The Prayer of Jehoshaphat

2 Chronicle 20:6-15 

See attached "digging deeper" worksheet

Matthew 6:9-13

Since the quarantine, I am finding myself at a loss for words when praying in this crisis. I mostly pray when I wake up in the middle of the night. The Bible is a great source for “plug-in” prayers that we can say when we are at a loss for words. And how powerful are the words that were inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin with. While Jehosophat was not the best judge of character when it came to who he did business with, he was clear on who he prayed to.

In this chapter, armies of several nations are coming against Jehosophat and he prayed this in his distress.

“He prayed, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! The first thing Jehosophat declared in his prayer was establishing who God is. Our Father who art in Heaven.

7 O our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people Israel arrived? And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? Then he reminded God what he had already done for them. Your kingdom come, based on the covenant he made with Abraham.

8 Your people settled here and built this Temple to honor your name. 9 They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.’ Jehosophat then gave testimony of how the people honor His name and cry out to the Lord. Hallowed be your name.

10 “And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them. 11 Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land, which you gave us as an inheritance. Now he tells God about his current situation, you can almost hear the panic in his voice! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

12 O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” In this last part, he asks God to stop them and that is all. Deliver us from evil. He humbly states how they are powerless and do not know what to do. When we pray, how often do we also tell God how to answer us? We should learn from Jehosophat to say, “I don’t know what to do, my eyes are on you, Lord.”

Some other bible prayers we can say:

For spiritual growth in others: Colossians 1:9-10

For someone’s calling or purpose: 2 Thess. 1:11-12

For Conflict/opposition/persecution: 2 Thess. 2:3-5

For our pastors: Philemon 4-7

For guidance from the Lord: Ps. 25:1-5