For so many years running, Christians have been made to pray without ceasing for their various countries the world over. They have prayed and are still praying, earnestly contending for the souls of their countries without giving up.
As the Bible commanded us to pray without being weary, we behave as though we are truly following through to delivery but what I see in most of these prayer is far below God’s expectation of what should be done. Elijah prayed that there would be no rain and the earth was actually without rain for three and a half years. When he prayed again, he ministered prophetic words into the life of Ahab, the king to make him believe God rather than Elijah, the prophet (1 Kings 18:1-46). Elijah however, did not forget to back every prayer that he made with an action of faith.
For any one of us to create a change in the various countries of our origin such a person should be able to back up his/her prayers with actions. Prayer with action is what the Bible describes as the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man. It is the prayer that makes tremendous power available. It is dynamic in its working. It is the sustained kind of faith that is marked by a deep feeling of conviction.
Jesus in His days, after withdrawing Himself to some quiet places to pray, launched out with authority over every opposing power of darkness. He did not relax in the places of prayer – He simply acted! What we see today is the direct opposite of what a good-intentioned prayer should be. We are almost taken over by the erroneous notion of a praying robot. God has a standard, telling us that not every elaborate and well advertised prayer session is answered by God. The idea that once we have prayed, no matter who uttered those words of prayer, that they are answered and the matters established, nauseating. It is very important we note the fact that God hears and honours the prayers of the righteous – the man with clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully (Psalm 24:4).
Therefore, it is totally incorrect and totally incomplete idea to believe that God answers every form of prayer, no matter who says the prayer. No sensible person has ever prayed to God for prosperity and received a positive answer when he refuses to be engaged in a lucrative venture. You can imagine yourself getting into the bathroom after praying to God for a successful bath, but you refuse to do the sensible thing of pouring water on your body. People have commercialized prayer in such a way that prayer means more than talking to God over a serious issue. God can still be interested in our prayers today, if we can look deeper within us as individuals or groups and remove the object of self that always distract us and face the fact. There are so many other practical issues that bother around us that we can attend to as we pray along. It does not matter in which sector in the country we want things to change. The most important thing is that only one individual can sincerely effect that change, if he/she could look beyond the present way and manner we pray today.
There will be total transformation and revolution in our power and energy sector, health, education, and other sectors of our economy if we could attend to prayer sessions with the practical approach to solving our national problems together. We should not remain praying people who are at home with corrupt practices and who celebrate corrupt people within and around us.
Finally, as we pray that the Lord will grant our leaders the required ideas and the wisdom to do what is right and necessary to revamp every sector of our countries’ economy, let us not forget that we have a practical role to play as individuals and group in exposing and killing the spirit of corruption wherever we are.