declare that Nigeria is forgiven and delivered!
We declare that the fear of Lord prevails in Nigeria!
We declare that the blood of Jesus prevails over Nigeria!
We declare that Nigeria submits to God and surrenders to His will!
We declare that righteousness will prevail in Nigeria in Jesus’ name!!
May the Master find us faithful in Jesus’ name!
Ayokunle Fatokun
