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By James Quansah
GOD WANTS His children to pray without ceasing. While some of them gladly do this, others do not. In fact, some believers are so committed to prayers that they pray before they die. There must be important reasons for this.
My biological father, Opanyin John Kwame Kuranchie, a Christian, died on July 22, 2022 after a short illness and was buried in December 3, 2022. He died peacefully at home with a smile on his face. Two of my brothers who witnessed his death tell how my late father prayed for minutes before passing on.
It is a rare privilege to have the grace of God to pray before dying. A person who is given grace to offer prayers before yielding his spirit is given an opportunity to put things in order in his life and in the lives of others.
In the Bible, we read about two persons namely Jesus Christ and Stephen who prayed before they died. The Lord Jesus prayed in Gethsemane before His betrayal, arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. He again prayed while hanging on the cross prior to yielding up His spirit.
In the Luke’s gospel, Jesus prayed that God, the Father, forgive those who crucified Him. He desired a clear conscience and so did not want to leave the earth holding a grudge against anyone.
Also, Stephen, a deacon, prayed before dying. He was being stoned for preaching about Jesus Christ, quoting various passages from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms that Jesus was the Christ. But his attackers who found his words irritating in their ears pelted him with stones, lynching him in the process (Acts 7).
But before Stephen died, he received the grace to offer a prayer for his killers. Interestingly, however, he did not pray that God should punish them but said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” (Acts 7:60).
In both biblical accounts, you can see the importance Jesus Christ and Stephen attached to ensuring that their enemies received forgiveness before they died.
This is an essential lesson for all followers of Christ Jesus to learn in order to be like Him on earth. There is no doubt that Stephen learnt to pray a prayer of forgiveness for his attackers from Christ Jesus.
James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
