On Saturday about 300 Christians from the Nelson Mandela Bay metro and surrounding areas trekked out to the 5%-full Kouga Dam in response to a call to worship the Lord and pray for rain.
None of those seeking God’s face in the picnic area below the towering wall of the region’s biggest supply dam were under any illusion that they were not facing a “giant” bent on destroying key citrus, dairy and crop farms and bringing misery in the country and urban areas.
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But despite the desperately low dam level, a prediction of “Day Zero” in July and no significant rain forecast for the next three months, faith rose among the believers as they united in heartfelt worship and prayer.
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The gathering was encouraged by a short message and prayer sent in by Uncle Angus Buchan and the testimony of farming couple Tommie and Carine van Kerken who had driven some 250km to attend the event and who shared how God answered the prayers of many farmers who attended a prayer day for rain on their farm in the Grahamstown district a fortnight earlier.
Wikus Nel, a Port Elizabeth attorney and part time staff member at Doxa Deo Church in PE, who initiated the prayer meeting, together with his wife, Karissa, said yesterday: “Saturday was personally for me a day of facing a very real crisis in not just our family’s life but also everyone in the Eastern Cape. It was great to look past this crisis and look up to the heavens and realise that our God is so much bigger and mightier than this concrete wall with a capacity problem. Our God is able to do superabundantly more than what we can ask or think!”
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He said the general feedback from many who participated was that everyone had faith in God “to supply our need and miraculously fill the dam”.
“We should not forget that the greatest victory of Saturday was that people turned back to God and gave their lives to God! That is the biggest miracle we can ask for! We should remember to keep on asking and keep on thanking God for His provision,” he said.
Carine van Kerken told Gateway News she had people contacting her on Monday, saying that they were very touched by Saturday’s meeting.
“I don’t know how or where they got my number, though,” she said.
She said the amount of rain that fell in the area early this week already exceeded predictions. There had not been “proper, heavy rains in the catchment area yet. But it will be coming down properly very soon,” she said.
“I have this strong feeling in my heart that I think God wants us to gather to pray and ask for rain. He wants our humble and repentant hearts to be completely dependant on Him to break this drought. There is something that happens when you put in effort to go and pray with other believers.”
Speaking about the prayer day for rain that was hosted on their farm Dikkop Vlakte, between Grahamstown and Bedford on March 13, she said that some farms in the district had 100mm of rain soon after they prayed.
Thanksgiving service
She also shared that they plan to host a thanksgiving service on their farm from 10am on Saturday May 1.
“It hasn’t rained much again, but both Tommie and I feel an urge to not postpone the thanksgiving service, as we know it will rain again after that. We will give thanks with grateful hearts and pray for more rain to fall widely. We are very expectant to see what God is about to do,” she said.
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Thank You God for granting faith-prayer before the rains come! You will get the credit!
Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.
Zechariah 10:1 NLT
May our God answer your prayers. May the rain fall filling the dam as hearts are opened to be filled and refreshed by our awesome God. Praying with you.