Can prayer save Africa?
Please don’t kill me. I come clothed in peace and love.
But I’ve been wondering, a lot, about all that’s going on in Zimbabwe. You read the news, you hear from friends and relatives, and you get the picture. And, naturally, you start imagining the kinds of solutions that could end the cyclical pain and suffering…
Prayer, prayer, prayer
Then you come to Facebook, or even in talking to other Zimbos, and everyone is saying, “let’s pray for our country. Oh, we need prayers. Haa, this time we must really pray.”
Everyone sharing Bible verses, reciting God’s promises to one another. Prayer things.
And we go on and on about “praying” and how God shall rescue us. Now, let me ask you a question.
The big question
Why does God put Zimbabwe through all kinds of sh*t time and time again? Are Zimbabwean prayers not powerful enough? Does He love Zimbabwe less than the countries He feeds sufficiently?
I honestly do not know of a more prayerful continent than Africa. And yet in many people’s minds, the word “Africa” is now almost synonymous with the phrase “poverty, pain, and suffering”. Wars, mudslides, disease and famine.
Where do Zimbabwean prayers go?
I could go on and on trying to paint a clearer picture of what I need to show here, but we all know what I’m talking about. Zimbabwe has prayed and prayed and prayed to God since prayer was kindly brought to us.
Do Zimbabwean prayers not find their way to God? Or, do prayers not work? No, let me rephrase that. Does prayer work?
What prayer can do to us
Let’s think about it a bit, without getting emotional or attacking each other here. But is all the talk about prayer not just some pacifist stuff that gets us blinded and contented with mediocrity, in our lifestyles, government, and just about everything? Sitting back and always waiting for the magic of prayer.
Interrogate yourself
Imagine this. If there weren’t an option to pray, if you did not know that you could pray about the situation in your country, ask yourself, what would I really do? Because the instinct to try and survive is natural, do ask yourself, what would I really do if God was not in the equation?
I am very sympathetic to our plight. And with our history, it is understood by everyone that we lost a lot, and it takes a lot to recover. But I hope prayer is not the thing that has rendered us helpless.
Do feel free to curse me in your mind, to pray for me if you wish to, but when you’re alone sometime, do think about these things. I’m sure it’s no sin to do so.
Does prayer work? Think hard! Would we really be worse off if we didn’t have it?
Post published in: Featured
At last, A christian who talks sense! I am Christian, too. The
people who change the world are those who take action, and God Himself tells us so: “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3). Also read James 2:14-26: “…faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead…. You foolish man, do you want evidence
that faith without deeds is useless?… faith without deeds is dead.”
Mugabe is only there because Zimbabweans, not God, let him be. Africans are only in poverty because instead of doing what they must do, they sit around praying for God to do what He wants them to do.
After praying, one must also remember to go and vote. And after praying, one must still till the land and get food out of it. Prayer does help a lot but not by bringing miracle us a government. We still have to vote some out and some in.
You are right. Prayer does not make up for lack of action. The purpose of it is only to help us do what we are already doing better, not to make up for what we should be doing, but aren’t. Don’t ask God to do what he expects US to do.
I’ve just come across this amazing quotation: “God HAS found a way for you to achieve
your goals: YOU!” Translated to Zimbabwe this would read: “God HAS found a way to remove Mugabe and ZANU PF: YOU ZIMBABWEANS!” IN other words, it is up to you, each citizen, to stop talking, complaining and yacking on in meetings, but to get up and DO something! Only a mass movement of citizens will remove the evil. And you can do that NOW. You don’t have to wait for elections that he won’t take any notice of anyway.