Psalm 121
March 5, 2023
Father, we come to You this morning thankful that You are our Help, our Savior—but not only that, You are our Keeper. You hold us in Your hands. You keep our foot from slipping. You keep us from evil and keep our souls in Your care from now until You bring us into Your eternal kingdom. We are grateful that our salvation does not depend on our own strength but that we can entrust ourselves to Your keeping.
We pray this morning for those of us who feel like we need some shade, some shelter from the wearing trials striking us day and night. We pray that by Your power You bring relief, whether that’s in the form of physical healing, financial provision, relational reconciliation, or emotional peace. But we also know that You use our times of deepest pain and testing to refine our faith and reveal Yourself, so as You offer us Your shelter, would you draw us further into Your heart?
We pray for those of us whose souls need keeping. For the times when doubts press in and the criticisms of our faith that we hear from the culture all around us sound reasonable, or for the times when the offers of the world sound enticing and we are tempted to give up on following You. Help us to keep ourselves in Your love while we rest in the promise that You are keeping us.
We pray also that You would keep us from evil. We are aware of how easily our feet slip into sin and how quickly our hearts are drawn to the things You hate. We are not able on our own to live according to Your commands, and we confess how frequently even this past week we have sinned in thought word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Forgive us, Lord, and by Your power keep our hearts and lives pure until You bring us home.
This morning, Lord, we also lift up Your church in Ukraine, and we pray that You keep them in Your hands as they face physical danger, loss of loved ones, and the weariness of living in a long war—but also renewed opportunity to share Your love and hope with the weary and grieving people in their communities. We pray, similarly, for Your church in Turkey—small, in relation to the culture around it, and healing from their own tragedies but also in a place of unique opportunity to minister and to share Your love. We pray that You would keep Your people in these places strong and use their country’s moments of need to bring many others to Yourself.
We pray for our global partners in the Czech Republic, in Southeast Asia, in Spain, and working from the US for the translating of Your Word around the world. We pray that as they minister in challenging places that You would keep them in Your love, refreshed and empowered by Your Spirit, and that they would see Your church serving and multiplying around them to Your glory.
We thank You that You have already promised to do these things and so we can pray with confidence in the name of Your Son, Jesus. And all God’s people said, Amen.