My prayer for South Africa

On Sunday 26 May, I saw a post on South African Mail and Guardian's online version. This man was responding to an opinion piece and the words that stood out for me in his rant were these "Solution: let each race manage its own country. Then blacks can't complain about whites exploiting them, and whites can't complain about blacks running their country into the ground. If there was a referendum today my bet would be that whites would vote in favor of it and blacks against it." I thought this is why I never read these things! How does one come to a conclusion that segregation not unity is the solution? It made me wonder how I could live in Dubai and be surrounded by so many nationalities, languages and races yet in my own country there is this constant racial tension. What is missing in my country that we look at each other as race "black", "white", "indian", “coloured” before you see an individual who happens to be a certain race? How can I be genuine friends with a white Afrikaans speaking South African in Dubai and this is foreign in South Africa? Is this what happens when we are a collective? When I have my own environment and realise that I might never need you? When I get to a foreign country I like the familiarity of home and embrace everything South African even the things I previously did not tolerate.

I pray for South Africa. I pray for churches that are on fire for God. Churches that believe in the same God that saved the Israelites from Egypt, the same God who made David defeat Goliath and the same God who spoke to bring the world into existence. I pray that the church can unite to pray for South Africa. Pray for the eradication of crime. Pray for the eradication of poverty. Pray for the eradication of corruption. Pray for the love for others especially other African nations. You see we have put God in a box - God of Sunday, God to make me feel good and God of prosperity. God wants us to be radical for his glory. We must not be lukewarm believing in certain things and not believing in others. He says if 3 or more agree then he will give there. Have we as a church prayed for change in South Africa and had faith that what we ask for has been done? Do we believe that God can change things? That we can live in a safe South Africa?

For now I pray that God can change me. That he can remove all the prejudice and negative attitude that I have against others. That I can love others as he commanded me to. I pray that he can bring unity and love to my family. So that we are more loving, believe the best of each other and are more supportive. I pray that he can extend this love to every environment where I am present be it church, work, friends or family. That I can be involved - encouraging the discouraged, grooming the next leaders in my work environment, giving my time to the poor and giving graciously to those in need. Then those in my church and those supported by my church will feel the love of God. And those around me will see my integrity, my diligence, how I care for others and want to know more about my saviour Jesus Christ. And if we each did this with in our own lives then we could slowly but surely change South Africa. Who knows we might even change the world!

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