The 150 Psalms are prayers and songs to God. They were David’s prayers of praise, lament, supplication, despair, thanksgiving, and repentance to God. As we read these inspired words we see the heart of David as he turned to God in all of his life experiences. Reading and meditating on the Psalms and using them as a guide for prayer can be a wonderful way to enhance your prayers.
As we read the Psalms we learn to trust God, turn to Him for guidance, healing and deliverance. These Psalms can serve as a model of not only what to pray but how and provide a guide for us to express our own hurts, struggles, repentance, joy, thanks and praise to God.
Prayers are a way we communicate with God. The Psalms provide us an example and guide of the way David communicated to God. The Psalms can provide comfort and give us a way to express what we are feeling.
Using the Psalms to inspire our prayers is a way to take the words (written by David) and pray them words back to God. In 1 John 5:14 we read “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” Praying based on the Psalms is one day we are praying according to God’s will.
Ways to Incorporate the Psalms
- Read a Psalm Each Day–There is no right way to start. You can either start with Psalm 1 and read in sequential order or just pick out different ones for each day. Or just open your Bible in the Psalms and read the first one you see. Or read Psalms by topic of interest.
- Meditate on a Psalm–Meditate on the words throughout the day. As the words come to mind use them in your prayers to God.
- Write Out a Psalm in your own handwriting
- Memorize a Psalm–This is the way we hide scripture in our heart.
- Make a list of favorite Psalms or verses to review. Perhaps keep them organized by topic.
- Share a phrase or verse from the Psalms with another person to offer them encouragement.
- Read the Psalms aloud to yourself or someone else. Consider calling a widow or shut-in and reading to them. Reading slowly can help us focus on the words as we both read and hear them.
- Listen to the Psalms being read out loud.
- Create a Psalm or Prayer of your own.
- Sing them! There are many musicians that have created beautiful Psalms based on the actual scripture.
