This morning, as I prayed for Nigeria, my heart was heavy. I try not to overwhelm myself when praying for this nation because it seems like there is more bad than good going on.
One sector that I always pray for is our educational sector. It is near and dear to my heart. I believe that one of the best investments we can make is in our people. Our people in turn can change the dysfunctional systems and even be known as innovators around the world.
I have been praying that I will be downloaded with the wisdom to change our current educational system that will hone the strengths of each child. You see, God created each of us with our own set of gifts, strengths etc yet we have an educational system that is uniform, treats each child exactly the same and doesn’t care to discover each child and actually teach them how to harness each gift. Nigeria isn’t the only country that is guilty of this. A lot of countries are. Our educational style is one in which we force children to conform from a young age.
Anyway, I digress. So back to my prayers about Nigeria. I have been feeling heavy. Angry really!!! Upset that we are still here after all these years. But our warfare isn’t physical. It is a very spiritual one. Our country is filled with all sorts of negative spirits. The spirits of bribery, corruption, greed, hatred, killing, destruction, dishonesty, insensitivity and several others are running rampant in this nation. Now I used to steer clear of spiritual talk. I didn’t even like it. I preferred to focus on what we can see and ignore what cannot be seen but because we cannot see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
With the recent killings in Makurdi, I felt nothing. The insensitive spirit was at work. That was until someone brought it up last weekend and I told myself, God gave each of us a gift that He wants us to unravel on earth. A gift that He has instructed us to share with others, yet, someone will just take that person’s life in a heartbeat without thinking?? God took His time to create each of us. Precious time! Yet someone will wipe that person out in the split of a second because of hatred?
Some of us believe that since we are Christians, we have a better life waiting for us afterwards. That is NOT enough. It isn’t. We need improve our earth in the interim. Although our lives here are so short, those years are important. The gifts God gave us are not to be unraveled in heaven, they’re to be unraveled here.
Our Christian rhetoric particularly in Nigeria focuses on the self a lot. It focuses on me, me, me, me. Just like a baby does. A baby can not see beyond him/herself. They don’t care about your needs, they only care about theirs. And that’s why you have to cater to them. They cannot change themselves, feed themselves or bath themselves. They cannot do anything by themselves. They need your help. But over time, you expect that child to grow and look after themselves, care for their family and communities.
As Christians, I don’t think we particularly stand out from the rest of the crowd today. The world wants prosperity, so do we. Have we ever stopped to ask ourselves what prosperity is apart from the acquisition of material things? I am NOT against prosperity, far from it! God is the maker of it anyway and trust me, it makes one’s life a lot more comfortable.
But if we are supposed to stand out as God’s children, it cannot just be through acquiring material wealth. A friend recently spoke about how the lack of signs and wonders might be preventing us from winning several souls. In Jesus’ time, people were awed by the miracles He performed. The miracles were enough to lead some of them to him. If you read God’s Generals, you’ll ask yourself if these men and women were from this same earth and breathing this same oxygen that you and I are.
They were performing miracles; raising the dead and healing the sick type of miracles you read in the Bible.
Part of our instruction is to win more souls for HIS kingdom. We cannot take it lightly! We cannot treat it as an afterthought. We cannot relegate it to the back burner. Winning souls isn’t limited to speaking to the person one on one. It can be done in your writings, in your public speaking, through your actions! But please go and win.
We have to make these negative spirits that have taken residence in Nigeria uncomfortable. We need to force them out! We need more people on our side that will force them out! We need to stand firm on God’s word and feed ourselves on it. We need to ACT now. Remember, you are a soldier for GOD.
P.S. I was really upset when I wrote this and actually debated if I should share it. I believe it is worth sharing as I believe it can activate the warrior in some of us! The warrior that is going to show Lucifer that we are NOT mates. As long as I am on the side of Jesus, I’m good!
