During our EN Bloem Missions Week, we held a 24hr Prayer and Fast Chain with the emphasis on missions, of course… ;o) Each participant was encouraged to trust God to imprint a country on their hearts that He wanted them to pray for. Well, for a while now I have had Ghana on my heart. I honestly can’t tell you why… I just know that I was looking at the flag one day while going through a presentation and it kinda jumped out at me. Right away I knew that there was something God wanted to tell me about Ghana.
So here I am, sitting in a garden (I love praying in gardens) and praying about Ghana and God gets me thinking… “What do you know about Ghana?” To tell the truth: nothing. Oops! Google to the rescue!
That flag just kept waving in front of my eyes and I found a site that explained the meaning behind the flag design. Of course all countries have a meaning for their flag, it does represent their nation, after all….. So, this is what I read:
The Red stripe stands for the blood of Ghanaians shed in the fight for freedom from colonialism.
The Gold stripe represents the rich mineral deposits of the country (namely, gold).
The Green stripe indicates the rich agriculture of the area.
The Black star symbolizes African emancipation.
The word “Ghana” means “Warrior King”. Religion demographics are as follows: Christian – 68.8%; Muslim – 15,9%; Traditional Beliefs – 8,5%. Quite a high percentage of Christian believers. Ghana is also considered to be the closest country to what is termed the “centre of the earth”. This had me curious… if Ghana is in the “centre”, what surrounds it? Back to Google…
In short: Burkina Faso with only 4,2% Protestant Christians, 60,5% Islam. Togo with 29% Christians, 51% Traditional beliefs. Côte d’Ivoire with 32% Christian and the rest a mix of Islam, Traditional beliefs and a staggering 16,7% professing no belief in anything at all!
So, here is the interpretation that God placed in my heart for Ghana’s flag, the symbol that represents the country:
The Red stripe – A large percentage of Ghana’s population has experienced freedom through the Blood of Christ! Because of this, Ghana has the ministry of reconciliation, the responsibility to tell their neighbouring countries about freedom through the Blood of Christ.
The Gold stripe – Truth is precious. Like gold bars. Ghana has a rich deposit of the mineral Truth, and it needs to build bridges of relationship with it’s neighbours to get those gold bars across to them!
The Green stripe – Ghana is fertile ground for growth and maturity. Ghana needs to produce the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit producing seed that can be sown in the neighbouring countries for a new harvest of believers to grow!
The Black star – African to African evangelism. African to African discipleship. Africans guiding Africans to the path of Freedom! Freedom from fear, sin and death. Emancipation in Christ!
Ghana is indeed at the “centre of the earth” and Christ wants Ghanaians to reach out to the “ends of the earth”, the countries all around them in need of Truth. Ghana is the “Warrior King” in God’s African army, chosen to fight for the freedom of those around her still caught in bondage to sin and death and separation from the God who loves them so much that He sent His only Son to pay for their transgressions with His life, and end their separation from Him!
Rise up, Ghana! Hearken to the call of your Warrior King! The King of all kings and the Lord of all lords!!
Shalom!
No comments:
Post a Comment