Statement By The
NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
On
THE STATE OF NIGERIA
Sunday 25th June 2023
PREAMBLE
The National Prayer Altar is a daily trans-denominational prayer initiative of Christians from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, Christians in the diaspora, as well as nationals of other countries. The Prayer Altar started on 18th April 2022 and has sustained its daily online prayers to date, with participation in the hundreds.
We see an instructive statement in Jeremiah 1:9 and 10: “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’”
(The Return of D.O.Fagunwa)
“You are not called because you are a writer; you are a writer because you are called…”
It was a familiar voice.
"And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have provided me a king among his sons.
"... And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.
" And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
"But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature because I have refused him, for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart.
" Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. Neither has the Lord chosen this.
"Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by, And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this.
" Again Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen these.
"And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him for we will not sit down till he come hither.
" And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord SAID, ARISE ANOINT HIM: FOR THIS IS HE."
( I. Samuel 16:1,5b-12)
9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:
10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.
11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Exodus 1:9-11
The trouble with Nigeria is not leadership, it is not even corruption: it is the deficiency of honour, credibility and truth.
In summary, it is the absence of a People of Honour.
Two weeks ago, I shared several practical guidelines on how to leave a church gracefully. I wrote this because I hear so many stories about people storming out of churches because their feelings got hurt. But one astute reader didn’t appreciate my observations because I didn’t mention the fact that some churches manipulate, control, or abuse people.
In January I spent four days preaching at Emmanuel College, a Christian liberal arts school in Georgia. I love speaking to college students because they are spiritually hungry, they love passionate worship, and I can preach in jeans without offending anyone.
If you saw a door with a sign labeled “Repentance” hanging on it, would you want to walk through it? And if you went through this doorway, what would you expect to find inside the room?
We all love true stories of people who boldly share their faith. We admire the overseas missionary who shared the Gospel even though she could be imprisoned for it. We respect the man who resigned from his job because he was asked to compromise his beliefs. We praise the college student who takes a stand for Christ when a professor challenged the truth of the Gospel.
It was a particularly hectic day. I was tired and also discouraged over so many things. I had gone to CMS, Lagos that day to see the publisher of my books as per royalty. I had been particularly broke financially for some time. This was the cause of discouragement.
Declining attendance, evaporating finances, sexual scandals, and the threat of false doctrine can cause the staunchest believer to doubt the future of the localized body of believers known as the church. She has survived civil wars, world wars, pandemics, dictators, and civil discourse; yet, today, we worry that the social, economic, and spiritual climate will be her demise. Rest assured Christian, the church founded on the rock of Jesus Christ is not suffering a depression requiring pharmaceutical medication or in bankruptcy needing governmental funding.
Here are seven things the Book of Revelation’s throne room experience can teach you as a believer:
To move freely in the prophetic, God needs an unhindered vessel. While He can speak through a donkey, He prefers people.
Human beings are the conduit by which the Holy Spirit moves most of the time. It's the way God set it up. In Acts 21 we see a prophet named Agabus who spoke a word to Paul. Before Paul left for a trip to Jerusalem, Agabus grabbed him by the belt and spoke, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles'" (Acts 21:11, NKJV).
In every man's life, there are stages when he must enter God’s Workshop or God's Garage, either as a Believer or as an Unbeliever.
The first stage is at Creation: Genesis:1: 27 So God created humans in his own image. He created them to be like himself.[h] He created them male and female.
In the past few days, social media has been awash with the accounts of an immoral escapade of some children while on an excursion in Dubai. One can scarcely go on the internet without encountering a post on the issue. Reading the accounts is sufficient trauma.
Please permit me to offer a little introduction to another Pre-Judgment Warning from God to Nigerian Christians.
Today, Saturday 8th May 2021, Bro. Joshua Fray called me that God gave him a second warning to the Church. He wrote the warning and sent it to me. I am sharing the information which he sent because it agrees with what God has been telling me to inform Nigerian Christians.
The sum of N5,000 was given to each widow to assist them in purchasing fertilizer. Evidently, they would have to form groups to purchase a bag of fertilizer at N16,000 a bag and share. Regrettably, this is the most we can do for now.
Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 give a prophecy about a war coming, and names the countries which will be coming against Israel to destroy her. These countries named are Gog (Russia), Persia (Iran), Cush (Ethiopia) and Put (Libya), Gomer and Togarmah (Turkey).
God tells us a bit about Himself in Isaiah 46:9-10 which we need to understand as we begin “…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose.’”
Most of us want to know what lies ahead of us, what the future will hold, and how we can truly prepare for it. God designed us to want this – the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:11 – …He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
(Continued)
For three days and nights the Jewish people in the capital city prayed for Queen Esther. None of these prayers are recorded for us, but we can be sure the people were praying for her to know the right thing to do, for her safety as she went before the king, and for their own safety as a people.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. – Matthew 3:12
Didn't Paul admonish Timothy to wage war with the prophetic words spoken over him (1 Tim. 1:18)? It's critical we do the same to secure God's intended future for ourselves, our families and our nation. What we say in this season will lay a pathway for our future. Be diligent to align your thoughts to God's higher thoughts, your words with His pure words, your heart to fully hope in Him.
The National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) wishes to express alarm at the news that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), during its meeting of Wednesday 23rd September, 2020 approved the sum of $1.9 billion to construct rail line from Kano-Dutse-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic. This project is not only insensitive but absurd considering the many areas in Nigeria that are yet to be linked by modern rail system.
In a few days’ time Nigeria will be celebrating her 60 years of Independence. General Obasanjo has set the ball rolling and the NCEF is drawing the attention of Nigerians especially to the fact that we need to research more into our colonial past 1914 - 1960, thereafter, six years of our independence (1960 - 1966) and, finally, 1966 - 2020.
The House of Karis is a Christian publishing house focused on providing pure and truthful information that shall enable Christians live in righteousness and in the fear of God.
Email: bosun@houseofkaris.net
