March 28, 2018 – Please pray for Guatemala
Guatemala located in Central America is bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Guatemala City.
Guatemala is the largest economy in Central America. However, Guatemala faces many social problems and is one of the poorest countries in Latin America. The income distribution is highly unequal with more than half of the population below the national poverty line.
With an estimated population of around 16.6 million, it is the most populated state in Central America and had the fastest population growth in the Western Hemisphere during the 20th century.
Guatemala is heavily centralized: transportation, communications, business, politics, and the most relevant urban activity takes place in the capital of Guatemala City, which numbers around 2 million inhabitants within the city limits and more than 5 million in the metropolitan, constituting over a third of the country’s population.
The estimated median age in Guatemala is 20 years old. Guatemala is demographically one of the youngest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
Christianity continues to remain strong and vital for the life of Guatemalan society. Roman Catholicism, introduced by the Spanish during the colonial era, remains the dominant church.
Over the past two decades, Guatemala has seen heightened missionary activity. Protestant denominations have grown markedly in recent decades, chiefly Evangelical and Pentecostal varieties; growth is particularly strong among the ethnic Maya population. The growth of Eastern Orthodox Church in Guatemala has been especially strong, with hundreds of thousands of converts in the last five years, giving the country the highest proportion of Orthodox adherents in the Western Hemisphere.
This information was gathered from en.wikipedia.org. These statements have not been fact-checked and are only used here to help us gain a better understanding of this nation.
We find Guatemala as one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with strong growth in Christianity according to the reports above. This is in stark contrast to many of the wealthy nations of the world. This should encourage us to pray for Guatemala both for spiritual growth and economic growth. It has a young population and the potential is unlimited. Prayer can move the hand of God upon a nation. Here are some of my thoughts on prayer for Guatemala.
1. Pray for the youth of Guatemala – what an amazing opportunity for God to show His glory in a nation that is desperately poor yet many are seeking for spiritual guidance.
2. Pray for the curse of poverty to be broken and especially those who are living with desperate physical and spiritual needs.
3. Pray for the Holy Spirit to cover this nation with many blessings.
Reading about this nation has stirred my spirit to pray for the poor and their needs. It is easy to become distracted and forget about the desperate needs of humanity, including my own need for God’s mercy and grace.
