Dear Friends,

We are riding through a difficult time in this country.  Plague is expanding across the land.  Let us pray that the Lord will stretch out His hand and stay this plague.  “Lord we pray for that right now.  We pray that you will send out your holy angels and put a stop to the cholera epidemic.  We pray for it to stop quickly.  We repent of sins we have commited and that you will have mercy on us as a nation.  We pray for the root causes in the water situation to be identified and receive quick resolution.  We bless you Lord that you hear our prayers.  We ask in the Holy Name of Your Son Jesus Christ.  Amen”.

This past week, I received an interesting dream from the Lord which I had posted earlier but have since removed it from this post since I had not received an interpretation.  Since then, I was well advised to withhold it until such time as I had greater insight.  I have not yet understood the word in the dream, so it could well be misunderstood otherwise.  Therefore it was not the mature thing to do.  If for any reason you found offence in it, please accept my humble apologies.  I do not want this site to bring division or contention.  It should rather bring a reconciliation and hope in Christ that our beloved country much needs. I believe God will assist in a deeper understanding as to its relevance. 

Have a blessed week. 

You brother in Christ

Keith 

Recently I felt the God-given urge to pen a poem expressing the combination of the thoughts of God and man towards Zimbabwe.  I thank the Holy Spirit for this inspiration. I believe that it weaves together the threads that the Lord has spoken to us over the course of this year and embroiders it with the human emotion that so many of us feel for our beloved country - friends and Zimbabweans alike.  May you be encouraged and as in Is 40 , learn to “wait upon the Lord” and then to rise up with wings as great eagles and take to the sky!  I have fully exercised my amateur poetic licence though these lines.

Blessings to you from the Lord in Christ Jesus.  We praise Him for His bountiful goodness at this time.

The Break-Day

I hear the voices of desperation

Rising from the dust of this land

The end of the night reveals clouds of anxiety

That float over the bush veldt

Like a thick smoke in early morning

Blinding my perspective

At the reality within.

I feel faint.

Smouldering coals of gloom

are my portion each day.

The dry bread of sorrows

I eat and am not strengthened.

I sleep, but am not refreshed.

I wish to keep on sleeping,

And perhaps never wake up again…

Why should I go on?

There is death and darkness close to me.

- My family…

My own health is failing

Why should I hope?

I cannot work

I cannot find any work.

My days dissolve away

Like a swift bird

Never  to be found again.

——       

Zimbabwe -

Where has your strength gone?

Why have you forsaken us

And taken flight for another land?

If we knew were you had gone,

We would together bring you back.

This is my song and lament.

O Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe.

Arise from the dust

And regain your God given strength again.

You fed the nations!

Now we are feeding you from our own table,

And yet our own children starve.

You have rejected us,

And not heard our cry for help

O Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

May you hear us today.

—– 

And then my friends,

I begin to think

I being to see that I could eat,

And not be satisfied.

I could sing and not feel joy.

I could hope and not see results.

But my hope was always short lived

Because I hoped in the vapor of the morning,

In the efforts of man.

I thought a unity government would work

But I was wrong.

My hopes were dashed.

I began to see that my hope must run deeper

My prayer must go higher

My faith must reach further

Than what I can see with my eyes.

—– 

I remember a story I once read,

From a Bible long ago

That God breathed on the dust,

And created a man.

A life began.

I begin to think about Zimbabwe

That God can breathe on the dust

And recreate a nation,

A nation that is dead

Can come alive

Where hope is lost,

It can be resurrected

Where there is dead

I can see life

Where there is famine

There can be food.

Elijah brought the rain though God’s word.

Joshua took the Hebrews from the desert to

A land flowing with milk and honey.

These were men, but

Jesus himself said

“the works that I do, greater work than this will you do…”

My heart begins to beat stronger

I feel bolder, my voice can sing loud

And scatter my enemies.

The Bible says that one of us can out one thousand to flight

And two of us, can send ten thousand fleeing!

I begin to understand what it means to be called -

“A son of God”

To be a son of the Great King - yes!

I am royalty in my land!

I shall be the head and not the tail

Above and not beneath.

— 

The waves of iniquity, flood over me as I

Recoil anew

At the sin of our nation

We have transgressed His good law

And pursued ourselves

Therefore we have found ourselves in this desperate place

God help us

God forgive us.

We are all guilty from the top to the bottom

Forgive us Lord, as we forgive.

You are merciful

Wash our inquity away

And remove our sins as far as the East is from the West.

I start to feel the fog cloud lift

As I release and verbally express our sins

And forgive those who have offended me

Those who have angered and embittered my heart

-A load so heavy and hard to remove

Yet when it is gone

I can stand taller and straighter

I can raise My head now to praise Jesus’ Name

My mouth is freed to speak things of righteousness and truth

To bless and no longer curse.

I see people’s chains fall off

As I speak good to them now.

They are no longer afraid.

Life is filling their eyes

I can see a spark of hope

Beneath the dusty eyelids

And in the corners of the mouth

Hope is a medicine,

It revives our spirits

It gives us strength to

Reach higher, further and wider.

We need to be a bold people

And pray for the impossible.

—- 

My mouth erupts in praise

To my surprise

A song of hope

“Jabulani, Zimbabwe

You are the jewel of Christ

He has bought you with a price

Jabulani, Jabulani

Hope now in God, the light of my countenance and My God

Enemies of our souls be scattered.”

—- 

I see Hopelessness and depression take to the wind

Like the dark bats flying towards the fleeting night

Where they belong

The day is coming now and the rays of the sun

Hit my body

With such a gentle strength

Yes Pamberi ne Zimbabawe

The frosty morning is challenged

By the awakening dawn

The rooster crows and the chickens are clucking

There will be eggs ready soon.

Yes, Zimbabwe arise to your rebirth

Be reborn into the grace of God

Come alive again and rejoice.

For your future is ahead of you:

You shall triumph and succeed

Come children of Zimbabwe

Come back from the four winds.

You are scattered

It is time to return to your roots,

O sons and daughters.

Hope, faith and love!

Arise to the dawn

I begin to clap my hands, shamwari

Celebrate in Christ!

He is the great builder

Perhaps the building has been torn down

But now the foundation can be re-laid

Which is Jesus.

That is a secure base for the future.

—– 

Holiness Zimbabwe

Repent from your ways

And do not go back to your folly any more.

Peace, reconciliation

Great sons and daughters have arisen from you

Look!

Here they come flying from the distant lands

Bringing with them the wealth of the nations.

This is an amazing thing

O sons and daughters

You bring richness back to our own land

You bring hope to our hearts!

You did not forget our plight.

“Yes we have come , we have come.

Play a song that we may sing,

Beat the drum that we may dance

For we have great stories to tell of you!”

O Zimbabwe

Our mother land.

Dear Friends of Zimbabwe, 

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this weekly post.

This week I happened upon Ezekiel 37.  It talks about the prophet Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones (the house of Israel).  Here is an extract for context, but I encourage you to read through the passage in your Bible too.

“1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
      I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”

 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath ^[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

Jump down to verse 11:

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 

We see that Israel were in a very desperate state.  They were dead as a nation.  They were so dead, that there were no flesh left on their bones.  Neither was their any flesh, but their bones were very dry.   You may well have been in a situation where a friend or family member was sick or passed away.  How you would have loved to be able to lay hands on that person and see them recover, or come back to life.  Now, image that you were to pray for someone that was long dead, and all that was left was a pile of dry bones.  How much harder this would seem!  Now, the bones in this case are the nation of Israel.   There seemed absolutely no shread of hope, even from a God fearing man like Ezekiel.  See what vs 11 says again.  They said that their hope was gone.

Today, I encourage you not to take the death sentence that we have been delivered as a nation.  We are being told this by the global media, by many politicians far and wide, and by current situations.  Yes?  So, it would seem that our bones are very dry and as a nation and globally we are viewed without hope.

Now, let us look at what is true: God summoned Ezekiel to assess the situation and give his thoughts.  Ezekiel deflected the question back to the Lord.  He could see no hope in and of himself.  God responded not though moving his mighty right arm, but instead telling Ezekiel to prophesy life and breath over the bones. As he did so in faith, the Lord began to move and act upon the words released from his mouth.  The rebuilding of the large group of bones came in a couple of stages and though differing words of prophesy.  We should learn from this and begin to speak words of hope and truth over our country.  We should call things of righteousness, prosperity and peace to life, and see the Lord move His hand and follow those words.  Do you see if my friends?

We call things that are not as though they were.  This is foolishness to men.  But, the Bible says that the heavens are the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.  That is why I believe that Ezekiel had to get a revelation of what God wanted to do, then begin to declare and rule in God given authority.  That is when the Lord could then work with Ezekiel and support him.

Stepping back into the train of Zimbabwe.  Let us speak life as we pray over this country.  When people hit us with discouraging talk (that is common sense), we can point them to The Hope who is all powerful and will act on behalf of His people.  Bless authorities and not curse.  At the end of the day we will say as in vs 14:

“Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.”

PRAYER: 

Read though this prayer below.  If you are in agreement pray it out too.  You can add other things on your heart as well.

“So yes Lord!  We praise You that You are exalted and high and lifted up.  We thank You that we are your begotten children, not by works, but though faith.  As kings and priest in Christ Jesus, remembering that you have given us all authority to overcome the works of the evil one, we bless our country.  We say “you will live Zimbabwe”, we prophesy breath into the body of Zimbabwe and life.  We speak a blessing over our leaders that they may have the mind of Christ.  Send your angels to intervene on our behalf and on behalf of the suffering.  Minister to those who are afflicted.  Let a spirit of compassion and forgiveness arise between those who are not aligned to your truth and those who are suffering.  We bless our president and declare that he will understand your grace and that you will guide his thoughts as water though the hands of a man (see Proverbs).  We pray for racial reconcilation and re-uniting.  Thank you Lord.  Amen”