• About
  • Sermons
  • Teachings
  • Contact
  • 4TR
  • Extras
  • Love First Sarnia
  Jeremy Hoover's Ministry Website

Praying the Psalms, Part 3: How to Pray the Psalms

4/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
In part one of this series, I discussed why we should pray the psalms. In part two, I shared seven things I learned on this journey of praying the psalms. In this third part, I will share some ideas on how to pray the psalms.

Praying the psalms can be intimidating. There are 150 of them. Where does one begin? How does one begin?

I came across the idea of praying the psalms while going through a leadership training course put together by Lynn Anderson. In the training materials, Lynn advocated praying one psalm each day. He suggested a simple format: read the psalm for a basic comprehension of it. Then, begin to make it your own prayer. Substitute "I" when necessary. Add in your own specific needs when appropriate. Pray it back to God.

(Lynn Anderson has also written a very helpful book about the psalms called Talking Back to God. In this book, he specifically addresses praying the psalms. I recommend it as a good introduction to this spiritual practice.)

Later, as you begin to practice this daily, you will be able to read a psalm and use the thoughts, and even the outline of the psalm, to guide you in prayer. What themes was the psalm about? What images did it use that struck you? What sins were confessed? Use these to form your own prayer that you offer back to God.

As an example, consider Psalm 1. The themes that emerge from this psalm are faithfulness and wickedness. The image of faithfulness is a tree that is firmly rooted in the ground, receiving sustenance from a stream of flowing water, and yielding fruit in season. The image of wickedness is blowing chaff. It is  not rooted and is tossed about by the wind. Rootedness comes from obedience to God; wickedness comes by following a path of one’s own design, apart from God.

A simple prayer based on this psalm would direct your desire to be faithful to God and fruitful for him, for help to learn obedience from his word, for illumination into his word to show you how to be obedient, for awareness of the path of wickedness and guidance to stay away from the path. Psalm 1 is an important psalm that puts the importance of obedience to God by his word right in front of us.

There is also value in allowing the words of the psalms to be your own words, in praying them back to God in humility and with reverence.

Although I suggested starting with one psalm each day, many Christians pray the entire book of psalms every month. This is my practice as well. It can take as little as 10-15 minutes to do this. There are schedules that divide the psalms into 30 and 60 day cycles so that the Psalter can be prayed through monthly or every other month.

The first chart includes a 30 day cycle. This second chart follows an arrangement of the psalms that will allow you to pray the psalms over 20 or 60 days. Each of the twenty sections is divided into 3 smaller sections. A person could follow this schedule and pray through the psalms every twenty days, or, by praying through one of the smaller sections each day, could pray through the psalms every sixty days (every two months).

Praying the psalms is a journey. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or contact me. I would enjoy helping you on this journey as you use God's word to draw closer to him.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    This blog is for articles and book reviews. I post my sermons at my Sermons page, where you can listen to sermons online or download them in MP3 format.

    Although I work for the Otisville Church of Christ in Otisville, Michigan, this blog represents my own thoughts and does not necessarily correspond to the views and workings of the Otisville Church of Christ.

    Categories

    All
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Kings
    1 Peter
    1 Samuel
    1 Thessalonians
    1 Timothy
    2 Chronicles
    2 Corinthians
    2 Kings
    2 Peter
    2 Samuel
    2 Timothy
    Abundance
    Acts
    Amos
    Audio
    Baptism
    Believers
    Bible
    Bible Meditation
    Bible Memorization
    Bible Reading
    Bible Study
    Bible Study Guides
    Bookmarks
    Books
    Character
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Church
    Church Leadership
    Collection
    Colossians
    Commitment
    Compassion
    Complaining
    Conflict
    Conflict Resolution
    Covenant
    Criticizing
    Daniel
    David
    Deacons
    Decision Making
    Deeds
    Deuteronomy
    Devotional Guides
    Dig Deeper
    Discernment
    Discipleship
    Division
    Ecclesiastes
    Elders
    Elisha
    Encouragement
    Ephesians
    Evangelism
    Exodus
    Ezekiel
    Facebook
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Family
    Family Devotional Guides
    Family Discipleship
    Fear
    Fellowship
    Funerals
    Galatians
    Genesis
    Giving
    Glory
    Goals
    God
    Gospel
    Gospel Of John
    Gospel Of Luke
    Gospel Of Mark
    Gospel Of Matthew
    Gossip
    Grace
    Hannah
    Hebrews
    Hezekiah
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Home Devotional Guides
    Hospitality
    Household
    Humility
    Hypocrisy
    Integrity
    Intercessory Prayer
    Isaiah
    James
    Jesus
    Joel
    John The Baptist
    John Woolman
    Jonah
    Joshua
    Jude
    Judges
    Judgment
    Justice
    Kingdom Of God
    Leadership
    Leviticus
    Love
    Making Disciples
    Malachi
    Martin Luther King Jr.
    Maturity
    Mentoring
    Mercy
    Ministry
    Mission
    Money
    Myth Of A Christian Nation
    Nehemiah
    Neighbor
    New Testament
    Numbers
    Obedience
    Opinions
    Peace
    Perseverance
    Philippians
    Poem
    Politics
    Possessions
    Prayer
    Prayers
    Preaching
    Proverbs
    Psalms
    Puritans
    Purity
    Quotes
    Racism
    Reading
    Redemption
    Renewal
    Repentance
    Romans
    Salvation
    Sermon
    Sermon On The Mount
    Sermons
    Servant
    Service
    Serving
    Shepherding
    Sin
    Slides
    Social Justice
    Social Networking
    Spiritual Gifts
    Spiritual Growth
    Spiritual Leadership
    Stewardship
    Stranger
    Study Notes
    Teaching
    Temptation
    Thanksgiving
    Theology
    Titus
    Transformation
    Trust
    Twitter
    Unity
    Video
    Widows
    Wisdom
    Women
    Women In The Bible
    Worry
    Worship
    Zephaniah

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.