The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 30th March – Sunday 5th April 2026
WE HAVE RECEIVED MERCY, WE FAINT NOT
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2).
God is mysterious, but in many ways, predictable. Because of His immutable principles of righteousness, one can predict what He might do in many situations. What cannot be predicted is, when and how He would do it. Those who understand this nature of God are careful how they live. God will usually punish sin. It is His immutable character. Whether it is individual sin or that of an entire country, God will punish sin.
It is also the character of God, whenever one responds in repentance, depending on the severity of the situation, for Him to forgive. However, this does not happen in all instances of human misconduct. There are some sins that God will not forgive. May one never be pushed by Satan to cross that line. It says in 1 John 5:16-17, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." There is a sin for which no amount of repentance will beget forgiveness from God. The Word of God describes it as "sin unto death." This type of sin is not committed by an unbeliever, but by a “brother”.
Hebrews 6:4-6 reiterates the point thus, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." There are sins for which forgiveness becomes “impossible," when one commits a sin that is tantamount to crucifying Christ afresh. On this matter, those Christian leaders who associate with a political party that supervises the shedding of the blood of the saints should reconsider their associations. One cannot associate with a political party that is guilty of the murder of members of the Body of Christ and still claim to belong to Christ. "God is not mocked." (Gal. 6:7). Some, like Esau, mortgage heavenly inheritance for the mundane things of the world. "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." (Heb. 12:17).
However, when sin is "not unto death," God is willing to forgive once one demonstrates genuine repentance. In the case of nations, the entire country does not need to repent. As in the case of Israel in Daniel 9, one man stood in the gap for the nation and mercy was released. In like manner, Nigeria does not need all its citizens to repent before God will have mercy on the land. Fortunately for Nigeria, God in His mercy has raised many intercessors who have been pleading with Him for many years.
After many years in the “wilderness”, Nigeria is at the threshold of a new season. It is in the character of God to show mercy after afflicting anyone. Lamentation 3:31-33 says, "For the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."
During the season of indignation, God permitted wicked men to rule the country. The current government appears to be the climax. This is a government that has shown neither pity nor compassion for its citizens. It drives a deliberate policy of impoverishing the people, to make them pliable to control. After increasing the cost of living to unbearable levels, it proceeded to increase taxes. This is not governance; it is wickedness. Since it knew that its tax intentions were not noble, it proceeded to forge the tax law and alter what the National Assembly had approved. Even though there were massive protests all over the country concerning the forgery, Government insisted it would proceed with the implementation.
One might have been tempted to assume that Tinubu possesses some sterling political and moral qualities that make men want to follow him. However, he is not known for any political ideology, neither does he have a social program that might have endeared him to the populace. For example, Chief Obafemi Awolowo had socialism as his political ideology, equitable distribution of wealth as his philosophy, and free education as his social program. People who followed Awolowo knew why they followed him. The opposite is observed in the current president of Nigeria. The magnet that draws people to him is money. Unfortunately, it is unrighteous mammon. It is not money that anyone laboured to acquire, it is resources looted from the treasury.
This alone should have cautioned any God-fearing Christian from associating with the party he represents. Regrettably, greed and covetousness have robbed many servants of Christ of their eternal life. The affliction of the Body of Christ is the affliction of Christ. No one can identify with a political party that daily afflicts the Body of Christ and still claim that he or she will spend eternity with Christ. That sin appears to be "unto death," in which case, according to Heb. 6:4, it could be "impossible" to restore them.
This caution is sounded in this prayer call to help those Christians who have not yet joined the APC bandwagon but are being tempted to do so. They should consider and decide if the "fleeting pleasures of sin" are more important than eternal life. It is better to be poor and still gain eternal life, than be rich and spend eternity in hell. The Lord warned in Mark 8:36-37, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Politicians in APC have boasted, “What money cannot buy, more money will buy.” Their confidence, in the evil that they are doing, is in money. They believe that there is no one that cannot be bribed. So far, many governors have proven them correct. Should that also be correct for Christians, nay, Bishops, Apostles, Reverends, Pastors, and many other Christian leaders? "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31). "For our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29).
When God promised Israel a land flowing with milk and honey, the tendency was for people to assume that the land of Canaan was a fertile ground. Golda Meir, a former Prime Minister of Israel said, concerning Moses, “He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil.” The milk and honey were not in the land. It was in Godly leadership. So long as Israel had godly men like Joshua, Samuel, and David in leadership, the land produced milk and honey. When wicked rulers like Jeroboam, Ahab, Ahaz, and Manasseh got into power, the same land produced thorns and thistles. The land was not the gift; the Godly leaders were. The combination of righteous and unrighteous leadership is best seen in Solomon. When he remained faithful to God, silver was like stones in Israel. When he turned away after strange gods, the entire nation was destroyed.
Nigeria has everything good in abundance but lacks the most critical element in producing a prosperous country: Godly leadership. The climax of ungodly leadership in Nigeria, since Independence, is the man currently on the throne. He is the exact opposite of what anyone might call a blessing or an asset to the country. Fortunately, he represents the last era of the wicked rulers.
By the grace of God, Nigeria is entering the season of mercy. "We have received mercy, we faint not." Mercy is that act of God that delivers someone from judgment deserved, while its twin, grace, is the act of God that grants favour not deserved. Nigeria has received mercy. Because the country has received mercy, righteous men and women shall arise in the land and replace the current set of devourers who have been afflicting the land. _"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things" (Joel 2:21).
As intercessors look forward to the manifestation of the mercy of God upon Nigeria, there are some ministers of the gospel who see no reason why God should intervene, no reason why the suffering in the land should come to an end. Greed and covetousness have blinded their eyes to the extent that they are offended if anyone should as much as suggest that Tinubu should not return to power in 2027. They see nothing wrong in the colossal mismanagement of the economy under the All Progressives Congress and its inability to protect Nigerians from ethnoreligious Islamist insurgents. Some of these supposedly 'Christian leaders' have formed an 'association of pastors in APC.' Meanwhile, Christians are being slaughtered all over Nigeria by Islamist insurgents in horrific manners unimaginable, and the same pastors have formed no association to raise a voice. This treachery against Christ must be noted, and it must be condemned by every man of good conscience, because God is watching. In Philippians 3:18-19, God says, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things."
Mercy delivers from judgment, but the Scriptures make it clear that some judgments are irrevocable. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." (Heb. 10:26). Strangely, the unbeliever who smites and kills a Christian will receive forgiveness if he repents, but a Christian who participates in it is in serious trouble because he would have crucified Christ the second time. Those pastors flocking to the APC because of money should be well guided. That party has proven beyond doubt since 2015 that it bears a grudge against Christ and His people. Is that where a Christian should be found?
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God", Nigeria has received mercy, therefore, we faint not. However, let the saints be careful that they are not found in the assembly of the enemies of Christ. Eternal life is greater than money. God bless Nigeria.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Lam. 3:31-33
Bless the Lord for His immutable character that He will not cast-off Nigeria for ever.
2. Ez. 22:30-31
Stand in the gap for Nigeria and plead with God that mercy must prevail over judgment for the country.
3. Ps. 102:13
Affirm the word of God that the set time for the mercy and favour of God upon Nigeria has come.
4. Philp. 3:18-19
Pray that God shall openly rebuke all the ministers of the gospel whose god is their belly.
5. Gen. 11:6-8
Decree that God shall scatter every group, association, or political party in Nigeria that promotes evil in the land.
6. Acts 13:22
Pray that God shall raise for Nigeria a man after His own heart, like David, who will do all the will of God.
7. Is. 40:1-2
Pray that the comfort of God shall cover Nigerians, particularly the Christians in the IDP camps.
