Our Prayer
Our Father in Heaven,
You are King of kings and Lord of lords. Thank You for Your insurmountable love and mercy we can experience daily; for being in charge of everything and not taking advantage of Your people, but serving us perfectly. Thank You, Jesus, for showing us what love truly looks like and for giving us an example to follow in our own lives. Thank You for the patience You continually show us despite our endless shortcomings and corrupted nature. Father, in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery -- and the many others we’ve failed to recognize -- we confess that in many ways, we have failed to show true compassion and unconditional love to our brothers and sisters here on earth. We repent of the many times we’ve relied on our own understanding and ask that You’d help us remember Your strength and endurance. Forgive us for our desire to seek control and for the many skewed ways we’ve tried to seek our own justice; for holding our own standard above Yours. Forgive us for those times when we’ve remained silent when we should have spoken up for those who did not have a voice.
Father, we as a people continue to struggle daily to show love to Your children. We are brutal with our words and actions and allow prejudice and racism into our hearts. We judge others based on what we can see, but Father, You have told us You see what is in our hearts. Time and time again, we see oppression, prejudice, and murder. We fail to see the beauty in the diversity of Your creation and instead have used this diversity as a tool to build a hierarchy in our societies to oppress some and glorify others.
Father, there is so much pain right now, we cannot imagine how much more it must hurt You. Teach us Your heart so we may follow it. Help us to see what is wrong and may our hearts break the way Yours does when You see Your people suffering. May You give us courage to stand boldly alongside the oppressed and be strengthened by Your Spirit to firmly believe and tell others of Your truths. Holy Spirit, move our hearts so that we may feel what You feel, but also move us into action towards Your justice and peace. Expand our hearts so we may not focus only on ourselves, but learn to really see others. Help us look past our immediate differences in skin tone, and instead embrace, love, and celebrate the diversity of Your amazing creation. Father, we ask for guidance and wisdom, courage and boldness, endurance and love, patience and comfort. Thank You for being present in all of this. Show us where You move so we may follow.
In the Mighty and Precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.