Psalm 48 Prayer

 Great are you, Lord, and most worthy of praise.  You are our fortress. When the forces of this world - hatred, bitterness, fear, anxiety, envy, greed, anger, division, destruction - try to come against your people and your Church and we cry out to you, you destroy them like ships shattered by a wind.  You make secure forever your people who meditate on your unfailing love. Your praise reaches to the ends of the earth and you are filled with righteousness. You are our God, forever and ever; you will be our guide, even to the end.   Help us to focus our spiritual, emotional, and intellectual attention on You and not the circumstances of this world.  Help us to cry with you, "Peace!  Be still!!" to the storms in our lives and to live in the Peace you offer to us.  You are our mighty fortress and our God.  You are our deliverer and we cry out to you for help.  In the name of Jesus, we pray for your Spirit to empower us to trust you for our Peace.  Amen. 

Psalm 48

1 

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,

    in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

2 

Beautiful in its loftiness,

    the joy of the whole earth,

like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,

    the city of the Great King.

3 

God is in her citadels;

    he has shown himself to be her fortress.

4 

When the kings joined forces,

    when they advanced together,

5 

they saw her and were astounded;

    they fled in terror.

6 

Trembling seized them there,

    pain like that of a woman in labor.

7 

You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish

    shattered by an east wind.

8 

As we have heard,

    so we have seen

in the city of the Lord Almighty,

    in the city of our God:

God makes her secure

    forever.

9

Within your temple, O God,

    we meditate on your unfailing love.

10 

Like your name, O God,

    your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;

    your right hand is filled with righteousness.

11 

Mount Zion rejoices,

    the villages of Judah are glad

    because of your judgments.

12 

Walk about Zion, go around her,

    count her towers,

13 

consider well her ramparts,

    view her citadels,

that you may tell of them

    to the next generation.

14 

For this God is our God for ever and ever;

    he will be our guide even to the end.