Since the commencement of the year, each passing month has remarkably heightened the tempo of political activities given the expected launching of electioneering campaigns ahead of the 2019 general election.
Unfortunately, there have been reasons to worry about the state of the nation: insecurity, increased unemployment, economic upheavals and a general apathy.
This overall assessment of the status of the nation has repeatedly elicited concerns within and outside the shores of our dear country. Election years in Nigeria have always posed great apprehension for both the ruled and rulers, with the international community not excluded given the significant position that the country occupies in the comity of nations. Yet there are some others who have constantly maintained that the nation was only going through a rebirth.
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While the ding-dong continues, there have been a very few others who have persistently held that understanding the mind and position of God on the affairs of the nation would suffice. Of this very few is the founder and senior cleric of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua.
His words have always pointed many nations of the world to the need to seek God in all their dealings. It was therefore in continuation of his love for his country that the man of God once again declared inter alia while preaching to his mammoth congregation across the globe on Sunday, December 9, 2019, from the headquarters of the ministry in Lagos, Nigeria, that “join me to pray for my nation. I have a message for my country Nigeria. If the whole thing is not well here we can’t gather together in this country. Let’s pray against a stopover and pray for a smooth democracy.”
The need to pray as canvassed by the cleric situates the precarious precipice that the country presently traverses. The urgency in his message equally indicates the necessity for Nigeria to see to the continued entrenchment of democracy. He holds Nigeria as his nation and the wellbeing of it his priority. This also signposts the place of Nigeria in the scheme of things that God has designed. This patriotic fervour by the prophet should be a wakeup call to all others who hold political, religious and administrative essence in the country.
It will be recalled that this is not the first time that the cleric is calling for special prayers for Nigeria ahead the general elections.
About halfway into the year, Prophet Joshua while holding one of the church’s services had stated, “I have a message for my country and I want you to pray with me. After the message, you join me in prayers. This is the third time I am having this message. Now I am going to say it the third time. The president’s heart is like a stream of water in the hands of God. The leader’s heart is like a stream of water in the hands of God and He can control it wherever He wants.
“The first time I had the dream, I prayed, I fasted on my own. The second time I had the dream, I also prayed and fasted. But this time, you must join me in prayer because two believers are better than one.
“Since I got the message that our future is in the valley, I kept to myself. I should not go beyond God; I should go before Him. The Lord said to me that I should tell the nation and the leaders to pray against the interruption of democratic practice. You have to join me in prayer. The Lord gave me what to pray about because in this case, there must be prayers given to you.
“What are the prayers? Number one is that the Lord will give our leaders greater understanding of God’s heart. Number two is that the Lord should give them the understanding and discretion to guide their hearts. Number three is to give them understanding that will protect them and wisdom that will rescue them.”
It is not enough to receive these prophecies as usually the practice by our leaders. We have a duty to ensure that Nigeria does not collapse and the democracy that hasis hard earned is not lost to ethnic bigotry, avarice, corruption, nepotism and deliberate disobedience to God and his servants.
We live in very troubling times across the world with rising insecurity, paralysing terrorism, hate and a general atmosphere of fear. Nations are rising against nations; brothers are taking arms against one another. There is hunger in many regions of the world; the irony of our greed and hollowness can easily be deciphered in the inhuman treatment that we mete out one to another.
In Nigeria, our reality seems to confound the wise; we are trapped within the web of our undoing. We hope against hope for a future that repeatedly eludes us; we are daily pained by the crippling disaffection that dictates the relationship between the ruled and the ruler. Our democratic experiment should no longer be regarded as nascent.
Yet this is the reality. While this harsh representativeness remains the contours of our existence yet we have not been left alone to our limitations. God, from whose benevolence we draw our actuality, has spoken in diverse manners and through varied forms. We must ensure that we recognise these depictions. His servants are with us ever willing to guide and direct us in the path that we must travel. The huge leadership deficit in our nation constantly reminds us of the growing necessity to seek divine help where and when it most matters. We are called to a life of service and this is what public service should entail.
On leadership, quality personal life and relationship digest, TB Joshua says “If you don’t have a vision, you can never be focused in a direction. Every day, God has something to say to you. Even when He seems to be quiet, God is still saying something. Where there is unconditional love, the wound of one is the wound of all.
“Your hands may be full of money and your brain full of information but if your heart is empty, your life is very empty. If you turn to God once, He will turn to you a million times. No matter how fast a lie runs, the truth will someday overtake it. Jesus never consults your past to determine your present. Life is too short to waste time on things that have no lasting significance.
There is no one and there will never be anyone like you. Everyone makes mistakes – mistakes are correctable. Avoid the trap of looking back unless it is to glorify God for what He has done. Education is not success but it is to help us succeed. You are responsible for what you give your attention to. Your situation does not embarrass God because He has solution. If you are in a hurry to get money, you will be in a hurry to spend it. Anything that starts dubiously will surely end dubiously.”
Indeed, all hands must be on deck to ensure that this democracy does not go south. We must all listen and take heed to the warnings of the man in the synagogue.
Oyetimi writes via joyetimi2002@gmail.com
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