Jubilee Prayer - 1st Month

Asking for Forgiveness and The Mercy of God

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness... (Joel 2:13)

Hello Brethren, I welcome you all to the first month of this special project. Our focus for this month will be prayer for forgiveness and the mercy of God. Isaiah 59:1-2 says;

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,

and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear".

When there is an accumulation of sins in a nation, it withdraws the hand of God or the blessing of God from that nation, and this can be confirmed from several passages in the Bible. Obviously, there is an accumulation of sins in Nigeria. First of all, our fore-fathers/founding fathers were not christians; they were involved in occultism, witchcraft and idolatory, and that is the foundation upon which the nation was built. Every family in Nigeria today, if traced back to the third or fourth generation, has a share in this ungodly foundation. This ungodly foundation has resulted in injustice, wickedness and sometimes shedding of blood (directly or indirectly).

In the present day, there is injustice, lawlessness, wickedness and corruption at every level that you can think of. Our sins have brought us reproach at home and abroad, and unforunately, the church of God is not spared. Recently, while I was thinking about this prayer, I had a "flashback" of periods that I have been in prayer meetings in Nigeria and we were asked to pray for rain because of its scarcity at those times. Now I wonder, Isn't rain one of God's natural blessing? Why does it have to be a prayer point and not just a natural occurence? Well, this is nothing but an indication of a nation living outside the favor of God. (2 Chronicles 7: 13 & 14 )

Finally, Hosea 10:12 says " Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in mercy...". In other words, you sow righteousness to reap mercy. This is what we are doing this month and for Nigeria to reap the mercy of God, we must identify with the sins of the land, ask for forgiveness and through our prayer, sow the seed of righteousness.

LET US PRAY!

1. Let us confess the sins of our founding fathers (especially those that have brought curses upon our land) and ask God to forgive us.

2. Let us confess the sins of our fore-fathers: bring every family in Nigeria before God (using yours as a point of contact) and ask for the forgiveness of every generational sin, known or unknown.{Remember that God visits the sins of the father upon the children, up to the fourth generation.}

3. Ask for the forgiveness of the sins of our leaders: corruption, greediness, abuse of power, etc.

4. From the President of the nation to the youngest person, pray that God will have mercy upon every Nigerian (either at home or in diaspora) and forgive us of every sin that has turned His eyes away from our land.

5. The church is supposed to be God's entrance to a nation. It is true that Nigerian churches are noted for prayer, but how close are our hearts to God? Could the conditions of our hearts (the church) not be one of the reasons why the nation has not experienced God? Let us pray for the church as we ask for the forgiveness of every sin of commission and omission that has contributed to the sin of Nigeria.

6. It is not enough to repent on behalf of the nation if the nation is not aware of the need to repent. Let us ask for a wave of the Holy Spirit to sweep across the nation and bring genuine repentance upon every soul.

7. Finally, Jubilee is the period when God's mercy would particularly manifest. Let us pray for an open heaven and ask for God's mercy to specifically manifest upon Nigeria.