The world is crying out for justice. Every year, every day, and every new injustice, incites a groan from the depths of all human hearts, longing for things to be made right. While some cry out in the streets and some cry out to their governments, we as believers can also cry out to the highest ruling government there is. 

Prayer really matters when the world cries out for justice. 

Beyond all of our human strength and effort for justice lies an authority and identity for believers that is founded in prayer. Now more than ever we should be taking our places as kings and priests (Rev. 1) and intercessors and calling on God to bring true justice to the earth. 

So how do we pray for justice? How do we approach God with the weighty, heartbreaking, and overwhelming injustices we see around us? 

First - we have to remember that the One we are praying to sees injustice more fully and cares more intensely about it than we do.

Without this paradigm we miss the heart of God and move too quickly to our self-efforts to make things right, or we become bitter and overburdened by the needs around us. We have to remember that God is a God of justice. He loves righteousness and hates wickedness (Psalm 45:7; Isaiah 61:8-9). He is not deaf or blind to the evil around us (and in us) -- actually -- He sees and knows and feels the pain of more injustice than we can even fathom.

There are children in bondage somewhere that nobody knows about—but He does. There are women being abused who are crying out that nobody hears—but He does. There are unborn babies killed and forgotten about on a daily basis—but He doesn’t forget. There are injustices based on people’s skin color, gender, and social status at every micro and macro level that we have no idea about—but He does. 

Our zeal will never burn stronger than His. Jesus suffered on the cross in order to show mercy and forgiveness, yes, but also to prove Himself as the only one trustworthy to bring justice in the earth. Jesus has a day of vengeance in His heart (Isaiah 34:8; Isaiah 61:2) and the Father is going to entrust Him with authority to rule in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:2; Isaiah 11:4). We have to be confident in that Day and in the heart of our God who will not stay silent about injustice forever.

Second - we want to pray in agreement with God’s heart and will (that we find in His Word).

We have authority as believers to join Jesus in His heavenly calling of intercession (Hebrews 3:1). When we pray promises and prayers straight from the Bible and we stand on that authority and we can have confidence that God is working and moving on our behalf. 

I think of the cry from Isaiah 64:1-2 -- 

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!”

We can pray with that same cry in our hearts, asking God to make His name known and to to cause the wicked to tremble. 

We can also pray prayers like that from Ephesians 3 for our communities and Churches, asking God to root and ground us in love so that “together with all the Lord’s holy people,” we might be able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is.

As we pray for the Church to come together in love and unity in Christ, we are actually praying for justice. When the love of Christ abounds in the Church then love can also reach a hurting and broken world around us. 

Third - we must ask God to show us how to love our neighbors well.

If we know God sees injustice and truly cares about it, then we can ask Him specifically how to respond to the issues right in front of us. We can’t fix the systematic sin-problem in the world, but we can do our part to show compassion, to love our neighbors, and to speak out for the ones right in front of us. 

Think of the story of the Good Samaritan. He was a man who saw the one who was totally unlike him culturally and racially, bleeding, broken and abused, and he chose to care for him. He gave up his money and time and reputation to love him back to health.

God has given us a charge as believers to care about injustice and to love our neighbors in the same way. 

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to lose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6-7

True prayer for justice will provoke a response in our own hearts. 

In this hour when it seems like pain is exploding in all areas of society, we need to learn how to listen and how to mourn with those who mourn. We also need to repent for the parts we’ve played in our nation’s injustice. Then we must take our places as priests and intercessors before God, calling on Him to bring the justice that all of our hearts are longing for.