10 July 2011
Praying for the Nations
14/07/11 16:58 Filed in: Prayer, nations, healing and reconciliation, forgiveness, church, power
The amount of uproar in the nations is incredible. There are the bombings in Mumbai, the drought in the Horn of Africa, the bombing of President Karzai’s brother’s funeral, the situation in the Ivory Coast and close to my home, phone hacking scandals and slow or no economic growth. It is seriously discouraging to follow the news feeds of the world.
The temptation is to dig a hole and pull the earth in over top. I guess in some ways we do that by ignoring what is going on, acting like everything is ok where I live and eating, drinking and making merry while we can. But even there you have situations like the one in Greece where the young lad was killed by two Greek citizens and his four friends beaten up. Who knows what started the confrontation? But underneath the outward cause of harassment with laser pens being shone in their eyes the two taxi drivers could be on a short fuse caused by a festering resentment over the economic austerity and debt programmes of Greece. There they are facing cutbacks and income losses in the midst of having young people from another nation come and flaunt their wealth. When people are under stress, they do not handle life well. The incident with the laser pens could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. There is no rational reason why these men would act with hostile aggression leading to death and hospitalisation over such a minor act of irritation.
We can take an approach to life that tries to explain everything on a very simplistic logical basis. Obviously these young holidaymakers were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. They provoked a fight with inappropriately shining laser pens into the eyes of the taxi drivers. End of story, but not very satisfying if you are trying to make sense of what is going on in our world. There must be more. It is plausible that my reasoning about the economy plays a role in it. The last few years of economic disaster has had their effect on people’s lives. But what if there is even a deeper root?
What if it’s spiritual? What if the results we are seeing now are the fruit of seeds of corruption sown years ago?
In 2 Samuel 21 David as King of Israel realises that the nation is heading into its third year of drought. He inquiries of the Lord as to why this is happening. The Lord tells him it is due to King Saul, David’s predecessor, breaking a covenant or treaty with the Gibeonites. This failure to honour their covenant led to drought. Everyone in the nation was suffering. David needed to make amends to the Gibeonites for the drought to be broken over the land.
There are other causes of bad times coming upon a nations because God wants us to act rightly and justly towards our fellow man. The church has a part to play in this whole process. We can stand in the gap and pray for mercy for our nations. In Ezekiel 22: 29 – 31 the Lord says, “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." Oh, that’s Old Testament you say, so what about New Testament. While Paul writes to Timothy saying, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1 Tim. 2:1-2) Violence and mayhem are not evidence of quiet and peaceful existence.
In Canada there has been a prayer movement across the land where representatives of the Body of Christ have sought forgiveness and reconciliation whole-heartedly. Canada faired very well through the world wide economic downturn. You could say it was just good government, which it was. But it was also spiritual.
Read the following from Canada:
“On July 11, 2011, Prime Minister Harper was named an honorary Chief of the First Nations Blood Tribe of Alberta.
Persons are selected as honorary members of the Kainai Chieftainship based on contributions to the Blood Tribe and to the cause of native people throughout the world. For Prime Minister Harper, the Chieftainship ceremony was requested by Blood Tribe Chief Charles Weasel Head in response to the heartfelt apology in 2008 by the Prime Minister to former students of Indian Residential Schools.”
This action by the Kainai Chieftainship was in response to a heartfelt apology by the Prime Minister. He wasn’t the initiator of the Indian Residential School policy. But as head of the Canadian government he took responsibility for the actions of his predecessors, acknowledged their failings and sought forgiveness. These kinds of actions bring healing to a land. He apologized on behalf of the people of Canada for whom the government represents in 2008 but there were many times of prayer and confession by Christians before that paved the way for this event.
This is the reason why we pray for the nations. Let mercy prevail!
The temptation is to dig a hole and pull the earth in over top. I guess in some ways we do that by ignoring what is going on, acting like everything is ok where I live and eating, drinking and making merry while we can. But even there you have situations like the one in Greece where the young lad was killed by two Greek citizens and his four friends beaten up. Who knows what started the confrontation? But underneath the outward cause of harassment with laser pens being shone in their eyes the two taxi drivers could be on a short fuse caused by a festering resentment over the economic austerity and debt programmes of Greece. There they are facing cutbacks and income losses in the midst of having young people from another nation come and flaunt their wealth. When people are under stress, they do not handle life well. The incident with the laser pens could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. There is no rational reason why these men would act with hostile aggression leading to death and hospitalisation over such a minor act of irritation.
We can take an approach to life that tries to explain everything on a very simplistic logical basis. Obviously these young holidaymakers were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. They provoked a fight with inappropriately shining laser pens into the eyes of the taxi drivers. End of story, but not very satisfying if you are trying to make sense of what is going on in our world. There must be more. It is plausible that my reasoning about the economy plays a role in it. The last few years of economic disaster has had their effect on people’s lives. But what if there is even a deeper root?
What if it’s spiritual? What if the results we are seeing now are the fruit of seeds of corruption sown years ago?
In 2 Samuel 21 David as King of Israel realises that the nation is heading into its third year of drought. He inquiries of the Lord as to why this is happening. The Lord tells him it is due to King Saul, David’s predecessor, breaking a covenant or treaty with the Gibeonites. This failure to honour their covenant led to drought. Everyone in the nation was suffering. David needed to make amends to the Gibeonites for the drought to be broken over the land.
There are other causes of bad times coming upon a nations because God wants us to act rightly and justly towards our fellow man. The church has a part to play in this whole process. We can stand in the gap and pray for mercy for our nations. In Ezekiel 22: 29 – 31 the Lord says, “The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." Oh, that’s Old Testament you say, so what about New Testament. While Paul writes to Timothy saying, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1 Tim. 2:1-2) Violence and mayhem are not evidence of quiet and peaceful existence.
In Canada there has been a prayer movement across the land where representatives of the Body of Christ have sought forgiveness and reconciliation whole-heartedly. Canada faired very well through the world wide economic downturn. You could say it was just good government, which it was. But it was also spiritual.
Read the following from Canada:
“On July 11, 2011, Prime Minister Harper was named an honorary Chief of the First Nations Blood Tribe of Alberta.
Persons are selected as honorary members of the Kainai Chieftainship based on contributions to the Blood Tribe and to the cause of native people throughout the world. For Prime Minister Harper, the Chieftainship ceremony was requested by Blood Tribe Chief Charles Weasel Head in response to the heartfelt apology in 2008 by the Prime Minister to former students of Indian Residential Schools.”
This action by the Kainai Chieftainship was in response to a heartfelt apology by the Prime Minister. He wasn’t the initiator of the Indian Residential School policy. But as head of the Canadian government he took responsibility for the actions of his predecessors, acknowledged their failings and sought forgiveness. These kinds of actions bring healing to a land. He apologized on behalf of the people of Canada for whom the government represents in 2008 but there were many times of prayer and confession by Christians before that paved the way for this event.
This is the reason why we pray for the nations. Let mercy prevail!
