Praying the Psalms

So we finished our last week oft he Psalms looking at "God's Prayer Book" - the Psalms. What a great resource God has given us so that we can "learn how to pray" We noted, three related comments about the Psalms. That they are....

(1) - God’s words that he has given us, so that we can speak/relate to him

(2) - Words FOR us not words to us

(3) - Groves we can run down in order to connect with God (which Jesus used in his greatest moment of need - Psalm 22.1 (Matt 27.46), Psalm 31.5 (Luke 23.46) + Psalm 69.21 (John 19.28)

We looked at a model for prayer called ACTS

  (1) Adoration
  (2) Confession
  (3) Thanksgiving
  (4) Supplication

And how reading, mediating and then praying the Psalms with these 4 categories of prayer in mind is really helpful.

We noted how praying through the Psalms could see 3 things happen to us

(1) We’d gain the power and perspective of God (inner transformation. CS Lewis said

    “The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at your like wild animals.
    And the first job of each morning consists in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice,
    taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in”

(2) We’d learn a vocabularly with which to relate to God - words that we start to mimick but then within time become our own words that we can use spontaneously. And words that can be used to help us (a) engage our emotions or (b) not be ruled by our emotions.

(3) As we praise God (for what he has done) and adore/delight in him (for who he is) OUR joy increases - we become more fulfilled.

We should never feel guilty if we don’t pray (Jesus died for our guilt - Romans 8.1) but we can feel gutted (that we missed an opportunity to connect to God).

We then went through Psalm 62 looking at how mediating on this Psalm would lead us to pray in all 4 categories. And this is what we saw

Vs1-2: What he knows (belief) - with God he can never be shaken.

Vs3-4: What he experiences (emotions) - I am being shaken

Selah - he pauses to reflect

Vs5-8: What he does (reading/meditation/prayer) - Urges himself to find God now

Lloyd Jones in his book on spiritual depression said

    “have you realised that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that
    you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself”

Vs9: What he knows (belief) - The truth about his enemies/situation

Vs10: What he mustn’t do (sin) - put trust elsewhere

Vs11-12: What he knows - ultimate truths

Reflection, Application and Prayer

(1) What did you find helpful when learning about how we can pray through the Psalms?

(2) Which are your favourite Psalms and why? What do they tell you about God? How do they connect you to God? How do they help you process your emotions?

(3) Have you ever come across the ACTS model for prayer? Do you think that could be helpful?

(4) How could Psalm 63 be prayed through - either for yourself or for someone else?

- title: what is the setting?
- vs1: what is he experiencing? Can you relate to that?
- vs2 - what has he known in the past? Can you relate to that?
- vs3-5: what does he say to himself? Is he thinking about the past, present or future? What is he doing?
- vs6-7: what does the present look like for him? What is he doing?
- vs8: How would this truth help him? How does he feel? What does he KNOW God is doing?
- vs9-10: what truth does he speak to himself? Why might this help?
- vs11: How does he end? What truth does he speak to himself?

Once you have understood David’s situation and what he prays, how could you join him in praying for yourself and for others?

Through the week

(1) See the blog from 3 weeks ago (praying with Jesus) - for further resources and ideas

(2) Commit to memorising Psalm 1 and Psalm 23.

(3) Read the following Psalms and become familiar with them for times when you (or others) might need them

Psalm 1 – Commiting yourself to God
Psalm 8 – Praising God
Psalm 19 – thanking God for his word and his creatio
Psalm 23 – Enjoy him as Shepherd
Psalm 42 – longing for God
Psalm 51 – Confess your sin
Psalm 62 – Finding rest in God
Psalm 62 – longing for God
Psalm 73 – struggling with injustice and doubt
Psalm 84 – delighting in God
Psalm 88 – when God seems gone and you’re all alone
Psalm 90/91 – the eternity of God
Psalm 93-100 – praising God for being king
Psalm 103 – praising God for his goodness
Psalm 131 – finding rest/contentment in God
Psalm 139 – the intimate knowledge of God

(4) Read through all 150 Psalms and write down everything that it tells you God has done (and thank him) and who God is (and adore/delight in him).