For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling … and set me high upon a rock.  (Psalm 27:5)
 
Public service announcements preach emergency preparedness. We are advised to visit ready.gov to learn how to prepare for natural disasters such as earthquakes or wildfires. Stock one gallon of drinking water per person per day. Keep canned and other nonperishable foods on hand, and don’t forget the can opener! Buy a portable radio and maintain a supply of fresh batteries.
 
All of those practical things are very important, but we Christians should also be ready with a prayer for the day of trouble. The trouble on that day may be a natural disaster or it may be the death of your spouse, a cancer diagnosis, job loss, a son or daughter walking away from the Lord, betrayal by a friend. When your world is threatening to fall apart, be prepared with a prayer that reminds you who you can turn to, who can save you.
 
My own prayer for the day of trouble draws on Psalm 27. In fact, I put a sticky-note tab in my Bible that says, “for the day of trouble.” I invite you to prepare for disaster by thinking now about how you will pray on that day.
 
Here are some ingredients for prayer this week:
 
1.  Join the people of God around the world and across the millennia by praising Yahweh:  Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You – majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders!  (Exodus 15:11)
 
2.  Lift up Jim and Lynette Hatcher, our missionaries in Vienna, Austria, and their GEM colleagues across Europe. Jim reports that ten churches have been planted in Frankfurt, Germany, in the last five years and that these new church bodies are a healthy mixture of Germans and immigrants. Pray for Jim as he leads GEM missionaries in Austria and across German-speaking Europe, teaches at a Bible institute in Vienna, serves in his local church, and pursues doctoral studies. He will be training our small group leaders in discipleship via Skype this Thursday evening. (Read the latest Hatcher update here.)
 
3.  A family that used to be part of Calvary asks for prayer as they go through “huge and horrible struggles.” Pray for protection, direction, and comfort for this family.
 
4.  I, for one, take police officers – keepers of law and order – for granted too often. Thank the Lord for their service to all of us. Pray for their protection and for divine help to handle all the pressures that come with the job.
 
5.  Here’s a quote from a book* I read recently that convicted me:  “We noticed … that many people in our community protect themselves from inconvenience as though inconvenience is deadly.” Lord, help me cheerfully make the sacrifices – and even suffer inconvenience! – to do the work You are calling me to do.
 
6.  Do you know an enabler, a person who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior by providing excuses or making it possible to avoid natural consequences? Pray for the strength and trust the enabler needs to fully turn that loved one over to the Lord.
 
7.  At the end of a controversy between the Pharisees and Jesus over his healing of a man born blind, the Pharisees exclaimed, “What? Are we blind too?” It’s a good question and a question God would honor if they had asked it honestly. Ask the Lord, humbly and honestly, To what in my life am I blind?

In Christ,
Carol Gilbert, Prayer Chair
Calvary Community Church of Brea

* The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, by Rosaria Butterfield, p. 126