Jubilee Prayer - 3rd Month

Jubilee for The church

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. (Malachi 3:2-4)

Hello Brethren,
I welcome you by His grace to the third month of this prayer journey, the Lord who has begun the good work is faithful and He will complete it.
This month, we will be praying for the church. The church is God's entrance to any city or nation; if Nigeria must experience deliverance and divine visitation of God, it must start with the church. We are called to disciple the nation, but if our candle is hidden under the bushel, the darkness in the land will persistently increase.

For Jesus to enter into Jerusalem, He had to ride on an animal, but not just any animal, it was an ass, on which no one has ever sat (a humble living sacrifice, with some unique characteristics of a disciple, separated and divinely kept for the Lord). I do not have the authority to describe to you what the church in Nigeria is, but one thing is certain, it will take a lot of work for the church to meet this standard that God is looking for.
Many lords have occupied the place that is meant for our LORD, holiness has become old-fashioned, rather than disciple the nation, the church is now being discipled by the nation in a worldly manner. The wickedness and corruption that plague the nation has not spared the church, the gospel has been commercialized and the things that matter to God seem to be less important to us. Ministers offer strange fire on the altar by bowing to the devil in the secret while using the name of Jesus to deceive people in public. How do you explain the fact that we pray a lot, we are known everywhere as a praying nation, but our lives have not changed, our nation has not changed? Don't you think that something is wrong?

I know it's possible that you are attending (or pastoring) a very vibrant church, but please look at this issue on a general level, let us put denomination aside and look at the church of God at large. We must rebuild our altar before we can bring down the fire of God to refine our nation; the church must first experience jubilee before the nation can know what it means. For those of us who live outside Nigeria, I know Nigerian church is like a champion compared to what we have on these sides of the world. However, I am somehow convinced that if we intercede for the church in Nigeria with all our hearts, God will do something about the church in our various destinations. Please join me this month as we pray for the church of God in Nigeria!

PRAYER POINTS
1. I remember the expression, "Jesus is wounded in the house of His friends" and to me, that exactly describes what is happening in the church today (not only in Nigeria). This expression could as well be another version of John 1:11 - "He came unto His own and His own received Him not". Let us pray that God will have mercy on the church in Nigeria, pour the spirit of genuine repentance upon us and forgive us of every sin. {We have sinned by rejecting His counsel, His truth, His commission, His Lordship, His Holy Spirit. We have wounded His heart by ignoring His love and His sacrifice, and by not placing value on the things that He values most.}

2. Our selected scripture for the month talks about Jesus the purifier. The reason why we sow much, but reap little at the place of prayer is because of unrighteousness on the pulpit and in the pew. Please consider the following points (The WWM prayer group should be familiar with these).

Who may abide the day of His coming and who can stand when He appears? - Jesus will visit His Church as a purifier, but some will not be able to stand when He begins to do His own thing.
He shall sit - This means He shall not be in a hurry, no stone will be left unturned. Every secret shall be uncovered, every hypocrisy, deceit and unrighteousness shall be dealt with.
As a refiner and purifier of silver - We need God's fire to refine the church and purify us, although it may hurt, the church will emerge gloriously.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD, AND AS FORMER YEARS. - What a glorious thing for the church in Nigeria to experience!

According to these explanation, please pray passionately and ask God to come and sit within His church in Nigeria as a refiner's fire and as a purifier. Let there be a thorough cleansing of the church from the pulpit to the pew, let His fire refine and bring the church to her rightful position.

3. Pray and ask God to build His church and make us a vessel He can work through, just like He rode upon the ass into Jerusalem.

4. One of the evils that I have seen in the church today is the offering of strange fire on the altar of our God; in other words, the false prophets and teachers, those who derive power from other places to achieve fame and wealth through God 's people. The time has come when God will begin to defend His name for He is a jealous God, and when He begins to do so, the whole earth will tremble. Please pray and ask God to arise against these people, and decree that every tree in the church that is not planted by Him be uprooted.

5. Did you notice in the Bible that Jesus became angry when He entered into the temple and saw those who were buying and selling? He drove them out because that was not what the temple was meant for. With the same zeal, let us drive out every spirit (the spirit of mammon, the spirit of worldliness, etc.) that has settled in the church to re-design the original purpose of God.

6. In Luke 15:22, we read that the father of the prodigal son, gave him three important things after he returned home and begged for forgiveness. He clothed him with the best robe, put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. For the church of God today, the robe is God's own righteousness (because ours will not take us anywhere), the ring symbolizes divine authority and the shoes represent our responsibility to preach the gospel and disciple the nations. In order for the church to experience jubilee, these three things must be established and this is where the key to Nigeria's jubilee lies. Please pray these three essentials into the church of God in Nigeria.

7. Finally, according to Joel 2:23, let us pray and ask God for His rain upon the church in Nigeria. The former rain for the period of planting and the latter rain for the period of harvest. Let the days of dryness and closed heavens be over, and let the Lord pour upon us the rain of refreshing, of the Holy Spirit and of revival.

8. Praying the news - Pray that God will intervene in the present situation in Nigeria and let His will be done.