*This is a prayer I wrote one night in Costa Rica. Seeing so much poverty, suffering, and oppression in the world, and realizing that being a North American automatically made me a rich, powerful oppressor in the world, praying became very difficult. I wrote this to get away from thanking God for my "blessings," asking for more stuff, and focusing on my small, selfish world. I tried to write a prayer that pleads on behalf of people who are really in need like people without food and children fighting without choice, and pleads on my behalf as a rich, powerful world citizen to open my heart to the injustice and inequality in the world.
Tonight I pray for child soldiers,
for people sleeping on empty stomachs,
for people without opportunity, without hope, without a future.
I pray for those oppressed by the desires of a few powerful people.
Send people to bring justice.
Send peace into the hearts of soldiers
and into the hearts of politicians who declare wars.
Send hope to those with nothing else.
Open the eyes of North American Christians with wealth and power.
Open our eyes to the injustice in the world.
Close our hearts to our desires and our lusts to obtain more.
Protect your disciples who are creating justice in the world, for they are few.
In my life, open my eyes to the suffering around me.
Give me strength to act justly and bring justice.
Give me discipline to seek the truth and not simply believe everything I hear.
Give me nothing more than what I need to survive today.
Stretch me.
Challenge me.
I pray that I will not be comfortable with my life as it is now.
Forgive me for not acting justly, for being ignorant and comfortable.
Forgive me for trying to be perfect.
I have sins. Forgive me and teach me to forgive others as freely as You do.
Take my life, my wealth, all that I have, for it is Yours.
I have been an oppressor in the world for a long time without knowing, but that is no excuse. Now, I change sides because You are the God of the oppressed.
You defend the downtrodden,
feed the hungry,
give a voice to the worthless.
I want to join Your side.
Use me to defend the oppressed,
bring food and water to destitute people,
and be a voice for those who have lost theirs.
I don't know the way and am fighting against corporate giants and transnational companies, who steal the lives of people in order to lavish the luxurious lives of the few.
Show me the way.
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