Black Prayer

Thanking God for His Gifts

I thank thee, Lord, for sparing me to see this morning, the blood running warm in my veins, the activity of my limbs and the use of my tongue. I thank thee for raiment and for food, and above all, I thank thee for the gift of thy darling son Jesus, who came all the way from heaven down to this low ground of sorrow, who died upon the cross, that "whosoever believeth upon him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Our Lord, our Heavenly Master, we ask thee to teach us. Guide us in the way we know not. Give us more faith and a better understanding and a closer walk to thy bleeding side.

I have faith to believe you are the same God that was in the days that are past and gone. thou heard Elijah prayed in the cleft of the mountain. Thou heard Paul and Silas in jail. Thou heard the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. I have a faith to believe that you have once heard me pray, when I was laying and lugging around about the gates of hell, no eye to pity me, no arm to save me. Thou reached down your long arm of protection, snatched my soul from the midst of eternal burning. Thou place me in the rock and placed a new song in my mouth. Thou told me to go, and you would go with me; open my mouth, and you would speak for me.

For that cause we call upon you at this hour. And while we call upon thee, we ask you please don't go back on Glory, neither turn a deaf ear to our call. But turn down the kindness of a listening ear, catch or moans and groans, and take them home to the High Heavens. We plead bold one thing more, if tis they glorious will, I pray thee.

O Lord, our Heavenly Master, we ask thee please to search our hearts. Tie the reins of our minds. If thou see anything laying and lugging around our hearts, not your right hand planted and neither pleasing to thy sight, we ask thee to remove it by the brightness of your coming, cast it in the sea of forgiveness, where it will never rise up against us in this world, neither condemn us at the bar of judgment, if it is thy glorious will, I pray thee.

O God, our Heavenly Father, we ask thee to please make us a better servant in the future than we have been in the past, and may our last days be our best days.

We thank thee, our Heavenly Father, for what you have done for us in days that past and gone, and what you are doing at this present moment. I know you have been good to me, because you have brought me a mighty long ways. Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me on.

O Lord, our Heavenly Father, will you please have mercy; please remember the sick and the afflicted, the poor and those in hospitals, bodies racked in pain, scorched with parching fever; have mercy on them if tis thy glorious will, I pray thee.

O Lord, my Heavenly Master, remember this weak and unprofitable servant made the attempt to bow before thee. Go behind me as a protecting angel, and by my side as a safeguard. And when we have did all assigned to our hands to do, this old world can afford us a home no longer, may we look back and see a well-spent life and just before a joyful hour, that we may be able to sing praise to the Father, Son, One God, world without end. My soul say amen, amen, amen.

Source: Harold A. Carter's The Prayer Tradition of Black People (1985)

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update 23 June 2008

Harold A. Carter grew up in the 1940s, in Selma, Alabama. He was the third of five children (two boys and three girls) in the home of Reverend Nathan Mitchell Carter, Sr. and Lillie Belle Carter. His father--Nathan Carter--was a Baptist pastor and preacher, and also professor at Selma University, a Baptist School founded in 1878 by Baptists of Alabama. His father taught Bible and theology.

In the late 1950s, Harold Carter first earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary (Chester, PA). At some point between the mid 1950s and 1968, Harold Carter was for a full year a pastoral assistant to Martin Luther King. In 1987 (?), Carter earned a Ph.D. in Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry in the same month from Colgate Rochester Divinity School. He was (1959-1964) a pastor at Court Street Baptist (Lynchburg, VA) and has been pastor since 1964 of New Shiloh Baptist (Baltimore, MD).

. Dr. Carter led New Shiloh into a church and Family Life Center, Sunday, May 27, 1990. Over the years of his ministry, he has led citywide crusades in evangelistic ministry across America and in many countries abroad. Dr. Carter's first book "The Prayer Tradition of Black People" continues to be a standard work in the Black Spiritual Anthology. A more recent work, "Building Disciples in the Local Church," is being used by churches near and far, to build revival fires in the local church. His Book, "America, Where Are You Going?" has also proven to be a powerful call for America to examine where she is going in light of the Christian faith, so often compromised and even ignored in our present day world.

Harold Carter thinks of himself as a minister, "Determined to Live With Christ." Dr. Carter is married to Dr. Weptanomah W. Carter, noted speaker, author and founder of several ministries in New Shiloh Baptist Church.