- NEW EACH WEEK -
My name is Dumas A. Harshaw, Jr., Ph.D.,
founder and executive director of
I have been in the pastoral ministry and a professor of theology for more than 30 years, serving churches and seminaries in California, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. My passion is to grow as a prayer warrior and to encourage others to experience the power of prayer in their lives, vocations and ministries. If you’d like to know more about me, click here.
There is a time for everything … a time to be silent and a time to speak.
Ecclesiastes 3:1,7
A Time To Speak
For thirty long years, the African American woman worked faithfully for a large global ministry. Yet when she sought to talk with co-workers about racial injustice, she was met with silence. Finally, however, in the spring of 2020 – as open discussions about racism expanded around the world – her ministry friends “started having some open dialogue.” With mixed feelings and pain, she was grateful discussions began, but wondered why it took her colleagues so long to speak up.
Silence can be a virtue in some situations. As King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens … a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7)
Silence in the face of bigotry and injustice, however, only enables harm and hurt. Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoeller (jailed in Nazi Germany for speaking out) confessed that in a poem he penned after war. “First they came for the Communists,” he wrote, “but I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.” He added, “Then they came for” the Jews, the Catholics, and others, “but I didn’t speak up.” Finally, “they came for me – and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
It takes courage – and love – to speak up against injustice. Seeking God’s help, however, we recognize the time to speak is now.
Patricia Raybon
Why is it important not to be silent during discussions about racial injustice and other forms of injustice? What hinders your willingness to engage in dialogue about addressing racial harm?
Dear God, release my tongues and heart from the enemy’s grip. Equip me to see and feel the harm of racial injustice so that I may speak up for those hurt by this sin.
Our Daily Bread
Call To Action Dumas Alexander Harshaw, Jr.
“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
Today America is at a crossroads, the question is, will we be a united nation with diversity, reflecting the “Beloved Community”, where everyone is valued, or we will be a broken, divided, resentful, and exclusive nation standing at the threshold of a “civil war”, in which case there will be no wholesome survivors.
As an Apostle of prayer and encouragement, sent and divinely prepared for such a time as this, I propose for people of faith and goodwill, to engage in a life of serious prayer and reflection. This is a time for dedicated spiritual warriors and anointed intercessors to heed the call of God in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This kind of spiritual warfare is intentional and entails significant action in doing good and performing the works of righteousness. This might be called pragmatic spirituality, engaged contemplation or simply following the example of Jesus Christ. We need people who are armed with the armor of God to take a stand for what is right. The contemplative life is more than simply praying about the challenges of our times, the life of contemplation is focus on prayer that ends in involvement with the world around for the cause of Christ.
The second aspect of my proposal is the commitment to take the role of an encourager. This is over and against negativity, hopelessness, despair, defamation of character or even the conditions that surround us. It means to speak with words of faith, affirmation, peace, positivity, uplift. It does however include speaking the truth in love and standing on principles, values and ethical standards that may confront the status quo.
These are not easy times that we live in, but they are critical times filled with the promise of victory, fulfillment, breakthrough and transformation.
Will you join me and see what the end will be?
“Nor by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts.”
Zechariah 4:6
Dumas Alexander Harshaw, Jr.
Apostle of Prayer and Encouragement