Why Prayer Isn’t Working (And Nigeria Is Still Struggling)

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Now for people that are going to be watching that don't know about you. Yes.

[00:00:02]Can you in three minutes just give a brief background story of who is >> my my name is Jonathan Eluyad. I was born into a Muslim family. I became saved from Islam when I was in medical school at the age of 19. I have a talking walking leadership with God ever since. God called me to Europe to United Kingdom and I've been working as a missionary to the United Kingdom and Europe since the '90s. We've led many evangelistic campaigns and we've seen many people saved and brought together as a church to pray in stadiums across the United Kingdom and we've mobilized hundreds of thousands of people through something called the National Day of Prayer and I run a ministry and called Shine Your Light at Christmas. I am married with two wonderful cakes. I've been married for over 32 years now.

[00:00:48]What's that turning point for you that made you choose Christianity? It was when I stepped into a prayer meeting that was led by young people. I was curious to what they were doing. And as I stepped into the atmosphere of those young people was a prayer meeting, all night prayer meeting, the presence of God activated the voice of God in me.

[00:01:06]And God began to speak to me deeply in my heart asking me to receive his son Jesus. And that's how I became a Christian. And ever since I've had a walking, talking relationship with God.

[00:01:14]>> Now Nigeria is deeply religious yet also broken. What do you think we are getting wrong? I think we started right with the gospel decades ago and from the time of the translation of the Bible into Euroba through Samuel Crowder and the foundation of Orthodox Christianity, the wave of the Holy Spirit that hit in the early 1900s and that released the charisma of the Holy Spirit and the word of God and through revivalist that we I'm not going to name names but somewhere in the 80s into the '90s we switched from a Christ centered message to a self-centered message. And the self-centered message basically is like come to Jesus for what you can get. Come to Jesus to get a job, get a husband or a wife. Come to Jesus to get a child.

[00:01:58]Come to Jesus for your breakthrough as opposed to come to Jesus to be saved.

[00:02:02]Come to Jesus to walk in holiness. Come to Jesus to walk in his peace. Come to Jesus to be set free from addiction.

[00:02:09]Come to Jesus to follow him and his commandments. That is why I believe the church is broken. And a broken church will lead to a broken nation.

[00:02:16]>> Now, why do you think prayers do not translate to progress? Because the New Testament talks about you pray a lot and you don't get answers to your prayers.

[00:02:23]James tells us that because you are praying a miss. When you look at the Lord's prayer, you know the Lord's prayer, our father who has made sure the first seven lines, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Those are seven first lines. Nothing about us in those first seven is all God him is kingdom.

[00:02:42]Then he says give us this day our daily prayer. We have switched that prayer to give us this day our daily prayer.

[00:02:49]>> Uh give us this day our daily bread and deliver us from evil. Then oh okay by the way our father who art in heaven.

[00:02:56]Yes.

[00:02:56]>> That is why we are not getting our prayers answered because we have switched the emphasis from him to us.

[00:03:05]>> Do you think faith produces results?

[00:03:07]Yes. Faith done in the right way. Show me your faith and I will and I will show you um um your your works. Your faith is supposed to produce works. James tells us again. And so when we when we have true faith, faith for me, F A T H.

[00:03:22]>> Yes.

[00:03:23]>> My acronym for that is the force that is activated in the heart. When you when you read the word of God, something is activated in you, in your spirit, in your heart. And it's called faith. The word activates faith. And it's believe in God. It is a focus on God. It is God can do anything. It is God can answer my prayers. That is faith. And if you if you activate faith in the right way, not for self service reasons, but for the right biblical reasons, you will see the right results. What do we need to start doing to start getting it right in the churches? I believe that we need to go back to what we used to do in the Bible, which is disciplehip. When you get somebody saved, you follow them up. You don't just invite them to a large meeting. You invite them to follow Christ through fellowship, through cononia. It says that they they gave themselves to the word. They gave themselves to prayer. They gave themselves to fellowship. They gave themselves to relating one together, house to house. So we need to go back to the foundations. We need to go back to disciplehip. We need to go back to not just reading the Bible, studying the Bible. We need to go away from events, events, church, church, church to home, home home to alter, alter my altar, my religion should be passed. It seems like we always get it wrong in leadership. Do you think it's a citizen or you think it's a system that always produces bad leadership? I think it is a bit of both.

[00:04:45]Sometimes the people get the leaders they deserve. Sometimes the leaders oppress the people and God intervenes when we call upon him with the true heart of repentance. God wants us to do the right things. He wants us to have the right leaders both in the church and in the nation. But I believe that it starts with you. It starts with you. It starts with me that we go back to God and we understand why he has called us.

[00:05:14]>> Can spirituality become an escape from responsibility? That is if your Christianity is not balanced if you are doing religion rather than being pragmatic. The Bible says just summarized the Bible. He said the whole of the Bible is summarized in two lines.

[00:05:29]You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your might and all of your strength. But you shall also love your neighbor as yourself. So it is balance. Do your religion but minister to your neighbor. Love your neighbor.

[00:05:42]And loving your neighbor is serving your neighbor, blessing your neighbor. Do what is practical. You will not go after your your your your neighbor's wife. You will not go after your neighbor's neighbors. You will not go after your neighbor's things. You will love people practically. And that is third vertical man horizontal. Because you know why I ask that question is that more it looks like more or less like the Christianity has numbed a lot of citizens whereby instead of taking responsibility they're leaving everything onto God instead of us to do this we are saying oh god is come going to come and do this you see many unbelieving nations are prosper like China like Singapore doing wonderful thing but Nigeria seems to be like more or less like the one of the top religious nations in the world but every responsibility has been shifted to divine day. Yes we have to be careful sometimes how we compare ourselves. You can have a shiny object. You can have a nice car, nice house, but you have no God. But you can then have God and you have no shiny house and no no car. We want a bit of both, not anything to excess. China may have or Dubai, they have this wonder, but they don't have God. And at the end of the day, Nigeria with all our problems will be ahead of the country with all of our resources and this state. And so the the Lord has come for the poor and for those who want him, not for those who are rich and who have got it together. But um good hard work, that's why the book of Proverbs is in the Bible. Practical hard work, being diligent, hand of the diligent shall be made fat. And if you are diligent in your work, see a man diligent, he shall stand before kings. There are principles to hard work. And we want Christians to be like Daniel who were full of God but full of knowledge, full of wisdom so that we can relate to God but we can be the best doctors, we can be the best politicians, we can be the best teachers, the best nurses, we can be the best in what we do.

[00:07:27]>> What's that thing that we benefit being a Christian that you're not benefiting where we are used?

[00:07:31]>> So many first of all the peace comes from God. My soul is at peace. When I was a Muslim, I didn't have peace. I would I didn't know where I was going. I said if I die today, where am I going? I had no reassurance. But now I'm in Christ, I know where I'm going. But the Muslims believe that when they die, they are going.

[00:07:47]>> Oh, they they No, they don't. They It's a It's a gamble. For them, it's Aljono.

[00:07:52]And they say that when we get there, maybe our good works will outweigh. They don't know. Nobody's sure. They have to walk a tight rope over some praise. If you read some of the um Islamic um end of days um and judgment days, very scary. But we approach judgment day from a place of peace. I know God. He talks to me. I did not have that when I was a Muslim. I I love people, all kinds of people. When I was a Muslim, I couldn't say I loved everybody. I have a purpose.

[00:08:19]I know what God wants me to do. When I was a Muslim, I didn't know what he wanted me to do. So, I can go on and on.

[00:08:24]There's so many benefits to being a Christian than being a must.

[00:08:27]>> There's a Muslim watching you now and is thinking, what's this next direction?

[00:08:31]What can you tell that person to consider? If you if you if you're watching me and you are a Muslim, >> I would say to you do just do this two or three things. Go and meet Anobi Issa and say to Anobi Issa, if you are real, I want you to speak to me in a dream, in a vision, I want you to I want I want you to reveal yourself to me. If you are real, if this doctor is what he said is true, I want you to reveal yourself to me. And every Muslim that has prayed that prayer sincerely has met with Jesus.

[00:09:00]>> Wow. Okay. Okay, now I want to ask you this final rapid question that I just need short answers from you. What's that one dangerous belief holding people back >> that God will do everything? God will not do anything. There are many things that oh what cannot do does not exist.

[00:09:13]>> No, God will not come and uh give you a job himself.

[00:09:16]>> So you mean that what what God can do what actually exist.

[00:09:20]>> God will not write the application form for you. God will not write the exam for you so that what God cannot do does not exist. No, no, no. There are things that God will not do. He will leave man to do. It's not God that will come and pray. He will send his holy spirit to help you to pray that you you will pray that he can come to answer. There are things that God will not do. God will not violate your will. He will not do.

[00:09:37]But one daily habit for transformation, daily habit, read the study the scriptures. There's something called the blue letter Bible. It's a very good app.

[00:09:45]Get a good study material and begin to study the Bible every day. One leadership trait Nigeria lacks.

[00:09:51]Humility. Humility. There's too much pride. I mean, we are a proud nation. We are a big nation, but there's too much pride. There's too much flesh. We need more humility. One truth people avoid.

[00:10:01]Every soul matters. You go after one soul. You go after that soul like that is the last person in the class. It's not crowds. He's not interested in the crowd. He's interested in the soul. So if we as leaders will go after a soul, leave our pastors, big pastors. He no longer do house visits. They no longer just Jesus made house visits. He went to Zakus's house. So Jesus Christ went to people's homes as big as he was God himself. Let's go after one soul and make every soul matter. Now, one book everyone should read, the Bible. I would say read the book of Romans. Study the book of Romans. It will change your Christian life. Why do you choose Romance? Because it's the most concise and packed presentation of the gospel in one place in the scriptures. And finally, one discipline that builds destiny. Daily prayer. Talk with God.

[00:10:47]Not just kabashing tongues. Daily talking to the Lord from your heart. If you're a night person, do it nightly. If you're a midday person, do it midday. If you're an early person, do it early. But every day, niche with God. So, what's your final advice to everybody out there? It's been a wonderful being here, and I just want to encourage you to go after disciplehip. Go after one soul and make that soul matter and make sure that you and Jesus are working together. Not after pastors, not after leaders, after Jesus. God bless you.

[00:11:16]>> Thank you so much, sir. Thank you.

[00:11:19]>> Thank you so much. People can follow you if you have platform that people can follow, reach out to. So people can follow me filled national day of prayer ndopw.com. I'm on social media jonathan.

[00:11:30]You can follow me on Instagram. Thank you so much. I appreciate great.

[00:11:33]>> So guys thank our guest here for this powerful short episode of Salah Meditate. Thank you for watching your host Benzik and I'm going to see you again next time. Cheers.