O Lord, our God, you are justified in your words and blameless in your judgment (Psalm 51:4, ESV). You are the only Lord who, through the punishment of your Son, gives us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5, ESV). Your child cries out in sorrow, pleading for your glorious, holy, and merciful name upon this nation, the nation of my birth, the nation where I live.

If I could choose in accordance with my own will, I would leave this restless basin and migrate to a land bathed in sunshine. If given the choice, I would rather not be born into my family or ethnicity and instead aim to immigrate to another country. If I could freely travel through the world you created, I would journey to a different era altogether. My desire is to depart and be with Christ (Philippians 1:23, ESV); I would prefer my days on earth to be shortened, my physical decline to come quickly.

For my nation has greatly sinned against you. My generation is filled with wickedness and iniquity. My homeland is overrun with idols. I have received grace and come to know your gospel. But like Paul, when I think of the hardness, indifference, and ignorance of my own flesh and blood, my days are still desolate, and my steps are filled with sorrow. If your grace of forgiveness had not come upon me; if not for your promise to keep your covenant of love with your people (Nehemiah 1:5); my life would hold no rest, only suffocation; no joy in anything, only bitterness.

O Lord, who will listen when we preach? When will they listen? How can we proceed? If you do not rescue my nation daily; if you do not revive your church in this land quickly; if you do not swiftly reveal your will for this populous nation in my generation; then you might as well remove me soon; you might as well condemn my works. For I have only my own vain hopes, not the hope that you provide.

Merciful and compassionate Father, you have shown mercy to a lowly, insignificant, and corrupt soul like me. Would you not also show mercy to my nation? Even I, a sinner from my mother’s womb, you have given me life according to your word (Psalm 119:25, ESV). Would you revive all your children among my family and my people as well? Since you have many people in this city who are your people (Acts 18:10, ESV), O Lord, you have a specific time for everything, but it’s unknown to me. I kneel before you now, asking you to consider the tender conscience and reed-like faith of your servant. In this reprieve that you have given us, let the repentance of sinners; the revival of the spirit; the establishment of the church; and the transformation of this nation’s society be full of Christ’ abundant grace.

For this reason, I curse the thirty years of economic prosperity in this nation in your name. For this prosperity is built upon the blood of hundreds of millions of infants killed through forced family planning and barbaric abortions, not upon the blood of your Son. How wicked this nation is that they kill only to build their future on the blood of their descendants. For they do not believe that your Son, the promised descendant of Abraham, has been slain for us.

For this reason, I curse this land in your Name. For you have said, “Blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Numbers 35:33, ESV).

For this reason, I curse every skyscraper in every city in your name. For their foundations are laid upon the homes, memories, friendships, and even lives of tens of millions of evicted people, cruelly erased. For you have said, “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.” (Isaiah 5:8, ESV). Savior may the prophecy of Isaiah be fulfilled today, if you wish to spare a remnant. That “many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.” (Isaiah 5:9, ESV). For this reason, I also curse in your name all employers who withhold and deduct the wages of their workers. They keep back the wages of a laborer “all night until the morning” (Leviticus 19:13, ESV), satisfying their own greed.

For this reason, I curse in your name the pornography industry hiding in hotels, motels, karaoke bars, massage parlors, and even homes. And the games, movies, and websites filled with violence and pornography. For you have said, “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall to prostitution and the land become full of depravity” (Leviticus 19:29, ESV).

I curse in your name this nation that abuses the death penalty for crimes other than murder; China’s annual “legal” but unethical and/or immoral killings of its own citizens exceed the rest of the world’s combined.

For this reason, I curse in your name this nation that engages in the dirty business of human organ trafficking; for China has become the world’s largest exporter of human organs. I also curse the terrible demons who consume the umbilical cords of infants.

For this reason, I curse the parents of this nation in your name, who, for the sake of worldly gain, coldly kill and abandon their own children. They have thus made China the country with the highest number of orphans adopted by foreigners. I also curse those who buy and sell women and children, those who engage in fraudulent construction of schools, and those criminals who adulterate food and powdered milk.

For this reason, I curse in your name the political idolatry and all forms of superstition in this nation. For they “polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree” (Jeremiah 3:9, ESV).

For this reason, I also curse in your name all the judges in this nation who do not acquit the righteous or condemn the wicked (Exodus 23:7, ESV). I curse those in power who intrude upon the souls, minds, and faith of the people with their greedy power. They imprison many citizens and block countless messages, ideas, and even your Word from websites, newspapers, television, textbooks, and books. For they “have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness” (Psalm 82:5, ESV). They do not “give justice to the weak and the fatherless; [they do not] maintain the rights of the afflicted and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3, ESV). They do not “rescue the weak and the needy; [they do not] deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:4, ESV). O Lord, I deeply desire that you, the Most High God, would “take your place in the assembly of the gods; [that you would] judge among the gods” (Psalm 82:1, ESV). For you will rebuke them, saying, “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?” (Psalm 82:2, ESV).

O Lord, the one true God, if you are holy and just, my nation cannot escape your curse. For this land is filled with the seven things you hate: “haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19, ESV). How can my countrymen escape the devil and bask in your light, even temporarily?

But loving Father, I bow down and praise you again, for you are a God of grace and compassion. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all. Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? (Romans 8:33, ESV). The precious blood of our merciful and faithful Lord Jesus Christ, our one and only High Priest, has been shed for them (Hebrews 2:17). Who then can condemn them?

Lord, I ask that you open your eyes and listen closely. If any among your people in China, the members of this church, are willing to humble themselves, to pray persistently, and to repent on behalf of our nation, then I ask that you stop the disasters and heal this land. Bind up the injured; have mercy on the poor; may everything you have promised be fulfilled by your own hand (2 Chronicles 7:13-15).

Lord, if there are those in this nation who are disgusted with sin and seek your forgiveness, I ask that you complete the work you have begun in their hearts. Prepare for them gospel messengers, shepherds of the Word, and spiritual companions. May their hearts no longer crave worldly things but be turned to you through the power of the gospel, that they may be saved.

Lord, if there are parents in this city who cannot bear to kill their unborn children; if these families receive the blessing of more children; I ask that you prepare a clear path for them. May all who pursue them will be blinded, and all who draw their swords will lose their way. May the suffering of those who revere life not exceed what they can bear. Grant them the joy and satisfaction of life that surpasses all worldly losses.

Lord, if there are your devoted children in the church, who wish to deny themselves for the sake of your gospel; to despise the world’s shame for the Lord’s salvation; to be willing to pay the price for lost souls; and to run for your great revival in China; then I ask that you refine their hearts and bless each of them and their families. May they hear your call three times like Samuel (1 Samuel 3:8), serve your Word in this age, and become instruments for your pleasure and the transformation of hearts.

May the kingdom of Christ come to this nation. May your mercy be poured out on this earthly city through the sons and daughters who trust in your name. May the number of those who repent to you in this nation be countless and their faith unshakeable. We lift our hands and pray for the peace of this city (Jeremiah 29:7). We pray for the Father’s glory, mercy, favor, and love. We pray that the cup of blessing overflowing from the new covenant established by the shed blood of your Son may bring unprecedented blessings upon this pitiful and passing generation; blessings that this nation has never imagined or experienced. May you grant this nation unprecedented confession and unprecedented blessing, that your glorious grace may be praised through the name of the Lord Jesus.

This prayer is offered in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ by Wang Yi, called to be an elder at the Early Rain Covenant Church.

June 4, 2010

—Excerpt from the book “The Soul’s Deep Cry for Freedom: Kissing God (Part II).”