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A simple prayer guide using
the P-R-A-Y acronym

P

Pause (5-10 min)

  • Take a few minutes to be still and be present to the Lord.

  • Welcome God’s presence. 

  • Humble yourself before the Lord.

“Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations (ethnic peoples).” Psalm 46:41

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

R

Rejoice (10-15 min)

  • Rejoice and give praise for who God is and pray hope for the Troost area and Kansas City.

  • Bless the things around you (homes, storefronts, schools, infrastructure, churches).

  • Call out the good and thank the Lord for it. Rejoice over the life you see! 

  • Thank him for the individuals, families, churches, and community leaders who are strengthening people that have been unfairly treated because of systems of injustice.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

A

Ask (30 min)

  • Ask God to identify any personal walls of division in your own heart.

  • Ask God for the word you’ve written on your mask.

  • Ask for forgiveness for any way you have been complicit with racism OR Ask for grace to forgive in the places you have been wronged by racism.

  • Ask for God to have mercy and turn our hearts towards each other and towards truth and righteousness. 

  • Ask that the faith community would be key in bringing down systems of injustice to build a more just and equitable Kansas City.

  • Ask for a spirit of unity to break the spirit of oppression and division in Kansas City.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:10;12

 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” Ephesians 2:14
 

Y

Yield / Yes (10 min)

  • Say yes to continuing to persist in prayer. 

  • Say yes to being the answer to your prayer through committed action for racial equity.

  • Surrender your own strength and zeal to the help of the Holy Spirit. 

In closing allow yourself to dwell on the joy set before us, every tribe, people, nation and language gathered around Jesus in worship (Revelation 7:9). 

 

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. “ Revelation 21:4

Here is another option for a Liturgy through song put together by one of the participants

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