Jesus, Our Refuge and Defender
Today, as the Underground, we come together in prayer and fasting. Every great move of God in the Bible and in history begins with Extraordinary Prayer and Fasting. Together, we are believing that Jesus is at work, redeeming and restoring. As we pray today, this guide will bind our prayers together in agreement. This week we will focus our prayer on Jesus, our refuge and defender.
As we unite across the network in prayer, we reflect on the ways the Father has delivered us and say in faith that we trust Him to do the same now.
Focus:
Jesus, our Refuge
Today’s Scriptures:
Psalm 62:5-8, 2 Chronicles 20:1-13, Psalm 65
Read:
Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:5-8
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Take a few moments and reflect on the ways God has protected you and your family. What moments or images come to mind? Make a list, a timeline, draw an image, whatever He shows you.
Take a few moments and reflect on the ways God has protected the Kansas City Underground. Spend some time in thanksgiving for the countless ways he has seen us through.
Jesus Our Defender
Read:
After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat.
Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazezon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:
“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or
famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away
from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.
2 Chronicles 20:1-13
Prayer of Faith:
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you”
In the face of an impossible enemy, Jehoshaphat’s immediate response was to unite all of Judah in prayer. They know that God, their refuge, has protected them through and through. Only He can do it again.
As we look back at the ways God has protected and delivered us, what are the impossible obstacles you may face today? Take a few moments to write these down, and give them to the Lord.
In an act of faith, pray the following over these things: we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
As we pray this, we unify as the church in our city in faith that He is our defender. Just as Judah came together in their time of desperation, we unite today and pray for our brothers and sisters across the Underground who now need those same prayers of faith.
We look back on our refuge in times of trouble, look now to our defender in times of need, and we pray in faith toward the future of a redeemed world and a King victorious.
Read:
Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
Psalm 65