The Prayer That Keeps Me And My Family Safe

Today, I will be sharing a powerful, personal prayer with you.

This is one of the prayers that I have been praying for protection ever since the pandemic began which caused fear, anxiety, and loss.

This prayer is Bible based and has a strong foundational truth. It has worked for me and kept my family safe all through this season of uncertainty and panic. I am thankful and give all glory to God.

First, I would like to explain where this prayer originated from.

Exodus chapter 12 describes God’s plan to release the people of Israel, working as slaves for Pharaoh and oppressed by their bosses, the Egyptian taskmasters.

Ironically, these slaves are God’s chosen people, destined for a great future.

These were a people, who were supposed to carry the command of God ‘Be fruitful and multiply, subdue nations, take dominion over everything on earth’ but instead were living a life of misery, faced with hardships, struggling for even bare necessities like food, clothing and shelter.

For years, these folks were stuck in a rut, abused, oppressed and tormented, physically and emotionally, enduring extreme working conditions and a tough life.

As they continued to live in bondage, they lost all sense of self-worth, peace of mind and exhausted their enthusiasm to seek fellowship with God.

Until God decided to orchestrate a way to free them from the bondage of slavery.

The Passover.

God was going to do everything it takes, including slaughtering the first-born children of the Egyptians and their animals so that Pharaoh lets God’s people go.

So, God commands every house to sacrifice a lamb, and to smear the blood of that lamb on the door post of each house. The blood on the door post would be a sign of identity, so when the Angel of Death passes by, only the house with the blood of the sacrificial lamb would be spared.

Moving on further, the book of Joshua narrates Joshua sending two spies to Jericho to carry out God’s big plan for the people whom he brought out of slavery. At Jericho, the spies enter the house of Rahab, a prostitute. The King of Jericho finds out about the spies and sends a message to Rahab to help capture the two men.

Rahab decides to make a risky, tactical move. She hides the two men and strikes a deal with them in return for saving their lives. She discloses that the whole of Jericho is in fear because of the news that God was going to destroy the city and give the land to His chosen people.

She ends up bargaining for a favor in exchange for hiding the two men from the King.

She asks them to spare her and her family. The deal is struck. The spies agree but how will Joshua’s army or men identify Rahab’s house? Because when the city would be attacked, it would be a sudden, mass destruction.

They come up with a strategy. They instruct Rahab to tie a scarlet cord to the window of her house as a sign of identity so when they see the red cord over the house they will know that this is the house that needs to be exempted from destruction.

In relating to the Passover, it would have to be the blood of a sacrificial lamb which would identify and qualify Rahab’s house to be exempt from destruction.

However, Rahab was not part of God’s chosen people and it was required for her to be brought under the blood covenant for protection. That’s why, until the time Rahab is brought into the community, to understand God’s precepts of the sacrificial blood, a scarlet cord is used as a substitute to save her and her entire house during this emergency situation.

The covenant of the Blood is powerful.

It worked for the slaves.

It worked for Rahab the prostitute and her family.

It will work for you and me too.

Fortunately, we have a better covenant.

In the New Testament, since the blood of animals is no longer applicable to atone for Sin, Jesus Himself became the sinless, blameless, spotless lamb of God Whose Blood was offered as a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.

—Better promises, better blood, better Mediator

The symbolic Blood of Jesus, when applied in faith, becomes our identity, that we are God’s people, God’s property, to be kept safe and protected, to be exempted from destruction.

The Blood of Jesus is a better substitute and a stronger sign of identity than the blood of a sacrificial animal or a red cord.

Are you like the enslaved people of God?

Do the promised blessings over your life not match the current situation you are in?

Are you like Rahab, in an emergency situation and not in a position to comprehend the Blood covenant?