Article: A Call to Prayer

A few days ago I listened to an audio message in French of a supposed “coup d’état” that took place in the early hours of the morning in Cameroon. The impassioned speech of the military person representing the army was a cry for freedom! A few hours later, I learned that it was a rumor or merely a make belief.

Chatting with family a few days ago, I got to understand that they were internally displaced because of the situation. Once again I experienced feelings that were similar to those I felt when I saw pictures of a childhood friend butchered alive in my father’s village. I have heard of the children of disciples who have been deprived of school for the past two academic years. The father of a sister in the church got roasted alive just over a week ago.

If this is not a call to prayer, what else could it be? Somebody described anxiety as a conversation with ourselves about things we are not able to change but prayer as a conversation with God about things He is ABLE to change.

I heard that same call when I realized many years ago that my condition was leading to a silent death. Fear took over me after 6 months of unsuccessful chemotherapy treatment, and my knees failed me. One of my German doctors confronted my fear by looking at me straight in the eyes and telling me: “Herr Kimeng, your knee reflexes are working just fine. Your real problem is fear – that’s why you are unable to walk.”

That led to my first real and conscious prayer, as I pushed myself out to the quiet corner of the hospital garden, fell prostrate and cried out to God. My prayer when paraphrased went along the lines of: “God, I have been told that you exist and that you are All-Powerful, Good …. If everything I heard about you is true, then please don’t allow me to die of this illness. Please save me from imminent death!” The rest is history.

I have heard that same call countless times during the past 26 years. Can you perceive it? What action will you take? (Ezekiel 22:30; Col. 4:12).

Gilbert Kimeng