We live in a time of challenge.
Throughout a spring surrounded by a stealthy, invisible enemy called COVID-19 and filled with cabin-fever angst, egregious instances of racial discrimination experienced by Asian Americans and African Americans elicited many emotions and reactions.
This has driven many of us not only to our knees in prayer, but also to self-reflection.
While many of us have joined in protests nationwide, others have expressed solidarity via social media. But to only make a show of our support for racial equality without true action almost guarantees that this cycle will occur again, and perhaps with an even greater vengeance.
How can we as Asian Americans personally respond to two forms of racial discrimination that have rocked our communities these past two months: COVID-related discrimination against Asian Americans and law enforcement-related discrimination against African Americans?
To find an answer, we prayed and searched Scripture, and Jesus led us to the book of Haggai. In this book, the temple in Jerusalem — a place of sacrifice and where the glory of God resides among his people — remains in ruin. Why?
The Jewish remnants who had returned from their exiled home in Babylon had attempted to rebuild the temple during their first two years. But for the next 14 years, the Jews drifted from this spiritual investment as other priorities such as rebuilding their houses, tending to their families, working and other life things took precedence.
How did God respond?
“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house [the temple] remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:4)
The problem was the Jews had their priorities in the wrong order. Time and resources were spent on their own personal comfort, and they were content to let the temple remain unfinished.
In the face of Asian American COVID-related discrimination and the African American law enforcement-related discrimination in the streets, is God asking the same question of us?
Have we as Asian American believers been too busy “building our own houses” while the body of Christ “remains a ruin” because we have not reached out and bridged ethnic and cultural divides to love one another?
Have we unintentionally created our own cultural barriers that prevent others in the body of Christ from reaching us? Has our cultural divide become so wide that we are unable to see or feel the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in poverty and in injustice?
We acknowledge that thinking through this can be a difficult and messy business. But we serve a God who not only commands us to love one another but who also delights in creating beauty out of chaos.
The issue of racial bias is deeply rooted and requires the work of the Holy Spirit to search deeply into our souls in order to bring out the glory of God in our lives. When we are sanctified, we create more room for His glory and His life to radiate in and through us.
As we see the enemy sowing tension and division all around us, may we recognize that God is in our midst. May we recognize that God is moving to bring HIS righteousness (not man’s) in the earth.
Just as the Spirit of God moved Peter to go cross-culturally to the Gentile Christians in Acts 10, so the Spirit of God is moving in Asian Americans to go cross-culturally to our African American brothers and sisters, so that we may be united as one body and one church.
We know that this issue of unity in the body of Christ is so important to God that past revivals did not take place until there was a true conviction and repentance of racial hatred — witness the 1907 revival in Pyongyang.
Just as Pyongyang eventually became known as the “Jerusalem of the East,” we have also been praying for a revival within the Asian American community and churches. Don’t you long for a greater hunger for unity and love in our churches today?
Given that a key to revival seems to be a corporate conviction of sin and repentance, we have produced what we hope will enable us to carry a greater measure of the Holy Spirit in us.
Let us live by faith in the spirit and attitude of repentance that will move us to action by building bridges and restoring hope in our broken and decaying cities. Let us reach out to our African American brothers and sisters and work with them and other agencies to create healthy, safe, and life-giving environments. Let our Asian American family be known for her compassion, love, and generosity.
May the Lord use the Prayer of Repentance below to bring revival and awakening in our churches as He moves to heal our land. We invite you to join us in praying this prayer together and out loud with your congregation. May He use our words as a sacrifice so that He may flood us with His presence, rebuild His body, and heal our land.
Thank you for joining us in this powerful prayer of repentance as we seek to bring unity within the body of Christ here in the United States and around the world.
Prayer of Repentance
Lord God, I thank you that you are the Creator God who breathed this Earth into existence. And so it is only right as Habakkuk 2:14 says that “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” I thank you that I live in a country that provides me with:
- opportunities
- happiness
- liberty
- freedom of worship
Lord Christ, I glorify your Name which is above all names, and say Yes and Amen to Your plan for Your Church, the global Body of Christ, to be glorified. So I humbly come before you to pray and seek your face so that you will heal our land. As an Asian American* Christian, I repent for how we have, as you call your people out in Haggai 1, put our own houses before Your Body who is the global Church.
I repent…
- for not loving others as ourselves, especially those from different ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds and for harboring biases that are unfair to these groups [other Asian Americans, Anglo Americans, African Americans, Hispanic/Latino Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, and other groups]
- for not reaching out and being a peacemaker/ bridge-builder
- for having a worldly and materialistic mentality rather than seeking the health of those who are vulnerable, including those who are poor and defenseless
I ask you to search our hearts to show us where you would like us to manifest Your Life and Your Love to those around us. I ask you to forgive us, and to give us Your Love, Your Eyes, and Your Vision for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Would you grant me Your vision for what you would like to see me do.
I pray that you would heal the division and bring unity to your people as we come under the banner of Christ’s love. By the power of your Holy Spirit and the example of Christ, I am making a radical commitment to be a bridge to my brothers and sisters who are different from my cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
During this worldwide pandemic and amidst nationwide racial tensions I pray…
- for your protection over the health and safety of hospital staff, first responders, police, urban poor, the unemployed, families, teachers, government, and business leaders
- for your peace, hope, and comfort to those who are sick with COVID-19, those who are angry, sad, hurt, and frustrated, and those who have lost their loved ones
- for perpetrators of racism to be grieved and convicted of their sin- and for the kingdom of God to grow out of their convictions and/or conversions
- for your wisdom and direction for our leaders and their day to day decisions
Thank you, God, for your love for us and for your desire to see your global Church glorified. We ask you to bless the Asian American Body of Christ. Thank you for the privilege of partnering with You in your work here so that your will be done here on Earth as it is in heaven.
In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
* This prayer can be adapted for persons for all ethnic, geographic, etc. backgrounds – just change this one phrase.
For additional information and resources please visit www.allthingsprayer.com. We have prepared a Self-Reflection Tool that you can disseminate to your community and/or take online. This tool is envisioned to create space for the Lord to move and breathe unity into His Church here in the United States and beyond.