Haiti

• Pray for those who despair to find hope in Jesus Christ.

• Pray for deliverance for those in bondage to voodoo.

• Pray for the development of long-term plans saturated with wisdom and justice.

SUMMARY

Soon before nightfall on January 12, 2010, the nation of Haiti was rocked by a severe earthquake, causing great devastation and loss of life in a country already ravaged by poverty and spiritual need. It is timely that we learn more about the country of Haiti and intercede.

Modern Haitian history began when oppressed slaves courageously and proudly overthrew their French colonial masters and established a free and democratic state. However, ever since that successful revolution in 1804, Haiti has struggled through several violent and bloody military coups, dictators, and oppressive regimes which has kept true democracy from taking root.

For Haitians political instability has been compounded by a rapid succession of natural disasters (hurricanes, drought, soil erosion, and deforestation), a fifty percent unemployment rate and a fifty-five percent literacy rate. These factors have combined to push below the poverty line unable to meet their basic needs, making Haiti the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere with the average Haitian earning only 250 dollars a year.

When the Haitians rebelled against colonial tyranny, they also rebelled against their oppressor's religion and encouraged the indigenous voodooism over their master's Christianity. Though over 95% of Haitians claim to be Catholics, most blend aspects of catholicism with different aspects of their "cultural faith", voodooism. In this faith people worship their ancestors and other deceased spirits through rituals thats seek to appease angry spirits and plead with kind spirits for blessings.

But even though Haiti is one of the bleakest nations, God is active, powerful and proving victorious over the darkness of the land. An estimated twenty-two percent of Haitians are born again believers, and rural villagers and the urban poor are flocking to missionary schools, hospitals, orphanages, and humanitarian centers where they are exposed to the gospel.

Pray that God will meet the immediate and long term physical needs of a nation in desperate suffering. Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth, power, peace, and hope of the gospel, that Haitians will accept Christ's salvation message, and that they will be discipled in the faith. Jesus said blessed are those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, and who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Let's pray that Haitians will be so blessed be trusting Christ to meet their spiritual and physical needs through union with Him.