By Samuel Balagadde
Our country has not yet fully seen what God can and will do through men and women of prayer. I believe the greatest and most authentic changes in our world have come from men and women on their knees in prayer.
Prayer changes the people prayed for and the people praying. It has the ability to change the circumstances in which we find ourselves and can even change the course of human history. It’s more powerful than all the nuclear arsenals in the hands of human governments and even more potent than all the armies of the world.
Uganda is currently going through a lot in every aspect. Silence will not change a thing – taking about what is happening, and never praying about it will not change a thing. There’s no greater method of changing nations than that of prayer. It’s God’s secret weapon tucked away in the hearts of His people.
In the Bible, prayer has accomplished incredible things. It stops wars, changes hearts, causes rain, produces drought, heals the sick, brings revival, thrusts the church into evangelism, impacts nations, and raises the dead. Prayer is the great source of power for those who know and love the Savior.
The Lord is calling us to pray for this nation, and to pray as though no other church is praying. He is not saying no others are praying, but that your passion is to be motivated as though no others were doing so.
Josiah lived in the same generation in which Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Both his father and grandfather were wicked kings of Judah, yet Josiah “did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Chron. 34:2). Despite Josiah’s own godliness, the people he ruled still worshipped other gods and refused to turn to the Lord.
As a result of their persistent sinfulness, the prophets told Josiah trouble was coming and Jerusalem would be razed to the ground. Josiah’s response revealed his true colors, which so moved the Lord that He said this to the king:
“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and those who dwell here, and you have brought yourself low before Me and torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you, declares the Lord. I am bringing you to be with your fathers, and you will be brought to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place and on those who dwell here” (2 Chron. 34:27–28).
Because of Josiah’s commitment to the Lord and his lifestyle of crying out to God on behalf of his nation, the Lord actually delayed His judgments against Judah. This one man caught God’s attention to such an extent that He altered history on his behalf.
Following God’s assurance that Josiah would not see Jerusalem destroyed, the king successfully brought the people of Judah and Israel back to a posture of truly worshipping God and walking according to His covenant—”to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all [their] soul” (2 Chron. 34:31).
Despite his frequent frustration over the hard-heartedness of Israel, Moses pleaded with God to change His mind over the nation’s evil act in Exodus 32. “Turn from Your fierce wrath,” Moses asked the Lord, “and relent of this harm against Your people” (v. 12b). Once again, God listened to the prayer of one of His servants. He spared Israel from the judgment they deserved (v. 14), even though He knew how often they would eventually turn from Him.
“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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14, NKJV).
We must understand that it is every person’s “assignment” to pray, not simply to observe a moment or a single occasion. Let it become part of us to pray for those in leadership – to pray for our Church leaders – to take authority over every snare of the enemy and nullify every evil agenda against our country.
Let us speak positivity and welcome the Holy Spirit to take full charge of every thing. The power of a rising tidal wave of prayer can drive back the strongest surges of evil the flesh or devil can generate.
May we join together and be faithful to pray with all prayer, supplicate with all passion and intercede with all consistency. Let us rise up as His people and begin!
