Are You Still Praying for Kenya?

Acts 17:26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Jer 29:7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Being a Kenyan is not an accident. You were not born a Kenyan by chance. The Scripture in Acts 17:26 says that God determined the exact place where you should live. It is not by coincidence, luck, or the will of your parents that you are a citizen of Kenya. God wanted you a Kenyan; he thought about you, before your conception, and decided that you are to be born a Kenyan. In his divine wisdom he decided that the place which will maximize the potential that he put in you at your conception was by you being born a Kenyan.

If that it is the case, then you ought to be proud to be a Kenyan. You should not desire to be a citizen of another country (unless it is a case of last resort). Some Kenyans are even denouncing their citizenship of this country for the sake of money. You need to care and love the country in which God decided that you are to be born in. You need to care for all the ills bedevilling Kenya, because God put you here for the purpose of caring for this country. Just as God gave Adam the Garden of Eden “to work it and take care of it” so has he given you Kenya, as a citizen of this country by divine will, to take care for it and to tender it. A big part of tendering this country is to pray for it. You see, many of the problems bedevelling us as a nation are spiritual in nature. God has said that “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14:34). This means that our sins as a nation are the ones that are bringing us our disgrace; they are bringing us our poverty; our corruption; our murders; our abuse of children; and even our factionalism and tribalism. However, God does have a dynamic promise in his Scriptures “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

This means that God will hear the prayers of Christians when they pray for their country. Nineveh was a wicked city, just like Nairobi, but God spared it from destruction when its people called upon him and confessed their sins. As Christians, we need to repent our sins and the sins of our country before God, to confess them before him, and to turn from our wicked ways both as individuals and as a country, so that God in turn can heal our land and return us to our glory as a nation. The Scripture in Jeremiah 29:7 shows that we need to seek the prosperity of the country in which God has placed us in (by his divine purpose). It is useless to be a millionaire in a country of 30 million beggars. One day these beggars will turn against you and will take away all that you have accumulated for yourself. God’s intention is that people may prosper as nations, as countries, and not only in their individual capacities. It is in this context that the Jews were promised “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land” (Mal. 3:12). His intention is to make Kenya a delightful land; a land respected and envied by other nations. Can you be counted to do your part? Where were you when the President declared a prayer day for the nation? Are you still pray for your country?