Here is a collection of powerful prayers for judgment and justice.
The world can seem unfair and stacked against us, but it is God’s Judgment that matters most.
We invite you to post your prayer request at the bottom of this page.
A Prayer for Judgment Day
We have prayed for repentance, but those prayers have gone unanswered.
Now, as much as it grieves us to do so, we pray for Judgment in this situation.
We know that You know the end from the beginning, and we only want Your will. If it is time for Judgment, Lord, may it come swiftly.
If, however, there is still room for repentance then we ask that You grant a space for that repentance.
Either way, God, let us trust You in all things.
Amen.
The Prayer for Justice
WO LORD, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help.
Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from an honest heart.
Help us to love our neighbors more than we love ourselves, respecting differences,
and embracing our commonalities to find common ground.
Break our hearts for the things that break yours.
Help us to be your echoes of mercy and whispers of love.
Use our hands to extend help to those who are in need of it.
Guide our hearts to an everlasting peace.
Help us to realize that an aching world is waiting for us, your followers,
to be instruments of justice, and stewards of Your Word.
In Your name we pray.
Amen.
A Prayer for Social Justice And Peace
Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all of us a love for the
many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings.
Rouse in the hearts of those who call you Father a hunger and thirst for social justice and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth.
Grant, oh Lord, peace in our days; peace to our country, and peace among nations.
Amen.
A Prayer for Justice In Court
Lord God, Redeemer of all men, I come before you today to ask for justice in court. As the Scriptures say,
God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
It is my request that your judgment be manifest in court,
though men are fallible, through You justice can be had.
Thank you Lord Jesus, and hear my prayer.
Amen.
Teach Me Knowledge and Good Judgment
Do good to your servant
according to your word, Lord.
Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
for I trust your commands.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I obey your word.
You are good, and what you do is good;
teach me your decrees.
www.praywithme.com
Depending on who you’re talking to, the issue of abortion brings up feelings of anger, guilt, or despair. Even many Christians view it primarily as a political issue. However, before abortion is a political or any other type of issue, we need to recognize it for what it is––a God issue. In this sermon on Psalm 139, David Platt urges Christians to take a God-centered perspective on abortion. This will involve both repentance and the pursuit of biblical justice on behalf those who are the most vulnerable. Thankfully, God’s grace in the gospel is sufficient to cover abortion and every other sin we commit against Him.
David Platt serves as pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and president of Radical. He is the author of several books, including Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, and Counter Culture.
radical.net
Leader
We know that Jesus’ greatest longing, like that of the prophet Micah, was for the coming of God’s reign on the earth—that day in which God’s justice and love would permeate this earth as it does heaven. The ethical teaching that he gave us intended to help bring this reign about. But, he also taught us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come. As we close our meeting this day, let us pray and reflect upon the most treasured prayer that we have: the prayer that Jesus taught us.
Side 1
Our Father . . . who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who, by victim of circumstance, bear the heat of the day.
Side 2
Who are in heaven . . . where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well.
Side 1
Hallowed be thy name . . . may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting that your ways are not our ways, your standards are not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbor.
Side 2
Your kingdom come . . .help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other.
Side 1
Your will be done . . . open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor.
Side 2
On earth as it is in heaven . . . may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and the structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth.
Side 2
Give . . . life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right and that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but because our own health depends upon our giving to them.
Side 2
Us . . . the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different than the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally.
Side 1
This day . . . not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity.
Side 2
Our daily bread . . . so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clear air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus.
Side 1
And forgive us our trespasses . . . forgive us our blindness toward our neighbor, our self-preoccupation, our racism, our sexism, and our incurable propensity to worry only about ourselves and our own. Forgive us our capacity to watch the evening news and do nothing about it.
Side 2
As we forgive those who trespass against us . . . help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed, and ignored us.
Side 1
And do not put us to the test . . . do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimize the poor. Spare us this test for none of us can stand before your gospel scrutiny. Give us, instead, more days to mend our ways, our selfishness, and our systems.
All
But deliver us from evil . . . that is, from the blindness that lets us continue to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more. Amen*
Leader
Thank you, Lord, for your presence with us these past several days as we have listened to and been challenged by the words of your prophets—those found in scripture and those found in this community—colleagues with whom we share the journey of Catholic health care. As we depart from this space now, we ask you to bless our travels and keep us safe as we return home. Do not let the learning and conversations of this gathering die, but may they continue to ruminate within us and bear fruit in our ministries throughout the year, until we find ourselves together again. We ask this in the name of Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
All
Amen.
The Holy Longing by Ronald Rolheiser
socialjusticeresourcecenter.org
