by Andy Johnson

MRN Missionary Care Director & Prayer Coordinator

We have been praying our way through the gospel of Luke in 2022, and I am grateful to you for starting the journey with us! However, as I asked the Lord what to pray this month over Ukraine, Psalm 31 kept coming to my heart. Friend, please join with me in praying this ancient song over the current situation in Ukraine.

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me,
    come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
    a strong fortress to save me.

We ask you, God of Refuge, to deliver Your displaced children in and around Ukraine! Remove their shame and restore their honor. Do not delay, Father! Your children need You today; come quickly! As You are our rock and our fortress, we ask You to be their safe place. Blind those who intend evil to the hiding places Your children have found.

Since you are my rock and my fortress,
    for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
    for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
    deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

Your son, our Lord Jesus, once prayed this from the cross. Today, as Your Ukrainian children are in agony, we ask You to prove faithful once again, God, and deliver them. Keep them from traps the invading Russian soldiers set for them. Change the path of bullets and artillery, divert tanks and planes from their targets, and preserve the lives of Your Ukrainian children.

I hate those who cling to worthless idols;
    as for me, I trust in the Lord.
I will be glad and rejoice in your love,
    for you saw my affliction
    and knew the anguish of my soul.
You have not given me into the hands of the enemy
    but have set my feet in a spacious place.

We are called to love, Lord, and so it’s hard to pray verses like these. We know that both Ukrainians and Russians are equally made in Your image, and that You long for all of them to know You and the peace that passes understanding. Where hate rules, bring Your love, Lord. Do not give Ukrainians up into the hands of their enemies, Father, but instead show them safe passage into spacious places where they can experience peace.

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress;
    my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
    my soul and body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish
    and my years by groaning;
my strength fails because of my affliction,
    and my bones grow weak.
Because of all my enemies,
    I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—
    those who see me on the street flee from me.
I am forgotten as though I were dead;
    I have become like broken pottery.
For I hear many whispering,
    “Terror on every side!”
They conspire against me
    and plot to take my life.

Only weeks ago, so few of Your Ukrainian children would have uttered these words and known the depth of pain they express. Today, we hear that 1 out of every 4 Ukrainians have been forced from their homes! This should not be so!! Restore the strength of those who flee. Bring healing to bodies, minds, and souls damaged by the unjust war waged against them. Do not let them be forgotten, but instead bring them to Your people’s minds to keep bringing them to you and to keep providing aid.

But I trust in you, Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hands;
    deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
    from those who pursue me.
Let your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your unfailing love.
Let me not be put to shame, Lord,
    for I have cried out to you;
but let the wicked be put to shame
    and be silent in the realm of the dead.
Let their lying lips be silenced,
    for with pride and contempt
    they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

People to whom You have given great authority and military power are abusing that power to hurt those weaker than they. We ask you, God – deliver your Ukrainian children from the hand of Vladimir Putin. Rebuke his prideful, contemptuous lust for power. Save Your children in Your love, Lord, and defeat the wicked who would abuse those made in Your image. Please, Father, let justice reign.

How abundant are the good things
    that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
    on those who take refuge in you.
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
    from all human intrigues;
you keep them safe in your dwelling
    from accusing tongues.

Praise be to the Lord,
    for he showed me the wonders of his love
    when I was in a city under siege.
In my alarm I said,
    “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
    when I called to you for help.

In the midst of these besieged cities, Lord, we beg You to reveal Yourself! We pray that, somehow, Your Kingdom would come in part through this invasion. Redeem Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and others. We believe that You are a God who specializes in redeeming brokenness; do it again in Ukraine, Father! As You deliver Your hurting children, we promise to give You the praise and the glory for this. Hear their cries for mercy, reveal Jesus to them, and make Your Kingdom come!

Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord.

We trust, God, that this is true. We cannot see it today, but we speak it – as Your people have for thousands of years – convincing our hearts that it is true. Preserve Your people; pay back the proud what they are due. Lord, please, in Jesus’ name, make your hurting children strong as they hope in You.
We pray all these things and so many more in Jesus’ name and through the power of Your Spirit. Amen.

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Special Prayer: Psalm 31