Prayer and the 7 Poorest Countries in the World

Through this challenge I want to learn about the 7 poorest countries in the world.  I want to get to know them better so that I can be able to pray for specific areas of their country.  Being specific in our prayer is very important.  I know as kids we were taught short little prayers that we could easily remember. My favorite as a child was, "God is good. God is great. Let us thank Him for our food. AMEN."  BUT, I am now an adult and growing in my walk with the Lord.  It is now time that I pray prayers that come from my heart that are genuine and true.  I believe that prayer is POWERFUL!  I have spent so much of my life saying quick prayers so that I can pat myself on the back and say, "Alright, I'm prayed up for the day!"  But how wrong is that!  Not only are my prayers normally lacking in length, but they lack in earnestness, and passion.  God created this entire world, and He placed me in one of the richest countries in the world.  I am so beyond blessed!  I owe Him more than just 5 minutes, or 5 seconds a day with Him.  I owe Him my everything!  I am trying so hard to spend more time in prayer with the Lord!  No, this month is not Prayer.  BUT!  Prayer is something that I should do all of the time as a Christian!  I am sure that I will learn more than I can imagine in the month of Prayer! 

Before I begin praying for these countries I need to make sure that my heart is right with the Lord.  Let me explain...

Psalm 66:18 says "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear."  Make sure that you are repenting and asking for forgiveness before you go into a time of prayer.  Yes, we are forgiven as Christians and we can talk directly to God.  BUT, we are still sinners and have to still ask for forgiveness daily!  Mark 11: 24-25 says, " Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."  God takes this asking for forgiveness thing pretty seriously!  We need to make sure that our hearts are right before we go into our time of prayer with Him. 


According to The World Bank the 7 poorest countries in the world are:
1.  Haiti
2.  Equatorial Guinea
3.  Zimbabwe
4.  Congo
5.  Swaziland
6.  Eritrea
7.  Madagascar

There are several things that these countries have in common but the main thing is poverty.  What kind of poverty do they live in you ask?  Well... allow me to let you read something that broke my heart.  This comes from project81haiti.org and the writer is writing to a Haitian:
 

"...your entire family survives and endures this extreme form of poverty. You go about your daily life rarely complaining.  You simply are happy to have your relative health, a place to sleep, and a meal to eat.  You are aware other people in the world live a nicer life but you cannot possibly imagine the often excessive and wasteful lives they live.  You cannot fathom the oceans of belongings they possess. In your life everything has a purpose and nothing is wasted.  You cannot comprehend the amount of wealth they squander. You only hope that some resources will be shared with you.

You simply endure. That is all a person can do is endure and hold out hope that someday things will get better.  You have faith that day by day, one small step at a time, things in your country will improve.   You are always fighting to survive this day, and living for a better tomorrow."

You cannot comprehend the amount of wealth they squander.  OUCH!  Those words sting!  We have sooooo soooo much more in one day than what they could ever imagine for in their entire lives.  We are so blessed and what are we doing with all of our blessings?  Are we taking advantage of the blessings God has given to us?  Oh how this hearts my soul...  I want to do something drastic for these people now!  And right now it is prayer!! 





For more information on poverty in the world you can visit: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Be sure to scroll down past graph to view


7 Poorest Countries in order came from an article that 24/7 Wall Street published, "24/7 Wall St. relied on World Bank data for the percentage of residents who are living below their national poverty lines. Data was only available for 112 developing nations. In addition, we considered GDP per capita, gross domestic product, HIV/AIDS prevalence, life expectancy, unemployment, infant mortality and primary school enrollment — all from the World Bank."  You can view this yourself at http://247wallst.com/2012/09/14/the-10-poorest-countries-in-the-world/