Have you stopped praying?
By Lilian Mbiyu, June 10, 2009

During the post-election violence in early this year, Kenyans from all over the world were united in prayer.  People pleaded with God to bring back peace that we all once knew and cherished. Kenyans realized that peace was the backbone of our nation.

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God’s word encourages His people to humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, and He will hear from heaven and heal the land.  Gradually, peace was restored in our motherland, but the political battle that led to the bloodshed is not yet over. 

Kenya has a shaky Grand Coalition Government, and tribalism continues to loom. Evil continues to plague our nation today as we watch.

Romans 13 commands us to pray for our leaders because all authority is ordained by God.  In Proverbs, the Bible tells us that God is able to change the King’s heart like a watercourse, so how many of us will stand in the gap and believe that our leaders’ hearts can be changed by our intercession?

We should continue to fervently pray for our nation and leaders and not wait until another disaster strikes.
Is this easy after all the tears Kenyans shed and the bloodshed? Of course not.  Just like God told Cain, “Abel’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” I know that the hundreds of Kenyans whose lives were cut short by the violence did not die in vain. 

God saw the tears of the Kenyan mother, who witnessed her child being thrown into a burning church, and the wife whose husband never returned home because a neighbor hacked him to death. Our God is a God of Justice and His word stands true “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Above all, remember that love covers a multitude of sin and only God gives the love that brings peace that transcends understanding.  Let’s not water seeds of hate and tribalism or engage in finger pointing.  Instead, let’s continue to lift our nation in prayer and have faith in the God of impossibilities, who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ask or imagine. Let’s take back what the enemy has stolen from us!

“O God of all creation
Bless this our land and nation
Justice be our shield and defender
May we dwell in unity
Peace and liberty
Plenty be found within our borders”