This is JUDGMENT #3 of the 7 judgments of the Lord described in our book, “SEEK MY FACE: A Guide to Praying Through the Judgments of the Lord“

JUDGEMENT #3 • RACIAL ANIMOSITY

The Lord of the Nations is calling His children to humble themselves, seek His face and take the cross to our centuries-old sins of racial hostility. He’s calling us to thoroughly turn from our self-justification and hear His heart for the ethnos in our communities. He’s also empowering us to live in meekness with those affected by the generational sins of our fathers. We need a thorough appreciation of the mercy He’s extended to our nation’s sins of RACISM, slavery, dehumanization, murder, and genocide. And He’s calling us to engage in the hard Kingdom work of celebrating and championing His Kingdom’s purposes for black, native, Hispanic, etc., individuals and cultures. Racial insensitivity is an abuse of God’s sacred design for the human community. He loves the diversity of nations and the multifaceted ways they express His glory.

(The riots that rose from the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, served as stimulants for a tsunami of protests, debates, and demonstrations that have exploded, in both unrighteous and righteous ways, across the United States and the world. The enemy continues to use the fire of ongoing racial flash-points to ignite unholy responses within our society’s politically conservative and politically liberal segments. The Lord is calling the Church to cultivate her voice to call a racially angry, wounded, and defensive nation to the way of the cross.)

PRAYER

Father, we need You! We need Your heart and wisdom to know how to navigate our relationships with sisters, brothers, and neighbors from different races. You’ve established us as a country made up of vastly different histories, cultures, and backgrounds. Thank You for the beauty of the diversity. Forgive us for the many ways that we’ve not valued your blessings. Forgive us for the official policies, theologies and personal biases of subjugation, genocide, and dehumanizing discrimination. We acknowledge that the centuries of unrighteous attitudes and cultural ways have left deep scars on millions of native, black, and Hispanic lives and families. Forgive us for attempting to distance ourselves from our nation’s sins and our neighbors’ pain and brokenness. We repent of this sin against Your intent for us as Americans AND as Your spiritual family. We repent and wholly turn from our nation’s history of racial sin. Forgive us for attempting to justify ourselves with unloving and critical arguments that only compound our sin. We ask for the shed blood of Your own Son to cover us and the water of Your Word to heal us and unite us. Your righteousness is the only way to heal the maze of wounds and relational paradigms. Give us the grace to show compassion to one another. Give us the grace to walk humbly with one another and to champion and celebrate one another. We pray that You will, in all manner, be glorified through our racial relationships – under the authority of Your Son, Jesus.

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JSB • October, 2021