The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR

MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 7th March - Sunday 13th April 2025

GOVERNMENT UPON HIS SHOULDERS

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

The Bible passage above is a messianic prophecy about the character and attributes of Jesus Christ. As the Head of the Church, which is His Body, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven while His Body is on the earth. The Son of God reigns over all creation, both visible and invisible, and has committed the government on earth to the Church, His body, for "the government shall be upon his shoulder…" The shoulder is a part of the body; it is not part of the head. It is the divine responsibility of the Church, the Body of Christ, to provide the president, governors, senators, and all the various appointees or electoral officials that exercise governance in the land. This is the calling of the Church. Governance is the responsibility of the Body of Christ, however, the exact opposite is witnessed in Nigeria. Rather than provide governance, the instrument of the State is used to oppress, afflict, and persecute the Church. Could we then say that the word of God is not true? Far from it. The problem is not the word of God, it is the Church, and the problem of the Church is its leadership. 

Christian leadership is required to mobilize and harmonize all the potentials of the Church to provide temporal and spiritual leadership for Nigeria. Everything the Church needs to provide government in Nigeria has been given to the Church. Christians constitute the largest demographic group in Nigeria. They are the most educated, the most civilized, and the most enlightened. They constitute the largest group of professionals, academics, intellectuals, scientists, technocrats, skilled workers, and marketplace entrepreneurs. Even the wealth of Nigeria, be it oil, gas, ports, waterways, and the bulk of the arable land, is in Christian owned areas of the country. Unfortunately, Christians are currently an endangered species in Nigeria. Those who kill them are not prosecuted.

Many prayers have been said, and are still being said, for the protection of Christians as well as for divine intervention for peace to reign in the land. So far, heaven has remained silent. God might be waiting for His people to do the very things they are calling on Him to do. It is a spiritual fact that if solution to a problem is available on the earth, God will not provide it from heaven. For the same reason, if an information is available on the earth, God will not give it from heaven. Revelation is God telling a man what no one can tell him on the earth. God only provides from heaven what man cannot provide on the earth. That is why God gave humans brains, to think and apply the solutions of God on earth. The major problem with Christianity in Nigeria is that many Christians have been put into neutral gear by some church leaders whose only message is "miracles" and "divine breakthroughs." Some churches do not teach members to think; they only teach them to expect miracles.

The Church in Nigeria is not operating in dominion because it does not raise disciples. The Church has a generation of leaders whose specialty is raising spiritual babes whom they refer to as their “children”, and who also refer to those brothers as “daddy in the Lord”. This practice amounts to a violation of the Lord’s command in Matthew 23:9 "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." It takes “sons” to exercise dominion. Nigeria is groaning in expectation of the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19). Unfortunately, most churches keep producing babes in Christ who find it difficult to dominate their environment and establish the Kingdom of God in the land.

One major shortcoming of most Christian assemblies is the failure to teach about the Kingdom of God. Christianity is basically about the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Both Jesus and John the Baptist started ministry in Matt. 3:2 and Matt. 4:17 proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In Matt. 6:33, Christians are commanded: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Many church leaders inundate believers with messages of earthly wealth and prosperity. In the process of scrambling with the children of the world for the mundane things of the earth, Christians lose the righteousness of the Kingdom of God. 

If Christianity in Nigeria would be victorious, the obsession of many churches with mammon must cease, or in the alternative, a new generation of leaders must rise to lead the Church. So long as a generation of greed and vanity-infested leaders are in control of the Church, Christians will continue to suffer defeat and oppression in the country.

There must be a return to Christlikeness in the Church. Jesus reigns over the universe, and at His name every knee shall bow. The method Christ used to conquer Satan is the same method that will work for the Church. Christ proclaimed, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34). In John 14:30, Jesus said, says, "for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me," confirming His holiness and separation from the world. How many Christians can make the same affirmation?

On the physical level, there must be conscious plans to take the kingdom of Nigeria and hand it over to Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God will not be established in Nigeria merely because people prayed, but because, as Christians, they also worked, for "Faith without works is dead." (Jam. 2:26). As pointed out in a previous prayer call, no one wins an election because a prophecy was proclaimed over him or because anointing oil was poured upon his head. You win elections because you have political structures. Naturally speaking, the politician who does not pray but builds political structures will win an election over a Christian who prays but has no structures. Christians should not be deceived that a miracle would take place and a Christian without a political structure would win an election. Angels neither vote nor count votes. Therefore, the candidate must be in control of those human beings who vote and those that count the votes, while he still prays. God intervenes in human affairs when they have tried their best, but it is not enough.

Rather than build Christian political structures, Christians in politics unfortunately hire the political structures of the Muslims. It is Muslims who control the existing political structures in Nigeria. This is the reason Christian politicians become helpless after getting into political office and they are unable to stand or speak for Christian interests. Many Christians blame Christian politicians for the failure to defend Christian interests, but they seldom ask which structure put them into the office. 

If the government would be on the shoulders of Jesus Christ in Nigeria, the following points should be noted.

1. Christians must realize they have a divine mandate to provide a righteous government for Nigeria. until they do so, the land would continue to mourn and suffer. God will not do what man is supposed to do.

2. leadership is crucial. Christians must agree to follow a leadership structure that will be the point of convergence. The various Christian groups must unite under one political leadership in the Church. In a previous prayer call, it was stated that the body established by the five Church groups in 2001 for this purpose is the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN).

3. Christians must be prepared to fund their political structure. This can easily be done if each Christian agrees to contribute a token amount every month. The political process in Nigeria was intentionally designed to be very expensive, so that only the rich can participate.

4. training of interested candidates must commence. It is still not too late to prepare candidates for the 2027 elections. It is indispensable for Christian candidates to have basic understanding of the principles of the Kingdom of God, before they enter a political office. The National Prayer Altar is making that arrangement

5. Christians should obtain their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), and Party Registration Card (PRC). While the PVC will enable them to vote on election day, the PRC will enable them to influence decisions of political parties. It is those with PRC that will decide which candidate would run and who should be a delegate at the party primaries. 

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matt. 10: 16).

God bless Nigeria.

PRAYER POINTS

1.    Isaiah 9:6    Thank God for the divine mandate upon the Church to provide government for Nigeria. Pray that this revelation shall become real to every Nigeria Christian.

2.    Ps. 133        Pray for a fresh anointing of unity upon the Church, so that the Christians would work as one to fulfil the mandate of providing leadership for Nigeria.

3.    Rom. 16:17-18        Pray that Christians shall be diligent and determined to resist those who will seek to divide the Church from fulfilling the divine mandate of providing righteous government for Nigeria.

4.    Matt. 6:10    Pray that the government of the Kingdom of God shall be established upon Nigeria.

5.    Titus 1:10-13    Pray that God will silence all ministers of the gospel who preach prosperity at the expense of Christlike discipleship.

6.    Lam. 3:37      Cancel every utterance or confession to the effect that ungodly and wicked politicians shall continue to rule Nigeria in 2027.

7.    Rev. 12:10-11    Plead the blood of Jesus to counter and nullify every sorcery, satanic ritual, and enchantment to retain the throne of Nigeria in the hands of Satan. 

 

Amen