Prayer or the disposition of "waiting on the Lord" is central to every believer's life. David appreciated this characteristic of a believer when he wrote in Psalm 129:5-7, "My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word. My soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak. Let the watchman count on daybreak and Israel on the Lord." On several occasions, the Bible admonishes believers to pray constantly, for God responds to the supplications of his faithful people. With the aid of a number of parables Jesus Christ himself teaches his disciples to pray with faith, courage, persistence and perseverance, assuring them that God will always hear the prayers of the faithful who cry to him day and night in their moments of need. In the Gospel of John 17:1-11 Jesus himself said a lengthy prayer in which he praised and thanked God for all He has accomplished in the world, and now tells God that the hour has come for He (the Father) to glorify the Son, and to keep together in faith and in love those who have come to believe in him.
The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost constitute the first novena of the Christian Church. They are nine days of prayer, nine days of waiting on the Lord. After the Ascension, the disciples along with Mary the mother of Jesus and the other women huddled themselves together in the Upper Rome, where Jesus had had the Last Supper. United as a covenant community, they prayed and hoped that the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit will soon be manifested. With the ascension of Jesus, they were now on their own in a hostile environment, or so it seemed. They would normally have been depressed and overwhelmed by fear, but they surely held on to the promise of Jesus that he will not leave them as orphans, and concerning the sending of the Comforter, the Advocate, the Paraclete. They waited and prayed for the coming of the Holy Spirit who according to the parting words of Jesus in Acts 1:8 will fill them with power. And surely, their waiting was not in vain. Their hope did not disappoint them. The One who made the promise is ever faithful. All the believer has to do is to ask, and to wait on the Lord.
In Luke 11:5-13 after teaching the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells us to ask and it shall be given unto us, to search and we shall find, to knock and the door shall be opened unto us. He goes ahead to say: "suppose that one of you has a friend who goes to him in the middle of the night to say, "My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him;" and the man answers from inside the house, "Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up to give it to you." I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship sake, persistence will make him get up and give his friend all he wants." Jesus encourages his followers to ask, to seek and to knock, and promises that their needs will be answered speedily. He goes on to say that: "If you who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus uses the example of the importunate widow and the unjust judge once again to teach a lesson on the need to pray continually and never to lose heart. He demonstrates that patience and perseverance are two wonderful virtues that are capable of softening even the hardest heart. He thus gives a firm assurance that God will vindicate his own, and unlike the selfish, careless, cynical and unjust judge who had neither fear of God nor man, the just and loving God will hear his poor flock who cry to him day and night and respond to them quickly, speedily, and without delay to their needs. Those who go to God in faith and trust, and persevere in prayer in their hour of darkness and confusion will not return home empty-handed. God will hear their cry, he will vindicate them, he will defend their cause. It is then up to believers to place their petitions continually and persistently before him.
The assurance Jesus gives is that the prayers of the faithful are always answered. So when we say that our prayers are not heard, perhaps it is we who need to re-examine our dispositions and our expectations. God's answers are not limited to our questions. God's responses to our prayers are not limited to our short-sighted concepts and notions of success, achievement and fulfilment, for as we read in Isaiah 55:8-9, God's ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts; far from the earth as the heavens are, so far are his ways from our ways, his thoughts from our thoughts. Also experience has taught Christians in the course of the ages that what we ask of the Lord is not always what is best for us. In fact if God were to respond positively to all the childish whims of believers, then many will bring destruction on themselves. God's response to our prayers often challenge us to accept and follow his ways rather than our won. Thus our lack of faith constitute the real reason why we fail in prayer and not because God refuses to hear us. Christian faith is best reflected in a prayer of humble acceptance - "let your will, not mine, be done."
Very often our prayers are like ultimatums through which we summon God to obey us, to do our own will. Christian prayer is not demanding and receiving what we want. Those who want to pray in the truly Christian spirit must look at Jesus and endeavour to enter into the dynamics of the Lord whose prayer was heard "in another way," not in the way he requested. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed that the cup of suffering may pass over him. The cup did not pass over him. He died and painful and shameful death on the cross of calvary. Jesus Christ the only Son of God who loved the Father supremely, and who the Father loved supremely; Jesus Christ the Messiah who did everything well and who said that his food was to do the will of his Father; this same Jesus died on the cross in the midst of two thieves. But God heard his prayer nevertheless. His inevitable death was in accordance with God's design which Jesus Christ subjected himself to perfectly. In response to this self-surrender, God transformed his death unto the utmost good, for through his death Jesus passed on to the joy of the Resurrection, and today he is adored and glorified.
There is an undue emphasis among Christians today on prayers for healing and deliverance and prayers for material success and prosperity. Some Christians do not know how to worship God other than pray organising healing and deliverance sessions and what they call "prosperity extravaganza." But Christianity is not such a cash and carry affair. The Christian God means much more and can do much more for us than providing an insurance policy against poverty, sickness and demonic attack. The Christian God can heal modern humanity of the emptiness and hopelessness that results from Godlessness. The Christian God can heal modern humanity of the meaninglessness and despair that is a consequence of alienation from Him. The Christian God can transform the stony heart of the modern person to a heart of flesh that is capable of lasting love and thus make it possible for today's culture of violence and death to give way to Christ's civilization of love.
Jesus Christ desires that the hearts of men and women be surrendered to God through prayer. But he is often frustrated when we seek no more than physical and material satisfaction from him. In John 6:26-27 he rebuked those who are looking for him only because of the miracles he could perform, such as the feeding of 5000 people. He said "In all truth I tell you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs, but because you had all the bread you wanted to it. Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal." And when tempted by the devil to perform a miracle to satisfy his hunger, Jesus responded by saying in Matthew 4:4 "Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus wants us to know that God is not what they call a "Deus ex machina." He is not a "Kalu-kalu machine" or a Vending Machine into which we throw a coin and press a button for a soda or a snack when we are hungry.
That is not what Christianity is all about. No, Christianity is about a relationship of love with God in Jesus, and Christian prayer is therefore the dialogue that goes on between God and the person in love with God. It is listening to God as well as speaking to him. Christian prayer is "waiting on the Lord." Prayer involves silent admiration and adoration; it includes thanksgiving and glorification. Prayer demands repentance and conversion from sin and the daily struggle to grow in grace. Prayer is the expression of absolute faith, trust, confidence and total surrender to God the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier.
Prayer is the demonstration of a humble acceptance of our state of sinfulness and utter helplessness and lowliness before an awesome, almighty, all-holy, all-loving and ever-faithful God. The powerful of this world may see no need to turn to God in prayer, but the ones who are aware of their littleness and vulnerability will seek the strength and comfort of the all-powerful God. Christian prayer is real and becomes immensely fruitful only in those who acknowledge the deep void inside them which only God can fill. Christian prayer is the communion within the heart that occurs between God and his children in the Spirit. Through prayer our relationship with God grows and matures. As we continue to pray, we sense the presence of God increasingly in our lives, a presence that will lead to a deeper love, and a more fulfilling worship. Prayer is closely related to, and has its practical dimension in the keeping of God's commandments. Jesus promises in John 15:7 "if we remain in him and allow his words to remain in us, then we may ask whatever we please and we shall get it."
The men and women of the 20th Century often find it difficult to slow down, to stop and to pray. This is perhaps because we are often so pre-occupied with achievement, so busy acquiring goods and techniques, and so distracted by the objects of our adventure that we hardly have time to be in touch with the depth of our being, where alone we could connect with God who is our Creator and ultimate sustainer. Many of us today live very empty and restless lives. Urged on by the profit motif, and sustained by an aggressively competitive and consumerist culture, we often fill our day with too many appointments and engagements, leaving no room for wholesome relaxation and reflection. We rush from one appointment to the other and we do not seem to know when to stop, except when a heart attack strikes.
We find all sorts of excuses for not praying: our appointments, our jobs, our studies, etc. Even Sundays have become difficult to observe as days of rest. We fill them up with so many activities that for many they are like any other days of the week. In this way we are increasingly alienated from the source and centre of our being. No wonder the widespread sense of emptiness, futility and despair among some of the most successful men and women at the threshold of the 21st Century. It is clear that human beings have an inner hunger that only God can quench. As St. Augustine says, "the Lord has created us for himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him." To pray is to desire intimacy with God. To pray is to rest in the Lord from time to time. Thus the men and women of our generation who desire meaning, fulfilment and peace, must learn how to slow down, stop and pray.
As we reflect on prayer today within the context of a renewed call by all religious people in this country for concerted prayers to God for the salvation of Nigeria, it is important to emphasise the place of repentance and conversion from our evil ways, if these prayers are to be efficacious. Whereas it is true that only God can save Nigeria, it must be quickly pointed out that God will not save Nigeria without Nigerians! God does not impose himself on anyone. The Christian God that we worship does not save human beings against their will. Persons who are beneficiaries of His salvific acts are never treated as helpless objects. They are always seen as participating agents in the process of their own salvation. God indeed does not save anyone without his or her cooperation. In the same way He will not save Nigeria without Nigerians. As we call on Christians to pray for God to save Nigeria we must recognise that within the context of a society that stinks with sin, Christian prayer is only efficacious when it is preceded by true repentance and conversion. Our country men and women must recognise that at the root of our nation's multiple ailments is sin, individual as well as social sin. This sin manifests itself by way of primordial greed and avarice, exaggerated selfishness and crass individualism, ethnic bigotry and religious intolerance.
God will not save Nigeria if Nigerians continue business as usual; if we continue to cover one lie with another, and erect one unjust structure upon another. God will not save Nigeria if we Nigerians individually and collectively do not adjust our corrupt, greedy and avaricious lifestyle. God will not save Nigeria if we Nigerians as individuals and as corporate entities do not make the necessary change of behaviour and attitude that will make for peace and prosperity. God will not save Nigeria if the structures of injustice that are at the root of our multiple crises remain in place. Yes, God will only save Nigeria when we Nigerians repent of our individual and social sins, and acquire the spiritual vision and the moral virtues, the socio-economic values, and the political attitudes and dispositions that are the foundation of peace.
A genuine call for prayer is not an invitation to indolence and apathy. Rather it is a call to action by way of repentance and conversion which are always a painful experience. It is a call to action by way of the mutual forgiveness of past hurt. As we congregate around the altar of God in prayer, we must be ready to face squarely the truth of our national existence, and where necessary summon the moral courage and political will to redress the long-standing injustices that have bred so much resentment in the land.
Since the God we serve is the God of truth, prayer to Him is most efficacious when truth ascends the throne in the lives of the supplicants. Christians who believe in the efficacy of prayer must all be committed to truth. We must not only live the truth, but courageously proclaim the truth in season and out of season. In this way our prayers shall be efficacious, and God will indeed save our land. God has already offered his recipe for salvation. As we hear from the book of Chronicles, if the faithful of Nigeria humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways, the Lord will hear them from heaven, forgive their sins and restore their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). May we be ready to make the necessary sacrifices that will constitute the much needed gestures of acceptation of God's salvation.
