Zimbabwe Voice of Hope

As I am up one evening in prayer, I hear the Lord again encouraging us to speak life to our nation.  We should declare and prophesy truth and LIFE - abundant life!  Call those things that are not as though they were, just as He does.

The Lord says,  “Prophesy fullness and richness on the nation of Zimbabwe.  It shall again become the kneeding bowl of Africa where great supplies and sustenance for surrounding nations will be produced in great quantities.   There are so many vessels of hope and life in the country.  In each city and town there are  numerous men and women who are extremely passionate about Me.  Did I not say that I would save a city for but 10 righteous ones?  Yet - there are far more than that through the places in Zimbabwe.  If there were but 10 righteous souls that cried out to Me,  I would have surely spared the land - the entire land.  Yet the prayers have been ringing up clearly from all over the world.  The prayers of Zimbabweans offered up to Me from the East to the West.  The answers are on their way!  Look out!  Look to you left, look to your right.  See the provision of the Almighty - the spiritual manna that is falling upon you from your prayers.  Focus on The ONE who can change all things.  He can make bad into good.  He can turn a curse for a blessing. 

“Stop the curses from your lips!  For blessings and cursing cannot both flow from your lips.  You are either hot or cold.  Be hot for Me and My truth!  Sing my truth.  If I would not say it (i.e. the words you speak), then you should not either.  I Am coming soon - purify you hearts and minds.  Wash your hands of any unrighteousness and be holy even as I you Father Am Holy.  You are representatives of Me in your cities and streets, in your workplaces and homes,  in your countrysides and villages.  People are looking to you.  People are looking AT you.  What are you showing them?  Do you pour doubt on their small faith, or do you pour hope and expectation on their dry souls?  This is the season of renewal.  I Am the vine - you are the branches.  Grow by multiplying.  Expand by filling the vine as you grow outwards.  Teach others.  Disciple others that they too can grow outwards and beyond.    You are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath.  I have stored up the inheritance of the wicked for the righteous. 

“Hold fast to the truth that you have learned about Me.  Don’t be swayed!  Believe every promise in My word, and as you do - you will begin to see things happen.  My word is a ramrod in your life.  Take the word and hold it fast - then use it to drive over the walls of the enemy in your lives!”

love from the Father.”

Let’s rejoice in the righteousness and justice our our God.   His way is perfect.  Worship is a key aspect to experience the fulness of His joy in your lives.  You lay all your cares aside as you do this, and the glory of His presence begins to consume your entire being and make your problem mountains seem as insignificant ant hills!

We thank you Lord for your Word to us and ask for your help and grace to receive it into our hearts and minds. 

Have a blessed week in Christ, from your brother in Him.

Keith

 I’ve been praying and I hear the Lord saying:

“This is the season of breakthrough in Zimbabwe.  The light will shine and the darkness cannot comprehend it.  Fear not, I Am a God of the Breakthrough.  When you cannot weep anymore, I Am there for you.  Though you pass through fire and water, you shall not be burned or drowned.  You shall see the salvation come to the people from the top down.  As blessing flows from the head down to the feet, so it shall be in Zimbabwe.  Fear not, there are new winds blowing and hope is stirring.  Faint not.  I shall never fail you.  I will never leave nor forsake you.  Though sorrow endures for a night season, yet joy will come in the morning.  “You have known the kindred spirit of those near to you, who have reached out to help you in time of dire need.  What is this to you?  Are not the small things in life and the small kindnesses shown by close friends and family, more than money and a great inheritance can buy?  There are many who go to their graves with all the wealth in the world, but do not trust anyone to share it with.  They die lonely.  The Lord has seen the kindred spirit of the Zimbabwean people and is well pleased.  They have been innovative, kind and resourceful.  As the wise women of Zarepath was faithful and served Elijah the little flour and oil that she had during the great drought in Israel (1 Kings 18).  God then proceeded to multiply that small serving, and each day it was enough.  There was not abundance in that season, but there was “enough”.  This continued all the days of the famine until the rains came again.”

“PENTECOSTAL FIRE FALLING IN VICTORIA FALLS ZIMBABWE

Report from the beginning of our crusade in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe :

I flew in from Paris , France , after rushing up there for a short assignment and went straight to our crusade here.

It is an amazing and wondrous sight; tens of thousands of people packing out the field, singing, shouting and dancing. Zimbabweans have suffered much deprivation, but in spite of the difficult situation here there is a tremendous hunger for the Gospel. It is harvest time, and we are reaping, winning multitudes of souls for our Lord Jesus! Hallelujah!

After the altar call for salvation to which at least 35,000 responded, the Holy Ghost fell with great power.

Miracles began to take place; demon possessed people began to fall down as the devils came out. Somebody got up out of his wheelchair and began to walk. The people around him began to praise God and lifted up the wheelchair over their heads. The crowd went totally nuts, praising God, shouting, and jumping. People began to throw their crutches and walk. One man testified that his leg had been crushed after being trampled by an elephant 15 months ago. He was now walking. Deaf people began to hear. A lady who was totally blind in one eye began to see….

This is just the beginning of this crusade. Our Lord Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and for ever! He has never changed. Let us stay close to His Cross, to His Resurrection Glory. Let us glorify Him and continue to preach this wonderful triumphant Gospel that breaks every chain!

All Glory to Jesus!

Thank you for your love, your support and your prayers.

In Christ Jesus,

Christopher Alam (with my son Gabriel)

Victoria Falls , Zimbabwe”

Dear Friends, 

I apologize that it has been so long since posting a word on this site.  The days have been discouraging.  When I read the papers, hear the news and see various reports it seems there is little reason for hope.  BUT, God reminds me that the hope we have is within us.  We will not find hope through the media and news. 

 I heard a great sermon recently by a friend for whom I greatly respect; Rev. Christopher Alam.  Reverent Alam has been doing some wonderful crusades in Zimababwe as well as huminitarian exercises.  Reverent  Alam was saying that when he would come to pray over someone with a major disease, the spirit of the disease would be intimidating and cause him to loose faith.  He would then engage in praying in the Holy Spirit, and prayer in tongues.  If you are unfamiliar with this thought line, please read the website section “about” and it will give you some more information.  The early church was founded upon the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  How could 12 rough basically uneducated men turn the world upside down.  History tells us that at one time the Roman empire was 50% Christian!  That is amazing.  The work of the Holy Spirit empowers us far more than we can ever comprehend.  A simple prayer in the Spirit can move mountains that we may not realize at the time.  I encourage you to search this out, and ask the Lord for the gift of His Holy Spirit to you.

Rev Alam said he would pray until he felt the ”fire”.  The effective fervent (fire) prayer of a righteous man avials much.  Then the miracles would flow, the sick would be cured and even the dead raised!  Zimbabwe is a diseased country right now.  At least it possesses many such symptoms.  We should not be overcome by the disease and succumb to it, but rise up through prayer and “come on top” of it.  Prayer is a ladder by which we move from our present problem and move into a new plane that is above and beyond.  Now our faith arises and we can hope again.  Take inventory of all the wonderful things that God has done for you.  Many of these you may not recognize as His hand, but ask Him to show you.  As you take stock of these movements and “miracles”, you will begin to trust again and begin to take hold of the faith.  We are to have faith and not doubt.  It is a command.  Let us  pray still more for our leaders and that the hand of the Lord will strengthen their minds and wills to make the best decisions at this time and to see a clear path forward.  Remember we are called to pray.  We should be talking to God more about our leaders than to our fellow man.

I have enclosed an email from a white friend currently in Zimbabwe.  The views are from his perspective and do not necessearily reflect the views of the website, yet I have small hesistation in posting it.  Pay special note to this man’s hope and forgiveness for our country.  Pray that God will bless him and enable him to be a witness for Christ.

Best regards my friends and I bless you in the love of Christ Jesus!

Keith

Here is his email:

“Dear Friends,

I thank you for the many positive and negative comments I received on my message, “A Prophetic Word for Zimbabweans”. I think it would be right for me to answer some of the criticism albeit a delayed response. I really appreciate the frankness with which some comments came. I didn’t take any offense as I appreciate that people come from many different backgrounds and experiences, and had I experienced the same I might have developed the same world view.

Some have asked who I am. I am a very ordinary man who has grown up and lived in Zimbabwe all my life. I am an artisan by trade, grown up in the metalworking industry, but then later went to Bible college to study for the ministry, in which I have been involved for some 30 years. In that time I also started my own industrial company which has run successfully for over 20 years. In the early 2000’s during the main farm invasions, my family lost all their farms, including the family farm I grew up on. I felt very moved by the experience, and felt that I wanted to make a difference where I could. I consequently sold my house in town and bought a small farm (miraculously) and have now been farming for almost six years. Some have commented that I must be “dilly”, a “zealot”, “fallen out of a tree”! They are probably quite right!

However, let me give you a little background. I have not come through all this without some personal suffering. I have been thoroughly beaten up and kicked, emerging from the ordeal a bloody mess. The memory of it still wakes me up with a start at night. I have had bullets flying around me, and heard men dying close to me from those same bullets. I have been stoned by some thirty black gold panners, escaping death by a sheer miracle. My tractor still has dents where the rocks hit it. My wife and I have been robbed, and tied up in our home, and our things smashed or stolen. I have endured the violent shaking of black fists against me. In front of authorities I have experienced a black man grab my face and shake me violently. I have had blacks deliberately dig canals and holes through my dam walls, break and steal my fences, chop down trees, etc etc etc. If there were any who had reason to hate the blacks I could easily point to many such things.

However, I have deliberately chosen a path of forgiveness. When the thugs who broke into my home and treated us so roughly were caught, I asked permission to visit them in jail. Permission was granted, and I went and shook each one’s hands, offered them a Gideons New Testament, and told them that I forgive them. The law would have to run its course, but from my heart I wanted to be free of the burden of any possible bitterness.

For some critics who might still be struggling with personal justification for leaving Zimbabwe , please understand that I can in no way criticize any who left. I dare not! Each person must make their own decision based on their own circumstances and experience. Please do not take my positive attitude about Zim as a jibe against you for leaving. However, where bitterness might be lodged somewhere deep in your heart, know that unless you face that bitterness and deal with it personally, that bitterness will eat you up - I don’t care if you are living in England or Australia or New Zealand or the moon for that matter. Every time you read a story of some abuse someone has suffered, the whole of your own painful experience will surface again and it will eat you up!. The only way to deal with bitterness is to offer forgiveness - as hard as that might be. But the difficulty of offering forgiveness is small in comparison to the torment that bitterness brings!

Some have wondered at my comments that Zimbabwe is a place specially chosen. “How can you say that Zimbabwe is special. New Zealand , England , etc are also very special, and God can work there also.”

Well the answer is quite simple really. I am sure that each of those other places are also very special. Of-course they are! However, I believe that one can claim according to the Scriptures that each individual person has a special, unique calling by God, different to that of any other person in the world. Wonder of wonders! But that is how God made us. Now if individuals can have special callings, what of families, what of cities, what of ethnic groups, what of nations. Often we see specific nations spoken of in Bible prophecy - often specific cities too - and ethnic groups and families. So why not Zimbabwe . In saying that Zimbabwe is special, I am certainly not excluding any other nation. However, I refute those who speak of Zimbabwe as a “God-forsaken nation” God has not forsaken us, nor ever will! Zimbabwe has a very specific call and purpose of God, and it is that purpose I pursue with all my heart!

The materialistic “west” and the effects of the god of mammon

I made a number of comments about the concern I have about the possible sudden influx of multi millions of dollars in a restructuring exercise. I do understand that finance will be needed for restructuring - lots of it. However, I also see from the Scriptures how often Israel was brought very low by various oppressors, then God sent a deliverer, and no sooner had they been brought to freedom than they “forgot God and turned aside to the worship of other gods.” I have always wondered about this. It is so easy in retrospect to criticize the people of Israel and say as the Pharisees did, “If we lived in their day we would not have killed the prophets!” Jesus reply to them was very sharp, “You are witnessing against yourselves in that you call them, ‘our fathers’ and have become partakers of their evil deeds.” He then proceeded to tell them that He would send them apostles and prophets (their own tests) whom they would kill, and thus bring upon themselves the judgement of their fathers. (paraphrase is entirely mine from memory - I don’t have a Bible here with me)

The point is that we don’t seem to learn from history. I am one who believes that God does prosper His people. God after all, and as someone pointed out, made the gold and the wealth of every mine. But I do also see a very real danger in us trusting in those riches. I believe the central focus of “prosperity” according to the Scriptures, is for us to be givers of life to those around us, and not the amassing of wealth for ourselves. God’s promise to Abraham included His abundant blessing upon his descendants, but then the call was that he (and his descendants)  should be a blessing to many nations.

My limited experience of the western lifestyle as I have seen it in SA, England and Germany , is a lifestyle that generally is very selfish. I see people caring less for the person next to them, and in its place I see a desperate scramble to “keep up with the Joneses” - even at the expense of unnecessary debt. Refute me if I am wrong, but certainly in SA I have seen the general populace moving away from God and away from a genuine care for their neighbour. Even in the churches I have seen people giving feigned obedience to God, worshiping with the “latest music and technology” which looks so very glitzy, but I sense an emptiness! 

In Zimbabwe I do not see that same emptiness. I see a genuine love for each other. “Church” is very genuine. The other day I heard an amazing testimony of a teacher who was looking for mealimeal for his family. The money he had was too little, and he walked home to his family empty handed - still the little bit of money in his pocket. Along the way God tested him to the limit. He saw a needy young couple on the street, and, prompted by God, gave the last bit of money he had to this young couple. Within minutes God had miraculously supplied both his need for food, and the young family’s need for transport to go and bury their mother. These kind of testimonies can be multiplied many times. People are genuinely concerned for their neighbour. I see black people giving themselves sacrificially for orphans and others in need. When I see that I say, “The kingdom of God is among you!”

So you understand my genuine concern for what might happen if we are suddenly plunged into “prosperity”. I don’t purport to have the answer. However, somehow, I think that a rebuilding of our nation might need to be slower than we might like to have had it, but that it should come mostly from within, based on genuine love. The entire world has stood by and watched our country suffer, without lifting a finger to help (politically speaking). Only some care agencies and individuals have helped for which we are very grateful indeed. Some might sneer at the idea of a rebuilding coming from within Zimbabwe itself. However, consider the follo win g Scripture, “I lift my eyes up to the hills (prophetically hills often represent nations). From whence cometh my help? My help comes from YaHWeH of hosts. He is my strength and my God” (Ps 121 I think. - again, I do not have my Bible with me so am quoting from memory)

Folks, if we want genuine revival and restructuring, then I don’t think our help is coming from the nations. I believe God is wanting to do something unusual in Zimbabwe . Our help is going to come from Him and Him alone. I do believe the world is yet going to stand amazed at that which will come out of Zimbabwe .

Well I know some think me to be “dilly” or “crazy”. I am sure I am. One must be crazy to buy a farm right in the middle of the farm invasions! I am crazy about Zimbabwe . I love the people of this country with all my heart. Sometimes they frustrate me no end, but I still love them to bits. I love the land. I love the sunrises and sunsets. I love the call of the fish eagle, the dry tree stumps that stick out of lake Kariba . I love the grasslands. I love the amazing shapes and colours of the Msasa trees - the bright yellow cassia trees. I love the dry lowveld with its mopani trees - suddenly to see some Kudu or Eland stand among them.

I love the aloes. Along the Chivi road there is a kopjie with the most beautiful aloe exelsas standing proudly. It is most beautiful. But I think the aloe chibaudi is my favorite - no maybe it is the aloe arborescense! I love the rock kopjies, especially in the Gutu area.  I love the chattering of the sunbirds - the liquid call of the black headed oriol. I love the myriads of butterflies and moths. I love the minute veld flowers, in their thousands. I love the smell of rain - especially the first rains of the season. I love seeing the veld just come alive after that first rain!

I love the smell of the ground when it is being ploughed. I love to see the pippets and forked tail drongoes flitting about catching the insects that have been exposed by the plough. Then at times a regal grey or black-headed heron will come to catch its share of the prey. It always keeps its distance from the tractor - and never loses its composure. I love it! I love the beauty of the cranes - wattled and crowned, but I think the most spectacular is the sadle-billed stork. What a magnificent bird. God must have had much fun creating that species! I love the sound of the crickets and frogs at night - the call of the hyena - the roar of lions - the trumpeting of the elephants. I love seeing the zebras quietly grazing.

I love to see the pickeniens (small African children) playing and laughing. I love seeing people work in their fields. I love seeing a beautiful maize or wheat crop. I love the rivers and dams, and the ducks and moore hens. The African Jakanas are such amazing water birds. I absolutely love this country of Zimbabwe .

So I’m crazy. You are absolutely right. I am over the moon, gone totally bonkers, crazy about this land of my birth. And I dare anyone to tell me I shouldn’t be!

With love from a fellow Zimbabwean”