(This prayer marks the beginning of the series Free To Be, a self-reflective story of the realizations of freedoms we have in Christ)
God, give me the words to say and write. Guide my mind and my heart to communicate your will more than mine. Give me the eyes to see what you want me to see. Give me the heart to feel for whom you want me to feel for. Give me the freedom to think, write, and communicate according to the purpose of your will, and ultimately for your glory.
Forgive me for presuming upon my abilities to see all things correctly. Forgive me for assuming I don’t view your Church, culture, and people without bias.
Forgive me for walking in sexism and not honoring the minds, emotions, and beauty of women. Forgive me for covertly assuming a position of power over women that you have not given me. Lord – beginning with my wife – help me listen, honor, and uplift women.
Help me better see their salvation on the same equal foundation of Christ as mine. Help me to honor their strength and be a defender of the image they bear. I confess, they are queens of the universe because they are daughters of your kingdom.
Forgive me for idolizing cultural whiteness as a means to gratify my desire for acceptance. Forgive me for not trusting and believing that Yeshua is enough to validate and affirm me – a Black man that you’ve created in your image.
Help me to walk in freedom as a son of your kingdom who is ethnically and socially different than the majority culture around me. Help me to believe that I am hidden in Christ and that I am free to live, move, and have my being in him.
Forgive me for seeking to gain knowledge about the systemic injustices of our generation without equally seeking to be gracious and compassionate to the victims of the system.
Help me see and meet the needs of your people. Give me confidence and the assurance of my security in you to be transparent and vulnerable with the marginalized.
Forgive me for believing that the only way my social and financial needs can be met is by working, attending churches, and living in areas that are “socially” acceptable according to our culture’s standards.
Forgive me for buying the American Dream, believing I can work hard enough to be and feel considered acceptable within the predominantly white evangelical circles.
Forgive me for believing that diversity can only happen when minorities join predominantly white evangelical churches. Forgive me for withholding who I am from my community in fear of what they might think of the real me.
Father, help me to see the Church that exists outside of the walls that meet every Sunday. Give me the courage to unapologetically be who You’ve called me to be.
Help me to write with clarity about what I see. Help me to not only write about the ways I am free in Christ, but also make me free to be who you’ve made me to be.
Musical Reflection: It’s Not Working (The Truth) – Propaganda
