A Prayer for Protection: Psalm 91-Supplication through the Scriptures


A Prayer for Protection 

Psalm 91

It is not because we are perfect or highly esteemed among men that we can hope for shelter in the day of evil, but because our refuge is the Eternal God, and our faith has learned to hide beneath his sheltering wing.
Charles Spurgeon 

Three years ago, our oldest son joined the Marine Corps. As he was preparing to leave for boot camp, I knew I needed to have somewhere to go in the Scriptures to pray for him, especially during those initial months of difficult and intense training. The Lord led me to Psalm 91. 

Psalm 91 is a prayer of protection. The dangers in this psalm include snares, pestilence, terrors of the night, arrows, destruction, evil, and plague. In all these dangers, the psalmist knows exactly where to place himself: in the shelter of God Most High. Spurgeon says, “To take up a general truth and make it our own by personal faith is the highest wisdom.” We see the psalmist taking the truth He knows about God and making it his own by personal faith. The psalmist says to the Lord in verse 2, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (emphasis mine). In the shelter of the wings of God, the psalmist has the faithfulness of God as a shield. 

What does it look like to take the truths of God and make them our own by personal faith? I think prayer helps us to bridge the gap of the truth we know and the situations we face. Prayer takes what God’s Word says and claims it in the moment for whatever lies before us. Let’s pray through Psalm 91, applying His promises and His truth to the situation in which we need His protection. 

Christians can pray Psalm 91, knowing that God is with them in the spiritual battle of this life and that, in Christ, God will give them eternal life.
Tremper Longman

In the Shelter of the Most High

91:1-4 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 
Lord, I pray: 
▫️I would abide in Your shelter today. When fear creeps in regarding ________, help me to remember that You are covering me with Your pinions and I have a refuge here under Your wings.
▫️Settle my heart with the truth that You are my refuge, my fortress, my God, and I do and will continue to trust You with ______. You will work this out for my good and Your glory.
▫️Surround me today with Your faithfulness as a shield. Protect me from doubt, fear, negative outcomes I cannot control, temptation to have a sinful response to my situation, and deliver me from _______.

Fear no evil

91:5-10 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 
Lord, I pray: 
▫️Instead of fear, I would live by faith and trust You to give me sufficient grace to face ______.
▫️Your Spirit would remind me often today, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). 
▫️Remove this fear from my heart and mind. Help me to give these anxious thoughts to You and be thankful for all Your past faithfulness to me. 
▫️I would make You my dwelling place and my refuge, and no evil would befall me because You will fight for me.

Guarded

91:11-13 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 
Heavenly Father, I pray:
▫️I thank You for Your protection my whole life long. I pray You would continue to command Your angels concerning me to guard me in all my ways. 
▫️You would send Your angel to encamp around me, and rescue me from ______ (Psalm 34:7).
▫️Continue to bear me up as I walk through _______. Give me faith to hold on to this truth: “even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save (Isaiah 46:4).
▫️When I feel there is nothing I can do to change my situation, I would look to You. You are my keeper, the God who neither slumbers nor sleeps. You will protect me from all evil and keep my soul. You will guard my going out and my coming in from this time forth and forever (Psalm 121). 

I will deliver him

91:14-16 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Eternal Protector, I pray:
▫️I would hold fast to You in love as I face _____. Lord, deliver me and protect me! 
▫️Continue to show me who You are because those who know Your name put their trust in You because You do not forsake those who seek You (Psalm 9:10).
▫️Lord, I am calling on You now, please turn to me and answer me. Show Yourself mighty on my behalf.
▫️I love Your promise that You Yourself will be with me in my trouble. Be so very near to me today, Father, and rescue me and honor me. Not because of what I have done or who I am, but because I trusted in You.
▫️You would satisfy me with long life. You would bring me out of my current troubles and give me a long life of living for You. 
▫️Let me behold Your salvation. I am confident that one day my faith will become sight, and I will see all Your promises to me in Christ fulfilled. But if it be Your will, let me see Your salvation and deliverance from the trouble immediately before me. 

May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 


Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.


Photo credit to kris_ricepees

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