Praying Through Psalms

MY PRAYER FOR YOU is that this psalm will become a wonderful song of trust that you return to again and again. As you pray through it, rest in God's presence within and without. I pray that you know Jesus as your fortress and that your faith will not be shaken.

If, as you have prayed this psalm, the Lord has brought to your mind places or people or things that you have put your trust in that are not God, give those to him now. Repent where God brings conviction to do so.

Close by thanking God that he is strong and that he is loving.

SO OFTEN WE FORGET to cry to God for help. We agonize over our troubles or set out to solve them on our own. Emotions overcome us, and we have no peace because we forget we have a Father in heaven who cares about every detail of our lives. What troubles have you hesitated to offer to God or forgotten to cry out to God about? Cast your burdens on him and rest in his sustaining love.

THE FOURTH SET of beads says, "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make hast to help me." I have discovered that when the Lord delivers me from fear, or I have repented of a sin and feel much lighter, there is a sense of having "a new song put in my mouth by the Lord." Indeed, I walk with a new lightness that results in a hymn of praise in my heart.

It is good to recall the places where the Lord has helped and delivered us, to bring them to him in a song or prayer of praise. Revisiting the things God has done for us strengthens us. That is one of the reasons that remembrance is such a key theme of the Bible.

Take a moment to enter into the practice of gratitude for a place God has helped you. Journal.

DEAR FRIENDS, WE ARE IN HOLY WEEK. I can think of no finer Psalm than Psalm 51 to pray through during Holy Week. Whether you pray this Psalm first thing in the morning or last thing at night it is a Psalm to meet our Lord in and ask him for our greatest need, to be washed from iniquity and cleansed from sin.

I encourage you to attend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and of course Resurrection Sunday services. Enter in to the beautiful and sorrowful narrative of our Salvation.

TODAY IS MONDAY AFTER THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT.

I hope you have found a rhythm for Lent that has brought you nearer to our Lord. Praying a Psalm that leads us to repent is good for our daily lives, but certainly in Lent. I find it is a sweet way to close out my day.

Psalm 51 provides a way to repent and to ask for the things the Lord longs to give to us: cleansing from sin, his presence, joy in his salvation and lips that will declare his praise.

Have mercy on us, O God.

THE PSALMIST BEGINS this prayer with a beatitude. "Blessed is the one" who is forgiven.

As we press into this second week of Lent, a time of repentance, it is good to recall that we are forgiven, that our sin is covered by the blood of Jesus.

We are Blessed when we are Christ's own.

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TODAY IS MONDAY AFTER THE FIRST Sunday in Lent 2024.

I invite you to begin or end your day by praying this prayer of repentance...'According to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my inquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.'

All of these verses give a clear picture of what it means to be dependent on God, to be made right with him and right with the world. We can have confidence that the Lord can and will create a clean heart within those who call on his name. It is, in fact, his deepest desire to renew a right spirit within us.

TODAY IS ASH WEDNESDAY the beginning of Lent. For the next 40 days the church prepares for Easter. I invite you into a Holy Lent, a time of self-examination and repentance; prayer, fasting, giving to worthy causes and reading and meditating on God's Holy Word.

I will begin each morning in Lent by praying through Psalm 51 a prayer of the penitent, pray with me...repent with me.

THE FIRST VERSE of Psalm 34 always causes me to reflect, for the Lord's praise is not continually in my mouth. Sometimes I am led to repentance -- but always it is my prayer that it would be so, that his praise will be continually in my mouth.

The Psalmist quickly gives a reason why the Lord is to be praised: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." Take some time to remember the times you sought the Lord and he answered you, delivering you from all your fears.

Do we forget to cry for help? Tell God your troubles. Intercede for the trouble of others. Let the truth that "the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit" sink deeply into your spirit. This is the confidence we have when we pray for ourselves and for others

THIS HYMN is full of faith statements. The first set of beads says, "He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord." Sometimes it is difficult to see that the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord, so we need to take a closer look to spy out his faithfulness.

Spend some time this week meditating on the truth that God is steadfast, that his love for you is steadfast.

Write out your own definition of what it means to be steadfast. Perhaps record the many ways you have seen the steadfast love of the Lord in your life.