40|50 Project: 40 Days To Heal A Nation’s Racial DivideSample

Day 18: Roots

“I am Kunte Kinte,” the African asserts in one of the must gut-wrenching scenes in the nine-time Emmy Award-winning miniseries, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, seen by 130 million viewers, based on the 1976 New York Times best-selling novel by Alex Haley. This book and television series become such cultural phenomenon that many decide to try to trace their own genealogies in search of their own Kunte Kinte’s. 

Understanding our roots and family history is crucial when seeking to end racism in our nation. When we know how our ancestors have participated and been impacted by racism, we can process through it, repent for our national, familial and personal sin, and seek God’s forgiveness and healing. 

Unrepentant sin in the family and nation still garners judgment years later that affects the whole nation. In 2 Samuel 21, a famine strikes the entire kingdom for three years until King David seeks the Lord and finds out the cause is unrepentant sin and murder from former King Saul against the Gibeonites. The whole land suffers until the sin of the family is atoned for and set right. How are our countries being impacted by our national and familial unrepentant sins? 

When you have time this week, if you haven’t already, draft your family tree as far back as you can go on both your father's and mother's sides. If you still have elders alive, ask for their help. Genealogy websites like Ancestry.com can also be helpful in locating census reports, marriage and death records. Write down any generational sins that you discover and confess that sin before the Lord and ask forgiveness. Cover each family member in the Blood and Name of Jesus. Forgive them for their offenses toward you and family members and intercede for God to forgive them. As truth comes up, talk to God about it.

PRAYER

Father, Thank You for my roots, my family, our history, our lineage. By Your Spirit of Truth, please lead and guide me into all truth and help me intercede and cover the sins of my family this week, especially as it relates to racism. If there’s anything I need to set right, please help me do so. Please protect all of us, in Jesus’s Name.