Looking at the recent events surrounding the president of Zambia, which is my country of birth and home, I feel obliged this week to ask all of you to pray for his healing and begin to praise God that it is done by faith.

It is a terrible thing for people to say you are dead when you are still alive.

Now scripture clearly tells us to pray honour and obey those in authority according to Romans 13:1-7 and Hebrews 13:17. Leaders in most cases have not grasped this truth. What the Apostle Paul meant when he said “so that we may enjoy quiet lives” is simply what people have missed. Those in Authority are placed in those positions by God. Now, of course, we know that there is also authority that has not been authorized by God, that which has been taken by force. Here I am talking about authority like the one most Presidents have. They are voted into office and that makes their authority legit. I am not talking about Zimbabwe either, that is a different story. Our job, however, is to pray. What Paul meant was that if we the body of Christ respect government authority there will be no persecution for the gospel. The gospel would spread with no opposition at all. But look at what is happening today, leaders both in business and religious circles are the first ones to bash those in authority in very unbiblical ways, leaders are in the forefront tearing down instead of building up. Others are just confused about authority. One day, they are with this party the next day with that party, don’t you think as leaders we are the head, so where the head goes the body goes too? If we disregard authority, then those that follow us will do the same. It will bring more confusion and the spread of the gospel will be hindered. Those that follow us include our families, I am not just talking about those leaders who have followers outside the home, but even a mother is a leader in her home, hence she has to lead by example and the rest will follow. Instead of people receiving us with open arms as leaders, they will say things like "I can’t listen to that man/woman because last time I checked they were talking so and so down," but today they want us to listen to them.

We should be proud that Zambia is the only country in the world to be declared a Christian nation. I can see some of you already discrediting the President that declared it a Christian nation, but here is my point-When he declared it a Christian nation, he had the full authority backed up by law and Gods word, making it legal and in full effect. Even some parents, let us say they spoke to their children in an intoxicated state one night, don’t tell me that the next day the Children will say “Dad was drunk last night, so let us not do what he told us to do!” No, that would be wrong because drunk or not drunk their authority as a father remains the same backed up by law and Gods word.

What I mean to say today is open up your spiritual eyes to why we need to pray for those in authority. You might find yourself in that position one day, and I tell you people will have to pray for you in order for you to be effective in what you do.

Today, whether you like the president or hate him, Pray for him, don’t make fun of him, you are a leader, you know better, if someone says something jokingly about him and his wife even about what they think happened, don’t even laugh, as a leader you are called to lead and not to compromise.

I will conclude with this awesome example of the importance of praying for those in authority. I must first of all tell you that God places us in families so that we can learn how to lead his people through our experiences with family members.

I was recently praying with my children and we do this every day, lifting up our relatives in prayer and just thanking God for their lives. I mean every day, sometimes twice a day. It wasn’t until last week that my daughters heard me say something they have never heard me say during prayer, it was “Lord please touch President Mwanawasa’s body and restore him.” When I said Amen, my children asked me “who this guy I had just included in the prayer was?” It then dawned on me that I was not lifting up those in authority like I should have. I was also not doing a great job by not teaching my children who our leaders are in Africa or elements of our history like 24 October and so on. I am not proud to say that I confessed to God and to my Children that day that I will not neglect to pray for those in authority and to share with them the history of Zambia ever again. Why am I telling you this? Leaders must communicate effectively and truthfully if we are going to see progress, hence the reason why a real leader is not ashamed or afraid to say sorry, I am wrong or simply to say I did not know, show me how to do it better. Because even those you lead, must be able to see you in a position of humility before God and anybody in authority. That way they will also pray for and honour those in authority.

I hope and pray you have something to pray about and think about today as a result of this leadership note. Read it over, these are powerful words and not just simple words. Search the scriptures also in your spare time, don’t just ignore them. Start leading today by taking small steps to victory.

Pray with one voice, one heart without wavering, and believe that your prayer will touch heaven.

If anything happened to our President, I tell you we would not enjoy the peace we are enjoying now. Confusion would hit the people and the politicians alike, and that could lead to more civil strife. Therefore let us pray for a quick recovery so that he may put his house in order and maybe step down for health reasons or just live out the rest of his term.

With love to you all, stay blessed and remembers that you are born to succeed!

Evans Phiri - Pastor
New-Life In The Word Church
Cleveland, Ohio 44060.
440-257-3560/216-659-6397

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Prayers for The President
written by Simunza Muyangana, July 25, 2008

Team BH prays that the God of peace blesses His Excellency Levy P. Mwananwasa SC and his family during this trying period.

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written by Jessy mwanza, August 19, 2008

This is a good and very powerful article.Am just sad that our president is now dead.But i believe we must now pray for peace and wisdom.Great job man of God,theys a lot of wisdom in your writing.

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