Rebuilding the Next Generation of Prayer

Building a Strong Prayer Foundation for the Future

Pastors need to teach prayer with purpose and regularity. Churches should hold active prayer meetings. Parents should pray with their children. Kids must see their parents pray. Ministers should not downplay prayer in their sermons. Churches should value pure teachings over popularity. Believers must test all spirits and check all messages with the Bible.

Leonard Ravenhill said, “A praying church is not a straying church.” If the next generation abandons prayer, it means our generation has failed. We must secure the faith of the next generation. We live in a time of “Anything Goes” Christianity, sweet, mixed, misleading, harmful, and destructive. But God is calling us to raise a generation that knows Him, respects Him, prays to Him, and walks with Him.

Rejecting Mixed Messages in Christianity

We need a generation that crushes false teachings before they spread. A generation that stands firmly on the Bible. A generation that prays without stopping. A generation that shines brighter and brighter as they move toward a perfect day.

We must protect the faith of the next generation by teaching them to pray, showing them holiness, and keeping the gospel pure.

“The voice said, ‘Cry out!’ And he answered, ‘What shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.” (Isaiah 40:6)

I speak again from my calling, the role of a scribe chosen by the Lord, to address the church and especially its leaders. The silence of our elders in the face of growing evil is no longer acceptable. Heaven is troubled by the silence amidst a serious spiritual battle. This battle is taking away the dignity, trust, and moral strength of the church, which God intended to be the answer to the ongoing issues of sin, wickedness, and corruption in our country.

The reasons for this silence are clear and painful.

“Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:9)

The Bible says clearly: “The righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Proverbs 28:1).

But when sin seeps into the church, the strength needed to speak truth to power fades. Many forms of sin have taken hold in the church, with the love of money being the biggest thief of spiritual courage.

At a time when corrupt people have taken leadership roles everywhere, the church’s senior leaders have gone quiet. The voice of money speaks louder than the truth. The applause of crowds has become more important than God’s approval.

“Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.” (Acts 18:9).

To see where we are going, we first need to understand where we have fallen. Why has the love of money taken over the hearts of many church leaders in Nigeria? The reasons are practical, painful, and undeniable:

1. Many leaders have turned away from God and now engage in different forms of occultism and witchcraft, practices known to their close aides and ministry teams.
2. Many secretly work with corrupt politicians, receiving tax breaks, large donations, lands, cars, and other tempting gifts from corrupt people.
3. Many join fake “loyalty clubs” and “sons of the prophets” groups, where they pledge lifelong loyalty to spiritual leaders who manipulate them.
4. Many fund political parties, elections, and candidates for their own gain.
5. Many get involved in corrupt businesses, smuggling, money laundering, land grabbing, illegal mining, and fraudulent real estate schemes, using the money to build large churches.
6. Many fall into sexual sins, scandals, and immoral relationships with church members, mentees, choristers, and guests during counseling sessions.
7. Many initiate junior pastors into occult rituals, binding them with “holy communion” and “anointing oils” that enforce lifelong loyalty or threaten destruction if they leave.

All these issues point to one thing: the desperate chase for wealth at any cost.

Stephen King once told graduates at Vassar College in 2001: “We come in naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke.”

The list of corruption in the church is long. Because of these issues, many leaders lack the moral authority to confront political evil. They stay silent while tyranny grows. Silence allows evil to thrive. Evil grows when good people choose to remain quiet and indifferent.

Dr Erwin Lutzer warned: “If we refuse to pray for iron gates to fall, we will be forced to pray inside iron gates.”

History shows us examples of pastors who stood strong with God and faced evil in their countries. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller challenged Hitler’s terror. Martin Luther King Jr. faced racial injustice. Dr John MacArthur confronted government overreach.

Billy Graham spoke truth to presidents.

But today, many elders are silent.

This silence reminds us of the tragic fall of the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople, Turkey. Once, Christians made up ninety-eight percent (98 percent) of the population, with only two percent (2 percent) being Muslims.

Today, the numbers have flipped, with 98 percent Muslims and only 2 percent Christians.

Why? Because the elders were silent, uninterested, and indifferent.

After building one of the greatest churches in history, the Church of the Holy Wisdom, Emperor Justinian declared during its opening in AD 537: “Solomon, I have outdone you.”

In today’s money, that church would cost over a billion dollars.

Dionysios Hatzopoulos, in The Fall of Constantinople, recorded the moment of its conquest:

“The bells of the massive church rang mournfully, and singing hymns in Greek, Italian, or Catalan, men, women, children, soldiers made peace with themselves, with God, and eternity.”

Dr Erwin Lutzer added:

“Soldiers fought their way into the Church of the Holy Wisdom, killing all worshippers. Religious icons and furnishings were destroyed. The priests performing their duties were massacred. Churches and convents were ransacked, and nuns were raped.”

Ten generations later, all the massive investments in that church have been wasted.

Values Matter More Than Buildings

The elders of that time fell into the trap of mammon, thinking wealth, no matter how it was gained, could build God’s kingdom, save lives, and influence nations.

But Nigeria today shows that belief is wrong. Wealth does not build the gospel. Wealth does not keep the gospel alive.

Wealth can build buildings. Wealth can build schools. Wealth can build infrastructure. But wealth cannot create or sustain the gospel.

The gospel is built and strengthened by integrity, godliness, righteousness, holiness, truth, faithfulness, and good fruits, all nurtured in environments of sound teaching. Just twelve disciples turned the world upside down.

“And the Lord said to him, ‘Go through the midst of the city… and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations done within it.’” (Ezekiel 9:4).

I urge our fathers, men who have received mercy from God and still have breath, to rise and rebuild. Men who still have the chance to turn back to the Lord before the curtain of life falls and the door of eternity opens.

It is time to return to God. It is time to give back everything Satan gave you. It is time to return money taken from corrupt politicians. It is time to leave occult societies, even if it costs your life. It is time to stop sexual sins and return to your family in repentance. It is time for your silence in the face of evil to end. It is time to come out of hiding and speak truth to power, not secretly, but openly.

“Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.” (Proverbs 31:9)