Praying for Those in Bad Life Situations Using Psalm 28-30
Are you wondering how to pray for people in really bad life situations who don’t know how to pray for themselves? Here is a prayer for you from Bible verses in Psalm 28-30 that you can use to pray for God’s help even when things seem hopeless and the people in trouble seem to be far away from God.
Praying for people in very bad life situations is a long term prayer undertaking. You can pray this prayer every day, or you can pray parts of it and add in the issues that God seems to tell you to pray about. This kind of prayer is often called “standing in the gap” in prayer. Click for more ideas on how to stand in the gap in prayer.
Praying for Those in Bad Life Situations Using Psalm 28-30
Psalm 28:2 Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
I pray today for those whose heart does not trust in you. I stand in the gap trusting in you. I know you have helped me. I pray that your merciful help will extend to those for whom I am standing in the gap.
Although there is no reason yet in this circumstance for my heart to leap with joy, I do give thanks to you for your goodness to me.
Psalm 29:3,4 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of Gory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic.”
God, I claim the power of your voice over the ones for whom I am praying. Through the voice of your word you created the world. I pray for the clear hearing of your voice in all its power in this situation. I give full permission to for the Holy Spirit to work within me that I might hear your voice and be your voice in this prayer time. I do not know your mind, so speak into my mind your words.
Psalm 29:11 “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”
Father, I pray for your supernatural strength. It is you who gives it. You know we are weak. I speak your strength into this situation, and I bind the use of human strength and self-determination and self-help. This is beyond our powers. I thank you that peace is one of your blessings. I pay for genuine peace, the peace that comes from trusting you entirely, of giving up my ideas of how things should turn out. I yield to you my ideas of fixing things, my compulsion to settle for happiness and absence of conflict instead of your peace that comes only from trusting you completely and totally. I relinquish all outcomes to you alone.
I thank you that it is your desire to give the blessings of peace to your people. I pray for those I’m standing in the gap for who may not recognize that they are your people that this difficulty. They may not imagine that this difficulty might be the catalyst for conversion, a turning to you for answers, a moment of revelatory emptiness that spotlights their great need for you. They may not understand your great love for them and the divine possibilities of a life of holy peace created by a heart filled with you.
Psalm 30:1,2 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. O Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
Lord I am yours and this is the reason I am able to stand in this gap in prayer. You lifted me personally from the same depths of being lost and lacking a relationship with you. You brought me from the same depths of trials and tribulations, unbelief, lack of trust and lack of knowledge. Because of the, I now bind the enemies and obstacles of this prayer and this healing power. I bind the destroyers who are now gloating that they have won the battle by orchestrating this seemingly insurmountable problem.
I reject all spirits of pessimism and of a defeatist attitude. I reject all spirits of retreat and giving up, all sprits of pride, anger and ego, control, depression, mental strongholds, and evil footholds that have been established in these lives. None of this may stand in your loving presence, and I pray for holy fear and a holy fleeing to you for protection of all minds attacked by enemy influence.
I am calling to you now in accordance with your word in Psalm 30:2. As I call, heal.
Psalm 30:3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.
Lord, this situation has the appearance of being beyond repair and redemption, like one put into a grave. But I stand in trust that even the parts of this situation where good things seemed to have died. I pray for the rebirth of love, commitment, trust, forgiveness, kindness, belief, faith, desire for healing, mutual respect. I speak life into a desire to change, a desire to reach out and grow and a desire to compromise and collaborate. I pray that you will bring these back to life from the grave of bad circumstances, past hurts, angry words, bitterness and hurt feelings. I stand in the gap believing that life is still available in this situation. I pray that you will supernaturally invade this situation and spare these dear ones from going down into the pit. Spare them, O Lord.
Psalm 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Father, I pray your grace and mercy and blood of Christ to cover the sins and mistakes that have been made by those involved that have brought them to this point. You are just and I know that in your holiness you cannot look on sin with a dismissive eye. The truth is, the dear ones for whom I am praying have been dismissive of you, disregarding the simple laws you have given. The love that you have for then that has gone unclaimed and unnoticed.
Father, I pray your mercy. May your anger be satisfied through the blood of Christ, which is effective for these sins and the sins of the world. I pray that their eyes may be open to the things that you desire to add to their lives through personal relationship with you that will last a lifetime. I pray the clearing away of all obstacles of pride, rebellion and disbelief that your favor might come and rest upon them for this lifetime and beyond.
I pray that in the despair and weeping that has come that there be a dawn of hope. I pray for that the redemptive tears that need to be shed will flow freely. I pray for tears of need, repentance, desperation and pain will flow. I pray that all rationalization and hardened attitudes that have been put into place to prevent those involved from feeling the hurt will be breached. I pray for cleansing tears and melted hearts. I pray for the night weeping so that the joy of the morning might come. I pray that the light and dawning of your love into their hearts might come as surely as the sunrise has come this morning.
Psalm 30:6-10; When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken. O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear O Lord, and be merciful to me: O Lord, be my help.
Father, I look back to times in the past when there seemed no need for a prayer like this, for standing the gap. I thank you for the past times of strength and security. We desperately need to see your face today in this situation. If we can’t see your face, we will be overcome with dismay and uncertainty. So I stand in the gap praying for a strong confidence that you have looked upon us with favor and that your loving gaze is upon us and that we need only look toward you for the reassurance we need that we have not been abandoned and therefore will not be overcome.
We pray against the threat of destruction, for we know this is not of you. The enemy comes to destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) We pray that no threat of destruction will thwart the power of the testimony of praise and honor and glory to you that will be the result of this prayer and your power and strength.
We pray to you according to the naming of your unchangeable characteristics:
The Merciful One – have mercy on me and those for whom I am standing in the gap
The One Who Hears Me = the one who hears prayers, listens and responds
The Helper – the one who enables me to do the impossible and to act purposefully in God’s chosen way.
Psalm 30:11,12 You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sack cloth and clothed me with joy that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
Only you, oh God, can remove these sorrows. Only you or Lord can create the renewal of song, the celebration of joy, the kind of joy that will never be taken away. I trust you and bow in your presence. Amen.
All scripture quotes are from the NIV version.
Copyright Karen Barber 2013. All rights reserved.
