Call to Prayer

August 17, 2021

As we contemplate the God-centered values we espouse for Africa’s leadership as AFReG, we realize that change in all of us is imperative if these are to become a reality. In this series of devotions, we consider several topics under the general theme – “Changing Against the Tide” based on Romans 12:1-2. With transformation, everything changes. Through the transformative power of the Gospel, grace through faith and the Holy Spirit’s enablement, this change becomes a reality. Journey with us as we look at where it all began, why there is such inertia to change, why we should change, how we change, and how this change can be sustained to become a legacy for generations to come.  

We begin with looking at the dismal state of the world as it is.

In Genesis 3:17 we read – And to Adam God said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” Things went wrong in the beginning when Adam exercising his free will, disobeyed God’s instruction and ate of the forbidden fruit. A state of corruption characterized by decay, pollution and incorrectness entered the world. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, floods, famine, cancers, disease pandemics, dementia, viruses, plagues, etc. are all physical manifestations of this fall and curse upon the world. It will not get better; in fact, it will get worse. The heavens and the earth as we know them will come to an end. Isaiah 51:6 reads, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But my salvation will last forever, and my righteousness will never fail.”

Despite this bleak background, there is hope in the promise of a new heaven and new earth described in Revelation 21 and 22. This will be an incorruptible destination that will be the home for all whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 27:27); citizens of the Kingdom of God.

In the meantime, there is tension that exists as creation waits eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Creation groans as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time, looking forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay (Romans 8:19, 22).

What does this mean for us today?

• This world as it is will pass away and a new heaven and earth will be ushered in at the end of time. We can live with a certainty of a hope-filled, beauty-filled eternity. My choices today determine my eternal destination.
• Our investment in terms of time, talents and treasure cannot be in what is passing away but in what will last forever.
• Through faith in Jesus Christ, we can become partakers of God’s promises and participate in His divine nature and so escape the corruption that is in the world (paraphrased from 2 Peter 1:3-4).

Prayer:
Thank you for Your sure promises to me in Christ Jesus and the immunity they provide from the world’s corruption as I walk in trust and obedience. Help me to live with an eternal perspective every day and give me wisdom to invest my time, talents and treasure in what has eternal value.