When we prayed for Africa

WENDU

Sing for Joy O Africa! The Lord your God has risen upon you…

This is a message of the glory of God, in that he has remembered the continent of Africa and has made a new promise to the sons and daughters of the land- To the end that they will be a part of his glory upon our generation and a testament of love unto the world.

UJU
Africa Africa
How my heart hurts when you are being destroyed,
When you are being butchered by your children
Oh what an irony!
They sucked your milk then stabbed you deep in the breast!
How I hope that peace be restored in your land.
These words is a stanza of a poem written by a 13yr old Nigerian girl.

WENDU

This is testimony of a 26 day period in which 2 servants of Jesus Christ cried out to heaven for the 52 nations of Africa. The heavens opened up and the latter rain came down. The devil was dethroned, Christ was victorious and Africa is saved!

The outbreak of violence following the elections in Kenya was shocking. It began in early 2008 when I was in Nigeria, and I continued to follow events as I came to America. This was shocking because if ever there was a model of peace and stability in Africa, if there ever was a place in our troubled home where even foreigners could come and feel welcome then Kenya was it.

The violence spread beyond Nairobi and to other rural areas in the land. I read about displaced people living with HIV who no longer had access to their medicines. I read about a woman who had no food with which to take her medicine. I read about people whose houses had been razed. I read about a man who lost his entire family as he watched his wife and children locked up in their house while it was set on fire.

This picture above taken from a March 3rd BBC article, struck me particularly, as I saw in the face of this man the anger, hatred, enmity, spite that the devil has put upon sons of Africa. The hatred on this man’s face can be found all across the land. It is not a Kenyan or African face, it is an evil face and evil is not confined to regions. The look of the fellow behind him is one of confused agreement that typically follows and facilitates genocide.

As I followed these events, little did I know that God was about to do something. Something profound that would give me a message that must be relayed to the world concerning what he has done and what he will do in Africa.

UJU
That girl was me many years ago as I sought to embrace my hope for a change at a period that seemed bleak then with the wars in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Liberia. In my eyes, Africa was mine, birth in my living room by my Afrocentric father, we had nurtured her to fruition, celebrated her successes, reminisced about her story, and were now carrying out her legacy. Now the tables had turned, and I realized what my father had meant when he would always echo, “Cry my beloved country”. Yet that 13 year old remained hopeful and today as a woman filled with God she presents to you an even greater hope, a divine hope, one that is solidified with a mandate from the Lord Almighty, the Creator of everything, the Potter who formed, shaped and carved out Africa.

WENDU

The Instruction

God gave me an instruction to print out every Christian Perspective article, bind it into a book and take it to Church on Good Friday so that I can pray over it with the pastors in Church. I did everything the lord had instructed and I took the book into his house on that fateful night. Alas, none of the regular pastors were in the Church that night and the man who preached mysteriously disappeared before I could approach him. And so as I came home that night there was a void in my heart as a day that held such anticipation ended so abruptly, but God had a deeper plan that passed over my understanding.

With a void in my heart that needed to be filled, I needed a new instruction from God, a new work to do, a purpose and a direction. God made me remember his prior instruction that my friend Uju and I must pray for the nations of Africa….

That night I went on Wikipedia and printed out a list of African nations sorted by GDP, I called Uju and God instructed that we pray for these countries by two’s each day. I took the list and stuck it on my wall where it still is today, and we began to pray.

UJU

My passion for Africa runs deep, but God’s plan for mankind transcends all human understanding. When Jesus the most High Priest let out that eruptive cry on the cross, “It is finished”, it included Africa.

Yet you, God, are sovereign still, always and ever sovereign. You'll get up from your throne and help Zion— it's time for compassionate help. Oh, how your servants love this city's rubble and weep with compassion over its dust! The godless nations will sit up and take notice —see your glory, worship your name— When God rebuilds Zion, when he shows up in all his glory, When he attends to the prayer of the wretched. He won't dismiss their prayer.
Psalm 102: 12-17 (The message)

The appointed time had come, and now was the time to favor her. God spoke, and he heard. “Uju we have to pray for Africa”, were my friend Wendu’s words, and so we started on our 26 day journey unaware of what lay ahead, armed with faith, trust and obedience. My friends you see when God knocks, you answer, when He calls, you answer immediately.

The Praying

WENDU


The first 2 countries were South Africa and Egypt. The following two were Algeria and my country Nigeria. We would pray individually during the day and at night we would round up our prayers over the phone. This we did for 26 days.

As we prayed for these nations over the course of the day we read current events on them. We read different data and statistics such as population, life expectancy, primary religion, languages.
You see as we read more and more and cried out to God on behalf of these nations we spoke to them. We told them to come out of bondage, we spoke peace unto to the people and we bound demons in the name of Christ. God came in every prayer that we said as we felt his presence and his desire that the people be lifted up unto him.

UJU

“Obedience is better than sacrifice”—1 Samuel 15:22

It was day 2, and we were praying for Nigeria and Algeria, the former my homeland and the latter a country where missionaries face heavy persecution, where Christianity is still seen as the “enemy of the state”. As I prayed, I realized the reins of the stronghold were tight, because the real enemy was still lurking around unnoticed by the people. The same problem that faced my grandparents as missionaries in Southern Nigeria, was still alive throughout Africa, the enemy had created a spiritual blindness, then he coined it “the white man’s religion”, now he had changed it to “the enemy’s religion”. We cried out to heaven, asking Jesus to pray through us, “Abba Father, Abba Father, open up the floodgates of heaven!”

“Obasanjo started crying.”

Those were the words shared by a visiting pastor at my church. It was now day 3, and I had gone to our mid-week service to get refreshed, unaware of what God had planned. The visiting pastor, Rev Tony is Ghanaian who had graduated from my church’s Bible Training Institute seventeen years earlier and had moved back to the continent to set up a church in Cote d’Ivoire, a country I had once called home as well. My church is a predominantly white church so this visit was a surprise as he was in town randomly, especially when he started his sermon with “We have to pray for Africa”.

I smiled.

He talked about meeting Nigeria’s former president Obasanjo and how in his company Obasanjo had told him that while he had all the power and the money, he lacked peace that can only come from God. Obasanjo asked him to lay his hands on him, and impart God’s peace on him.

He spoke about the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire, and how it took one woman hearing from God to resolve what the UN & Kofi Annan, African Union, and world leaders couldn’t in 5years. That woman was a prayer warrior who happened to be the 1st lady. One day as she was praying, she heard from God, and He told her to tell her husband to go to the rebel leader and ask for forgiveness. To better understand the significance of this, it would be akin to having someone bully you and move into your house, now you are being told that you should go apologize to that bully. The president was baffled, but knowing his wife and God, obeyed, much to the surprise of the rebel leader. He accepted the apology, and was made the 2nd in command (prime minister), the crisis was finally resolved for with God nothing is impossible.

As he spoke, God spoke, He was confirming His word, and my smile got bigger.

He spoke about praying for Africa’s leaders, about a world summit coming up in 2010 in Washington DC, that would involve Christian business men in the US and African world leaders. Pastor Tony passed around a sheet asking for volunteers to pray for Africa, to breakdown the stronghold, and pray for the Summit. I eagerly signed Wendu and I up.

“God wanted me to be here, to hear you speak!”, I said excitedly to Pastor Tony after the bible study. I quickly explained to him the reason behind that, and he smiled as he told me he was headed to Tunisia the next day.

As he spoke, God spoke, for tomorrow was day 4, and Tunisia was up next!

I never had any doubt that God wanted us to pray for Africa, but if I ever did have the slightest doubt about the significance, God had shut it out, and so now we prayed.

We prayed, and prayed! We stood in agreement pleading the blood of Jesus over the entire continent, 2 countries each day, we stood in the gap interceding and crying out to God for forgiveness and mercy, asking Him to send down His glory and power upon that land…our land.

We asked him to raise up strong, humble leaders who will serve the people the way Christ served the church, true leadership. We asked Him to send forth the laborers into the field, to provide the resources that the missionaries lacked, we asked for Bibles to be translated into every African language.

“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land”.---2nd Chronicles 7:14

We prayed for the men, the women, the children, all of us created in the image of the most High. The afflicted, the diseased, the millions of orphans due to HIV, the “desolate lands”, and the fruitful lands.

Within that period, I received a random email request from a friend going to South Africa to lead a short missionary trip who wanted people to pray for him, and the team. They were going to minister and share His love in the orphanages.

God was speaking…

The Zimbabwean presidential election was now at hand, and we were crying out to God for His light to shine. We pleaded our case and reminded of God of his word. We wanted His will to be done, for God’s will is the glory of Heaven. As the results reached a stalemate, we stood on God’s word in Phil 4:6 “I will not be anxious about anything but I will offer my requests to God in thanksgiving.”


What a mighty God we serve…

It was Sunday and I was running late for church, it was the evening service, as I walked in, the pastor was introducing missionary visitors from Kenya. It was a “surprise” visit, and they decided to come to the evening service that day (my church has 5 Sunday services they or myself could have chosen, and I could have missed it, God was at work). Here I was in my predominantly white American church, and my pastor was having us plead the blood of Jesus, place the spiritual armor of God and decree peace upon not just Kenya but Tanzania, Malawi and the entire East Africa.

God was still speaking…as the following day I received this email below.

The African Children’s Choir features delightful children ages 7 through 11, from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Many have lost one or both parents through the devastation of war, famine and disease, and in spite of the tragedy that has marred their young lives, these musically-gifted children are radiant with hope and wonderfully entertaining. They melt the hearts of audiences with their charming smiles and joyful African melodies and dance. Their voices sing out on behalf of Africa’s 12 million AIDS orphans. They represent the future of the entire continent, demonstrating the potential to become strong leaders for a better future in their homeland.

I received this somewhat random email from a list-serve notifying me about an event in town. Though I knew I would be unable to attend due to conflicts, God was speaking…Rwanda was up the next day for prayer.

We lifted up the island nations such as Seychelles, Cape Verde, Sao Tome & Principe, Madagascar, Comoros and Mauritius, we asked for God to fill up Djibouti with His radiance so that it serves as a beacon of light onto its Arabic neighbors. We asked for a revival among the nomadic groups such as the Fulani, so that they can carry the gospel of love and peace far throughout West Africa. We asked for churches, schools, hospitals, roads to be lifted up from the dusty lands. We asked the Master Architect for His own special plan.

Revelation

WENDU

As God came he imparted us with knowledge and wisdom. We began to understand that Africa as a continent and Africans as a people have been through so much strife historically but we are not without our sins. We worshiped idols; we sold our brothers as slaves. In some places we cannibalized each other and in other places we killed our brothers for sacrifice unto idols. The devils stronghold on Africa was tight.

Then the colonials came. The so called “Scramble for Africa” was the process by which the European powers (England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy etc) claimed regions of Africa and amalgamated them into the countries as they exist today. Africans were enslaved and colonized and there was a cry that went out from the people. But something else happened, something so profound that the land would never be the same…The message of Christ was preached!

I began to realize that the strife of slavery and colonization that Africa was to bear was the birth pains that preceded the glorious birth of the word of God in Africa. To the end that now some of the most devout Christians in the world reside in Africa as millions are being won for Jesus every day.

I began to realize that the Christians in North Africa are being persecuted immensely as the devil has traded his weapon of war and diseases against sub Saharan Africa for one of a religion without Jesus on North Africa. We cried out for the nations of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia among others as we were made to realize that they are in the promise and part of God’s plan for the continent.

UJU

It had been a long journey, and we were now on the final day, the 26th day. A family friend who is a Reverend from Nigeria was in town, and my mother had decided last minute to invite him over for dinner that day. He was in town for talks regarding a partnership between a university in Nigeria and our university, my alma mater. We all gathered around for the blessing of the food, and he started preaching, he prayed in my native tongue and asked God to rise up Daniels and Josephs in Nigeria, for Him to remove any leader that was not serving His people right, for him to give King Nebuchadnezzar more visions and dreams for interpretation, to build schools and hospitals. Abundant joy filled my heart, here I was in the company of a man of God in my house and he was crying out to the heavens for Nigeria, for Africa.

God was still SPEAKING…

The prayer was finished, and a few minutes later, my phone rings, its Wendu ready to share the Rhema (Living Word) scriptures that God had been quickened to his heart, to close the journey with the last 2 countries.

Yes GOD was still SPEAKING…

God’s promises and word unto Africa

WENDU

As I prayed God showed me certain places in the bible where he talked about Africa. The first was Ezekiel Chapter 11 verses 19&20. Prior to reading this passage, I had read where the lord had shown Ezekiel the abominations being committed by certain ungodly people. After each abomination God would say to Ezekiel: Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. Ezekiel 8:15

And so as God took Ezekiel, showing him one abomination to the next I thought about Africa. My home where Child soldiers are conscripted into armies and pregnant women are slaughtered, then God led me to his promise for a remnant that will be saved: And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:19-29

God was speaking a new promise unto Africa! That he will take away the hearts of stone that cause corrupt governments, wars, unbelief and strife…and he will replace it with a heart of flesh; that we will walk in his ways and be his people…and he will be our God. Amen!

On the last night of prayer I was filled with the holy spirit of God. My physical body was almost shaking as I knew that God was going to do something monumental at this conclusion. Before I called Uju to pray, God led me to Psalm 67 verse 31, a Psalm of David: Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

I was in awe of the awesome glory that is the revelation of God. I was humbled that at a moment like this God will visit me and give me this message about Africa. You see Egypt and Ethiopia are more than just 2 African nations; they are a representation of Africa as a whole. When David wrote this, African nations did not exist as they do today. In fact the only 2 African nations that existed at the time were Egypt and Ethiopia. Egypt was in North Africa and Ethiopia was often used in reference to black Africa.

This is the message that God wanted us to get out to the world. That he will do a new thing in Africa. That Princes shall come out of Egypt as North Africa experiences the glory of God, Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God as Sub Saharan Africa praises the name of Jesus!
Tell the world...

As you read this I pray that God is speaking to your heart. God is doing something in Africa in our generation. We shall see the day when Africa will no longer be the desolate place of corrupt governments and failed administrations. A place ravished by diseases and famine, a place always in need- But Africa will be a land overflowing with the glory of God. Africa will give aid to the world, and better than that- Africa will export Jesus unto nations! We will stand with Israel in the glorious future that God will make manifest unto our generation.

I pray to Jesus, that he pray to father to give you a heart that looks towards home. Pay attention to the news; see the signs of God in wonders that will begin to occur in the land of Africa. There are millions of Africans living outside the continent, and God is looking for a generation of them that will be a part of this glorious future that he has planned for our home. Go and be a part of it.

Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch forth her hands to God! To God is the glory. He is the revealer of mysteries and the giver of life. He is forever glorified. Amen.

UJU

“I am confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” –Psalm 27

As we look up to God in awe of His goodness, we share the words that He gave us. The hope we have for Africa isn’t one of human optimism but what the Lord Almighty has spoken. He is doing a new thing in Africa, and at His appointed time, the full radiance of its beauty will be revealed for all to marvel at the Lord’s doing. So we stand and speak united as children of God, as children of Africa, to remind you to pay attention to home, look towards home because His glory is being unveiled. Then all will speak those words in Psalm 50: 2 and say “Out of Africa, the perfection of the beauty, God has shone.”