Leaders Gather to Reflect and Pray

The country’s elected leaders, heads of private and public sector enterprises, and church leaders gathered this morning (January 19), for spiritual reflection at the annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
This was the 26th staging of the event, which was held under the theme: ‘Choose You This Day’.
In his address, Governor-General, His Excellency, Sir Howard Cooke said he was deeply heartened by the presence of the various leaders.
“It demonstrates that most of us are not deterred by the spiritual warfare. we have hope that the redemptive blood of Jesus is the enabling power to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. Our presence here is also our declaration to the diabolical to watch out for us because as leaders we are armed with the truth, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit. We cannot lose, for we have God on our side,” Sir Howard declared.
The Governor-General further told the audience that their prayers and presence signified that the country’s leaders were deliberately seeking guidance for a new dynamism towards sanctification, a greater appreciation for God’s bounty and an increase in the spirit for forgiveness and love.
“We pray today expecting that God will rekindle the fires of love and understanding among us, that we will be given beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that we might be called trees of righteousness,” he added. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and Opposition Leader, Bruce Golding read bible verses.
Mr. Patterson, who read the first lesson, said he was pleased by the spirit of tolerance and charity which the leaders of the national prayer breakfast had consistently demonstrated over the past 26 years, by seeking to unite the people of Jamaica.
“May this be a year that opens a new chapter of peace, of love and of understanding among all the people of Jamaica,” the Prime Minister said.
Delivering the main address, Reverend Dr. Stevenson Samuels, General Secretary of the Students Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union, said that the wide spectrum of leaders who were attending the breakfast, “is a testimony that there is still a degree of respect for God and his church by our leaders in this country”.
Rev. Samuels told the gathering that, “your presence is making a statement that there is a consciousness in the minds and hearts of this nation that when the church calls, our leaders still listen”.
On the matter of leadership, he pointed out that while persons sought leaders that were technically competent, as defined in management journals, that was not enough.
“People are looking for decency, honesty, transparency, accountability, respect, care, understanding, a listening ear, justice and mercy.
All that Jamaican people want is some love and they will rise to the challenges of this nation. I propose to this gathering that the economic model required to pull Jamaica out of the quagmire that we feel we are in, is not a capitalist system, a free market system, a socialist system, or a communist system.what Jamaica needs now is an economy of righteousness. We need a love system, and a truth system,” Rev. Samuels emphasised.