THE NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 20th – Sunday 26th July 2026
UNITED WE STAND
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do (Gen. 11:6).
In Genesis 11:5-7, God revealed a spiritual principle, that a united people who can achieve anything they set out to do. God also set forth a converse principle, in Gen. 11:7-8, that if a united set of people can be divided, they can easily be defeated. This spiritual principle should be considered as Bible Study 101. The teaching on Christian unity is so rudimentary that a new convert learns it a few days after accepting Christ as Saviour.
The Church, as the Body of Christ, was fashioned by God to operate in unity even though made up of people from divergent backgrounds. Christ brought people from different backgrounds to form one symbolic Body.
A symbol is an object that means something outside itself. For example, a piece of cloth with green-white-green painted on it immediately conveys the presence or identity of Nigeria. Wherever one sees that piece of cloth anywhere in the world, it says clearly, Nigeria is here. In essence, that flag is a symbol of Nigeria. Of course, Nigeria is bigger than that piece of cloth, yet it is Nigeria wherever it stands. The same goes for corporate logos. Wherever one sees a three-sided star in a circle, it says clearly, Mercedes Benz. It could be on a building, on a piece of paper, on a pen, or on a signboard in front of a forest. Wherever one sees the symbol, one knows, Mercedes Benz is there.
Symbolism is the antonym of diabolism. While symbolism takes two different objects and makes them one, diabolism takes two objects that are one and separates them. Symbolism creates unity, diabolism creates disunity. Lucifer is referred to as “Diablos” from which we derive our English word, "diabolical."
It is the working of Diablos that makes a husband and wife, joined in matrimony, to head for the law court to file for divorce. When brethren who previously prayed, fasted, evangelized together suddenly start keeping a distance from each other, it is clear that Diablos has visited that group.
In the works of the flesh listed in Gal. 5:19-21, the word "variance" depicts a mean spirit that promotes division in the Body of Christ. The Greek word translated "variance" as a "work of the flesh" is eris. The word is used in connection with political parties that have different platforms and agendas. It is also translated “party spirit”. Eris conveys the idea that the people in a particular group have different agendas and different interests to protect. It does not in any way suggest oneness of purpose. In fact, it is the antonym of peace and unity.
"Variance" describes situations in which believers form cliques and factions in the church. When this ugly spirit takes over an assembly, loyalty to cliques and identification with interest groups become the yardsticks for appointments, programs, promotions, as well as recognition. It is a spirit from the lowest depth of hell.
Usually, the spirit of variance starts with one person, who keeps recruiting more “workers” for Diablos. Discerning congregations should immediately identify such individuals and show them the door. Unfortunately, those diabolical characters would have taken time to entrench themselves in the assembly. They would have become leaders of opinion, before launching the project of the devil. They are usually in the leadership team, and would have systematically gathered “loyalists”.
Even at that, the spiritually mature should quickly meet, identify that agent of Diablos, their roles, then show them the way out. In Romans 16:17-18, the Word of God says, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
When God says “mark” someone, it is an unequivocal instruction to: pay attention to, watch, identify, and single out that individual. It is a task that must be done dispassionately, objectively, and with spiritual surgical precision. If the discord sower is not “marked”, he would neutralize the move and presence of God in that group.
Unfortunately, some Christians believe that they possess more love and compassion than God. Believers who carry out this spiritual surgery on the Body of Christ are often labelled as “intolerant”, “lacking in love”, “lacking compassion”, “judgemental”, “holier than thou”, and so on. It is not the Holy Ghost speaking through these apologists, it is the devil. Satan does not want his agents neutralized, so reformers in the Church are discouraged with fake statements of compassion. Those who are spiritually mature must not be deterred in identifying the agents of variance in the assembly, and insisting that they look for a different place of worship.
With the benefit of hindsight, the failure of Nigeria Church to accept the counsel of the National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF) in 2017, when the Forum of Elders advised the Church that a particular Church official should be dismissed, is at the root of the calamity which the Church, and Nigerians, are presently going through. If the Nigeria Church had performed that surgery in 2017, the situation in Nigeria would have been remedied. Unfortunately, fake love overrode Godly counsel.
The Nigeria Church has a generation of Christian leaders who, because of personal interest, operate in the spirit of variance. The Church is grossly divided even in the face of existential threats from Islamist jihadists. The schism is so deep that, despite the daily reports of Christians being killed, those leaders find it difficult to unite around a common cause. It is so bad that some church leaders begrudge members of the Church, particularly those who tell them the truth.
The Nigeria Church was moving towards unity and reconciliation before one individual got into Christian leadership and threw a spanner into the efforts. In 2015, the NCEF conducted an exercise tagged “UNITY AND RECONCILIATION” for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The Christian Elders met all the leadership groups in the apex body and solicited unity and reconciliation in the Body of Christ. The 184-page report of that exercise was accepted by the National Executive Committee (NEC) through the CAN President in July 2015. If the Church had continued along that trajectory, Nigeria would not be in the situation it is in at present. Calamity struck in 2016 when the spirit of variance entered the Church. The NCEF immediately “marked” (Rom. 16:17) that individual, and strongly advised that he be asked to resign from Christian leadership. Other leaders who supposed that they possessed more love than the Christian Elders, refused. Ecc. 8:11 says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." That individual destroyed all the careful labour to build Christian unity in Nigeria. The Church has not recovered. The consequence is a divided Church afflicted with bloodshed and suffering in the land.
This brief history is shared against the backdrop of the coming elections in 2027. The Nigeria Church is approaching a decisive election without Christian unity. It was pointed out in a previous prayer call that if a Muslim should emerge as the next president in 2027, Nigeria might go through twenty-four years of uninterrupted reign of Islamists. By 2039, the democratic values that permit multi-religions in Nigeria might no longer exist. It is a silent death starring the Church in the face. This fact alone should have produced soberness in the Church and compelled Church leaders to set aside personal animosity and resentment to forge the crucial unity that the Church requires to overcome its enemies.
This prayer call is a clarion call for Nigeria Christians to unite and forge a common ground for the 2027 elections. The Christian community cannot afford another term of a Muslim-Muslim ticket that would no longer seek a next election, and therefore will be disposed to do whatever they please in their second term.
There are two levels of unity that the Church requires:
1. Christians must insist on a new constitution before the 2027 elections.
2. Christians must agree on a Christian consensus presidential candidate.
If Christian leaders, based on financial inducement, should support the re-election of the Muslim-Muslim ticket, they might have wickedly signed the death warrant of not only the Church, but of multitudes of Christians. One would have thought that Christian leaders have learnt from their errors in 2015, 2019, and 2023 to desist from giving Christian support to Islamists. Unfortunately, greed and the promotion of selfish interests appear stronger in the lives of most of those Christian leaders, than commitment and loyalty to Christ.
The policies of President Tinubu confirm that he is an Islamist. He is the president who initiated the first-ever sovereign sukuk issuance, launched the Nigeria National Halal Economy Strategy, handed over educational curriculum to a man who champions “The Islamization of Knowledge”, adopted the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) into Nigerian framework, and went to Turkey to invite those who supply arms to Boko Haram to come and 'help' him 'fight' Islamic terror. The emerging picture is that Tinubu has done more for the Islamists than Buhari. If he could do all these in his first term, Christians would be naïve to watch him come for a second term.
The Nigeria Church must unite. The worst enemy of the Church is disunity, and Church leaders are the cause of it. Christians must engage those leaders before it is too late. The only battle Christians are called to fight is in the Church. God will fight the battles outside the Church (1 Cor. 5:12-13). Nigeria Christians must fight for unity.
God bless Nigeria.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Mk. 10:35-45 Confess and repent on behalf of the Nigeria Church for the spirit of rivalry and competition amongst brethren.
2. Rom. 16:17-18 Pray that Nigeria Christians shall be committed to unity, and God should expose those who cause divisions and offences in the Church.
3. Pro. 6:16-19 Pray God’s judgment upon those who sow discord amongst Christians in Nigeria.
4. Ps. 133 Pray for a fresh anointing of unity to be poured upon the Nigeria Church.
5. John 17:21-23 Make a righteous demand from heaven that the prayer of the Lord Jesus for the unity of His disciples must be answered in the Nigeria Church.
6. 1 Cor. 6:3-6 Pray that God will raise counsellors for the Nigeria Church, leaders who will provide Godly counsel in this season.
7. Matt. 6:9-10 Pray that God’s perfect will shall prevail as Nigeria commences another transition of government.
