My grandfathers grave sits in the shadow of Prayer Mountain. Above Uganda Christian University sits 72-acres of prime hotel real estate dedicated to prayer. Many years before a wealth pastor donated the land he owned and raised enough month to purchase the feast of the 72-acres before transferring it into the ownership of a non-profit organisation and dedicating it as a space of pray.
It’s a beautiful area, greenland all around, panoramic views, and monkeys swinging from the trees. Some people come here for days on end, camping within the grounds, withdrawing from the busyness of life and just spending time with God. I’m a big advocate of personal retreats and back in the UK I got away twice a year just to spend some time along with God, reviewing my life plan and looking at my goals.
Prayer has always been a struggle for me. In the UK we are more inclined towards silent prayer and meditation (which has been a big part of our church history), here in Uganda they are at the opposite end of the scale – loud and plenty of talking! Neither method is wrong, but I don’t think either is right either. In the west we spend too much time listen inning and not enough time praying, we also tend to be embraced about praying out loud. Here in Uganda we spend too much time talking and not enough time listening! There’s a healthy middle ground that we need to find, if we believe prayer is communication with God, not just talking at God or waiting for him to talk at you.
Richmond had brought be along, and showed me the spot he liked to pray in – many of his big life and ministry decisions have been made in their space. We exchanged two prayer requests, and then focused our mind on God through worship. After opening in prayer we parted ways and I was feel to walk around exploring while chatting (out loud to God). In such a big space, you have the freedom to move, to shout, to cry, to laugh and to sing – without feeling self conscious, and after an hour I was amazed how quickly time had passed and how I’d been able to continue in prayer throughout.
We reconvened and shared what God had been saying to each of us, and spent some time just thanking Him for this place, and for the work He was doing in each of our lives.
Leaning towards the introvert side of the scale I love places like this to rebuild and refresh myself. In Reading I had a place by the lake I would go to help me pray and make difficult decisions. In Portsmouth it was by the sea, especially at night. It’s sad that we don’t have any prayer mountains in England. Areas of land dedicated to God for prayer – where stories of healing spread like wildfire. Richmond told me one story of a lady with HIV/AIDS who was healed during her retreat here. She now serves on the team here at Prayer Mountain and here testimony brings countless people here to the hills to seek Jehovah Rophi (God who heals).
