Renowned international Gospel music minister/ recording artist – Nathaniel Bassey, a few weeks back came up with ‘The Hallelujah Challenge’ – a one hour daily praise session held at 12 midnight, estimated to last for 30 days, where people from all over the world connect online and praise God together. At first, the target audience was Nigerians, but as expected the audience grew even beyond the shores of our beloved nation as awareness was created and more people from diverse nations joined in. An uncommon concept birthed out of the need to pray for a change in our country – Nigeria, and at the same time praise God for what we expect.
On the 13th day, over 50,000 people participated on the Instagram live feed, not counting the Facebook live feed. This is a feat never before attained in Nigeria. No person or organisation has ever had a life feed with up to 50,000 participants. It was a glorious session where praises were raised, worship was given, prayers were said and testimonies arose after each daily session.
Critics have come out to criticize the praise sessions, arguing it’s effectiveness in creating a change in Nigeria. Others have come forward to ridicule the spiritual consciousness of most Nigerians. The fact remains that religion and faith has always been the bedrock of most Nigerians, and many more Nigerians are highly expectant, patiently awaiting the next Hallelujah praise session, despite all the criticism it has garnered. This goes a long way to prove that Nigerians are not as gullible as people might think. We realize and acknowledge the power of prayers. Anybody can be of the opinion that prayers do not work, but nobody has the moral high ground to ridicule the faith of others. Not at all! We all know that faith without works yield no fruits. Similarly, we all know that work without faith is taking us nowhere, hence, the need to come together as one nation and raise our voices to God. How harmful can prayer be? But then, how helpful can prayers be? All we have to do is look at the numerous testimonies arising from these extraordinary praise sessions. A spiritual awakening has been ignited in our souls.
An awareness of how much change we can bring about when we pray has been created. This is a massive opportunity for us all to call upon God with one voice to direct our paths as we work towards creating a better Nigeria. We can do it. This country can get better, and it all starts with each and everyone of us believing in the possibility of change.
Lastly, some facts should be noted from the Hallelujah Challenge. If Nathaniel Bassey can get more than 50,000 people online, doing the same thing at the same time, get over a whooping 100,000 followers in under 24 hours and generate over 6 million conversation threads online, we can replicate this in other sectors of the country and be sure to expect a significant response. It is an uncommon channel of propagating information and this can also be used as a productive tool in reaching Nigerians in the change mandate. Praise has never been better. Prayers have never felt more right.
As the Hallelujah Challenge continues, there is no doubt that there would be an awakening of the senses of most Nigerians to the need for change which begins with each and every one of us.
Kindly share your thoughts with us!
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Written by Marline Oluchi | Creative writer for Praisecamp.com
Nigerian creative writer, content creator and landscaper
LinkedIn: Marline Oluchi
