Be Faithful in Prayer

Throughout South Africa in the years 1991 to 1994, prayer intensified. A great cry to God seemed to be coming from the nation that he should act and intervene to help us, for we could not deliver ourselves. Special prayer meetings were constantly held in hundreds of churches. The state and its leaders were earnestly prayed for in almost every service of almost every church. Individual people from little old ladies, schoolboys, and students through to businessmen, housewives, and factory workers were daily calling on God for his power to be made manifest in the national crisis. One visitor to South Africa told friends back in the States: “South Africa is becoming one huge prayer meeting.”

My own conviction is that first and foremost in South Africa’s deliverance was the foundation of prayer. The depth of this prayer commitment became especially evident when our organization, African Enterprise, made a call in April 1993 for a prayer chain to begin operating 24 hours a day, round the clock, day and night, for two years. The response was simply staggering. Four thousand people became part of this chain with 18 groups praying daily, 90 groups praying weekly, and 108 groups praying monthly. It even included 40 prisoners in Fort Napier Prison who had found Christ in prison and committed themselves to pray for South Africa every evening for an hour.

Assurances of prayer chain participation also came from groups in Australia, South America, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, the United States, Canada, and all across Africa. In the Old Testament, God’s words and promise are recorded for us in the familiar verse in 2 Chronicles. I believe that in South Africa God’s people met the conditions of that promise in substantial measure and opened the way for God’s supernatural and miraculous moment of healing in the land in April and May 1994.

Reflect

Ask God to show you how you can fulfill the conditions of this promise. Will you make a commitment to pray regularly for your country? Is there someone you can ask to join you? Pray now for the leaders in your country.