Mary’s prayer: We choose thoughtful in-person discussions around dinner tables to hollering our opinions to masses on the Internet.

Yesterday, Mary DeMuth shared a prayer of repentance from racial injustice on her podcast, Pray Every Day. She based her prayer on a few different scriptures, and one of the passages was Nehemiah 1:6-7. In today’s episode of Believe & Speak, I share those two verses as well as the surrounding verses. I also highlight a promise we can declare from them. Nehemiah had just received news that the wall of Jerusalem had been broken down, its gates had been burned with fire, and his people were in great trouble and disgrace. Nehemiah knew these dire circumstances were a direct result of generations of sins committed by his people.

Even as Nehemiah confesses the sins he and his family committed, he reminds God of His promises to restore His people. In the midst of Nehemiah’s mournful repentance, he knows that God’s love is unfailing.

The Bible says that God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance. His kindness. We repent knowing God’s love is unfailing, even when we fail Him and the people around us. God’s kindness leads us to repentance when we know that He never stops loving us. We know we have already been forgiven by a God who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us.

This week's scripture:

Nehemiah 1:4-11