My Prayer for America

July 13, 2016

Shakira

BLOG AUTHOR

It’s been over a week since my last post and to be honest, I’m forcing myself to get back to business. I tried to blog last week, but it felt disrespectful to post my latest outfit when my fellow Black Americans are being slaughtered like animals by police. It felt selfish to promote my latest Periscope video or to post selfies for the ‘Gram when I saw my father crying over the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile. No, that didn’t sit well with me – so I turned the computer off and took some time to grieve, to pray, and to find restoration in God. During that time I prayed for this hurting nation and for our local communities, here is my prayer:

Father God we come to you with heavy hearts, grieving over the loss of our dear Black brothers and sisters. Like Abel their blood cries out to you from the earth. Hear our cry today Lord and mend our broken hearts. (Ps. 147:3) Hide us in your secret place and let your name be our strong tower. Our spirits are vexed and our souls are angry, oh God. Help us to redirect our anger and not sin against You (Eph 4:26). Allow the joy of the Lord to be our strength so that we may overcome evil with good. Open our eyes, give us 20/20 vision in the spirit that we may see Satan’s devices and identify the cause of every effect. You told us that your people perish for lack of knowledge (Heb 4:6) so Lord we repent for our ignorance, for our complacency with temporal things and our failure to see that our fight is not against each other but against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph 6:12). Our fight is against the ancestral demons that plague our people, the principalities of hatred and greed, the generational curses of poverty and premature death, and the stronghold of racisim over this nation. Father, tear down every wall that divides us and destroy the barriers of predjudice. Expose the spirit of Herod and destroy it’s effects: apathay, brutality, corruption, dehumanization, distrust, economic oppression, glass ceilings, injustice, marginalization, mass incarceration, poor self-image, resentment, segregation, social conditioning, racial cleansing, racial profiling, supression of emotions, systemic lies, tyrannical governace, underemployment, unethical behavior, violence, and wrath. Have mercy on America, oh God and heal our land. Place a hedge of protection around our police and bring fairness to our law enforcement. Bind the spirit of fear and release the spirit of love on both sides. Father, forgive the Body of Christ for not putting action to our faith and muscle behind our prayers. Forgive us for forsaking our communities in favor of money and members. Send a revival to our churches and let us wake up from our sleep. Bring unity across denominations so that the world may see your love through us. God of justice, give us strength, boldness, and compassion.

In Jesus name I pray, amen! 

 


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