Theme: The significance and role of prayer in nation building
Prayer is significant in many ways, personal, group, business, work, and in nation building.
PSALM 109:4b
Three important questions that go straight in the mind of the one praying when we talk about prayers are these:
1. What is prayer?
2. Why should we pray when God is our creator and father?
3. What roles does prayer play in life?
So today, we will be dealing with these three important questions.
Prayer fosters unity, it inspires positive action, shaping spiritual, moral character, and seeking divine guidance for justice, peace, and prosperity, influencing believers and those who pray toward compassion, empathy, ethical domination, power, authority and overcoming both personal and national challenges.
Example, with prayer we can tackle corruption or dissection, and division, ultimately supporting a believer with higher principles, standards, morals, values and collective well-being.
Key Roles of Prayer in Nation Building
1. Prayer builds spiritual foundation and unity: Prayer connects believers direct to God, fostering a shared spiritual foundation and encouraging unity among diverse people, (Nations, Tribes, ethnic groups thereby creating a common ground for personal in the life of believers’ identity and purpose.
2. Prayer serves as Moral Compass and Ethics: Prayer helps cultivate humility, love, and righteousness in believers and Christian leaders, acting as a moral breadth against sin, corruption, dishonesty, exploitation, violence, and injustice, promoting ethical conduct.
3. Prayer is Catalyst for Action: Sincere prayer moves people to become agents of positive change as Prayer inspires active engagement in community and national solutions rather than unreceptive, defensive, intolerant or passive thought.
4. Divine Guidance: It call upon divine intervention for wisdom in supremacy, strength for leaders and resolution for both personal and National crises, seeing God’s plan over human failings, shortcomings, and weaknesses.
5. Prayer for others: Prayer for others, Religious houses, business, work, friends and families is powerful and broadens understanding, promotes empathy, and fosters friendship consciousness, reflecting a broader concern for humanity.
How Prayer Manifests in Personal life:
1. For Christian and secular leaders: Asking for wisdom, integrity, and compassion for rulers.
2. For people: Praying for freedom, improved life, safety, and well-being for believers, including sinners.
3. For Challenges: Seeking liberation from evil, sickness, deliverance, healing and protection.
4. For Transformation: Praying for miraculous transformations and open doors for positive change.
Prayer is seen as a powerful force that transforms individual hearts, supports personal or collective spiritual guidance, and policies with diving principles, and fosters a collective spirit dedicated to justice and peace, making it active ingredients in personal progress.
Before I move on: What is the best prayer and how should it be said?
Let’s go to book of Matthew chapter 6: 9-13, then 14-15. Jesus teaches us how to pray, what to pray for and our own roles because you can’t pretend praying for people while you hate and refuse to forgive others. The best principle is that you forgive others before asking God to forgive your sins, iniquities, immoralities, wickedness, and faults and evil you committed against them.
Also, fervent prayer brings unity and cooperation between God and man. The powerful significance of it is that it brings unity, can stop evil activities, and also bless people.
Achievements of Prayer: Peace, Stability, Security, health and it spurs development both personal and it plays a great role in nation building. Ask America how prayers helped built and creates unification among them.
Why is it important to pray for others? Prayer for others instills in us a heart of humility, a love of other cultures, and an admiration of the God who made them all.
Why is prayer so significant?
Prayer is important because it helps us to stay close to God. When we pray, we are opening up our hearts to Him and He is able to work in us and through us.
Prayer helps grow our faith and trust in God. When we trust God and have faith in Him, it pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6)
Prayer is our lifeline to God, guiding our steps and shaping our lives. Through daily communication with God, we find peace, clarity, and a deeper connection to what truly matters.
Prayer is vital part of Christian life, serving as our direct line of communication with God. It allows us to present our needs, express gratitude, deepen our faith, intercede for others, and support our hopes with God’s greater plan, ultimately strengthening our relationship with God.
1Thesalonians 5:17, which tell us to “Pray without Ceasing, meaning pray every time without being tired to pray.
Colossians 4:2, which commands us to devote ourselves to Prayer, every second, minute, hour, daily, we must continue to pray to God.
Romans 12:12, which encourages us to be continuing steadfastly in prayer, don’t stop, don’t be tired to pray or be tired of praying. It should be regular, because is a movement that can’t be changed.
Through prayer, we communicate with God. This is something we should be doing every day of our lives. We might be most inclined to pray when we are facing difficulties and we want God to fix our problems for us, but we should also pray when things are going well for us.
A prayer for the Nation is important to everyone in this nation. God asked us to pray and we must pray which means, it is for our own benefit to pray for our leaders and the nation.
Prayers for the Peace, Stability, well secured nation, development, health of the Nation and our dearest leaders.
Three most powerful prayers:
Pray for the Peace of Gambia, Psalm 122:6 – 9, Pray for others and government,1Timothy 2:1-4, Submit to Governing Authorities, Romans 13:1-5
Although God is all powerful and all – knowing, he has chosen to let us help him change the world through our prayers. How this works is a mystery to us because of our limited understanding, but it is a reality. We are urged to pray for each other and for our leaders in government. Our earnest prayers will have powerful results, James 5:16.
“God asks us to pray for the Gambia and Leaders, the reason is live peacefully, live in unity, in love and he also asks us to pray for our leaders and to also submit to the President, his Cabinet and all in authority”.
May the grace of God continue to be with us in Jesus Christ name, amen.
Bishop Prof. Dohn Augustyn Bernards
Chairman: Pastors Intercessory Fellowship
National President: World Bishop’s Council,
World Federation of Churches,
World Clergies Congress
National Director: Worldwide Igbo Clergies Association
