Funny Silent Prayers by Livy-Elcon Emereonye

The power, and efficacy, of prayers, no one could ignore – and the effect is always visible with the testimonies too audible. Prayer, effectual prayer, has been likened to the master key that opens every closed door. Apart from the spiritual and psychological influences, it has therapeutic and restorative powers. Silent prayer creates a deeper relationship with an infinite and mysterious God. It can take us down the path that ultimately leads to a deep friendship and freedom. Little wonder people, regardless of belief and creed, pray, seeking the supernatural for extra-ordinary results. However, people pray for different reasons even during crusade and prayer sessions because as our faces differ so are our needs and problems!
Faced with the present suffocating hopelessness with little or no plan to remedy the situation, it appears Nigerians have resorted to silent prayers whose major point is liberation that there will be a better society, good governance, daily bread, improved economy with security and justice. It becomes more interesting as a closer, random look at people in different locations and places would reveal a generation agonizing and soliloquizing in utter disbelief and bewilderment as hardship, hunger, takes centre stage. With torrent of tears from sore eyes on hunger-wizened faces, silent prayers become inevitable.
Who would have imagined it some years ago that at this time and age, the giant of Africa would become the crawling helpless dwarf that would rely so much on external powers to solving her internal problems? Nigerians pray more now than ever before that the problems they face today, they will see no more tomorrow! Never before have people been more discouraged and confused than now as things get tougher and more difficult with the dawn of each day. It has never been this bad that able bodied men and women scavenge and beg for bread with no hope of a better tomorrow.
Like crime that does not know tribe and religion; like epidemics that cuts across board; like AIDS that kills through a process of continuous deterioration, the dangerous retrogressive effects of government that gambles with governance and runs on exclusive policies is felt by almost everyone, everywhere. This is because no one is free when someone is in bondage. Everyone is affected by the current hardship in the land including those outside the country. Yes, with the high inflation rate and scarcity of money, there is geometric increase in crime rate; with hunger everywhere and non-availability of food, anger becomes a common factor no one is free from; and with this spate of anger comes endless fight and destruction that no day would pass without countless bad news across the country.
The situation is such bad that those who once stood against simple facts, plain arguments and common sense on grounds of tribe and religion are now singing different song, having realized that even with their blind support and jaundiced loyalty, they are not insulated from effects of the hardship rather they are the worst hit what with their conscience condemning them and leaving posterity to be the judge.
Whatever the case, life goes on.  That one person or group of persons will choose to oppress others is no more news except that some of us suffer from historical amnesia otherwise we would have learned a lot from history. So when someone for whatever reason rise up against you, accept your fate but squarely face the challenges without forgetting that every problem expires with time.
Silence, which can be taken to mean consent, is difficult. It’s confusing. “Entering into silent prayer takes work. It takes discipline and courage to cut through all the little things that distract our minds and hearts to arrive at a sacred and productive silence” however, this is not what many have chosen especially in Nigeria under the present tough times and harsh economic realities – they rather prefer the other side, expecting quick results. But what, exactly, is supposed to happen after the silent prayers aside the feeling of being relieved from stress, heartache, and anxiety?
But why are we in this pitiable condition? Knowing that a problem well diagnosed is half solved, we need to probe ourselves to ascertain the cause of our problems. Yes, why are things not moving forward but rather continuously backward? Could it be the case of putting round pegs in square holes? What is responsible for the recession? What is the cause of this agitation for self determination? Why the high level of distrust and suspence in the land? Why have truth and trust become such expensive commodities in this country? Why do we talk more of the things that divide us and less of the ones that unite us? Genuine answers to these questions need to form the basis of our prayer points at this moment of silent prayers.
Therefore, as the silent prayers continue in search of solutions to unemployment, job loss, religious intolerance, ethnic conflicts, flagrant abuse of human rights and lack of economic policies, let the pursuit of national unity, justice and peaceful co-existence intensify so that together we will build the society we will all be free and equal before the law.