Prayers For Racial Unity
Hykeng Paul
Lord your unity is lovely.
We pray that we would be one as you are one:
Father, Son and Spirit.
Father, we ask for your heart,
A heart that loves unconditionally.
Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear.
Tune our listening to you. Turn down the noise of the world.
Jesus, we ask for your hands.
We want to serve like you, give like you, and love like you.
Pause. Breathe. Listen.
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
"but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” - John 4:9-10, 14, 23-24
For Our Church:
“If you only knew the gift of God”. The Samaritan woman was locked behind a wall of division. But Jesus offered a gift that broke down historical and religious dividing walls. This revelation he offered was not of temporary benefit, but of lasting and overflowing impact in her life.
He then calls on “true worshipers” to usher in this new Kingdom reality in spirit and truth. The walls of division would fall as true worshipers entered into their calling and got to work building the undivided Kingdom!
PRAY:
Lord, we proclaim a season of true worship,
A season of tearing down the walls that divide your people.
As our eyes raise to you in worship, we realize our worship is spiritual warfare.
We ask that you would work on our behalf as we lift up praise to your name.
We will fight for unity and against offense.
We pray for old roots of bitterness to be torn out.
We pray that new opportunities for bitterness will gain no foothold.
As you crush what is beneath our feet,
the gaze of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
will be lifted high in praise!
Pause. Breathe. Listen.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. - Psalm 126:5-6
For Our Community:
We are in a season of intercession for our communities. We are being asked to “sow in tears” of prayer. Lord, forgive us for our prayerlessness! We seek to bathe our community with the essential power of prayer. We must “go out weeping” in the spaces in our communities where people do not look, talk, or believe like us. Our common denominator is pain. Jesus is our common remedy. Only our prayers can prepare the soil for unity.
PRAY:
Lord, I bow to you in prayer for our community.
Will you give me a picture of the pain that is present here?
What is your heart burdened for?
Lord, let my heart match yours for this community.
Let my tears match yours.
Let my eyes see what you see.
When our tears have soaked the ground,
Let your promised harvest come to this place!
Let UNITY break out in our community!
We will be filled with joy and give you all the glory!
Pause. Breathe. Listen.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples. Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion,“Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken. - Isaiah 62:10-12
For Our State
South Carolina is a beautiful state with a hard past. The Lord is pointing us to lead toward a unified future. We are to “lift up a signal over the peoples” - lift up a new flag - symbolizing unity, diversity, and hope in Christ. We must repent and humble ourselves for past sin, built upon a new foundation of a unified, Kingdom focused church, built on Christ alone. Repentance is not something we do once, but a lifestyle we live, until we see the Lord bring a new culture and a new hope to our state!
PRAY:
Lord, in your kindness, humble this state.
Allow us to see truth as you see it.
Allow us to see the pain of the past and grieve it.
Allow us to see the hope of the future and believe for it.
We want to be a people who desire holiness.
We want to be near you and abide with you.
Come close to our state Lord! Seek us out!
We desire to be a state “Not Forsaken”.
Give us the design of a new signal, a new flag,
A new banner that will bind different people together as one!