Sometimes I feel that my prayers are just yammering Kim's will at God, as if He is not quite understanding what is going on down here, and might need some insight or suggestions from me. When I think I am doing that, I am silent before Him, in shock at my own foolishness and in awe of Him, knowing that I cannot ever comprehend His perspective. How is it that He knows the number of hairs on my head, calls forth every star in the vast universe by name, and has designed every grass blade and snowflake to be unique?
Yet today I want to follow up on previous blogs to show you the power of prayer.
God, like any Father, does listen to the cries of His children. In the desert, when the people were tired of the limited food they had, God gave them quail. We are warned in Romans 1:18-25 that if our hearts seek to fulfill the lusts of our vain imaginings and the lust of our eyes, God will give us those desires: "Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity..."
Having seen the long-term devastation that comes of misguided civil strife in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Angola, I have asked you to pray for Togo, that the dissatisfaction with the government would not produce civil war. Many people have prayed. The next level of strikes and protests did not happen! The government listened to the people, and made a compromise with them.
My call to prayer and confidence in praying has been renewed, for I continue to pray that the government officials, police and military would see the general population with new eyes, and realize that they are the nation! O now I pray, may all those ruling officials have a new concern for the health and well-being of the common people, and may the common man see the government as his protection and strength.
What about us? What is our heart for our government? Do we curse it and despise it? Do our words produce righteousness or ruinous division?
There is a powerful warning agains slander and cursing in scripture: Psalm 109:17-20 records a prayer of King David against all those who cursed his government: "He also loved cursing, so it came to him; and so he did not delight in blessing. so it was far from him. But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it entered his body like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, and for a belt with which he constantly girds himself."
So as I pray for Togo, that the people will not curse their government, and that the government will not curse the people, what am I doing with my own nation? Is my heart full of slander towards my government, or am I praying without ceasing for righteousness and goodness and favour? Hmmm.
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