For the past few weeks we have been walking the path toward learning to pray using the Psalms. Let’s, stop, turn and look back down the trail at some milestones we have passed.

    We acknowledged that a healthy, disciplined prayer life is very difficult for most of us to sustain long term. And a good deal of the advice we get does not work for the long haul. Then we boldly suggested a secret to the life of prayer: the Psalms can teach us to pray. In fact the best time-tested prayer “technique” among great faith-warriors for 3000 years is to pray the Psalms. And we began exploring the benefits of praying the Psalms:

    First we noted that praying the Psalms helps us to Speak the “Unspeakable.”

    Second, praying the Psalms helps us Explore the “Uncomfortable.” Now, lets move on.

    Let’s look at a couple more blessings of praying the Psalms this week.

The Psalms not only enrich our prayer life, but they broaden our scope of prayer...

    I have discovered that praying the Psalms keeps our prayer list fresh. As we move through the Psalter, the focus keeps changing from Psalm to Psalm, raising fresh prayer topics with each new Psalm we pray. The Psalms lead us into a wide range of ‘prayer subjects’ and emotions, rescuing us from repetitiveness and bouncing us out of our narrow and self-centered prayer ruts. What is more, a prayer that begins with a Psalm usually moves us beyond the ancient content of the Psalm itself into contemporary issues, many of which we may not have prayed over in months Ð some maybe never before. So the Psalm we are praying becomes a launching pad for fresh and varied topics of prayer. The Psalms not only enrich our prayer life, but they broaden our scope of prayer and lead us on a journey of prayer topics that bless our lives like they have blessed other believers for thousands of years.

    In addition, praying the Psalms takes prayer beyond mere begging. Prayer gatherings often go something like this, “Any prayer requests?” Then we raise our hands and tell the group what we want God to give us or to do for us: “Heal Aunt Sally!” “Get me a raise!” “Give me a safe trip!” “Fix my marriage!” Etc. etc. Of course God is interested in Aunt Sally’s health and my safety. And it is great that we ask God for things that trouble our heart. Jesus himself tells us to “seek, knock and ask.” However, for the Psalms, personal petition is just one small piece of potent prayer. Sure the Psalms have as making requests, but they take us far beyond begging. When we keep praying the Psalms, the Spirit opens up new vistas of prayer and before long they have us...

• Listening to God
• Praising God
• Thanking God
• Exploring our own souls
• Blessing other people
• Empathizing with the pain of others
• Recalling God’s goodness
• Asking God questions
• Seeking God’s face
• Awestruck at His majesty
• Trembling before His holiness
• Basking in His love

    Oh yes, praying the Psalms vastly broadens and deeply enriches our understanding of the purposes and powers of prayer. Our prayers grow fresher, broader, deeper, and higher as the Psalms teach us to pray.

Title: "Keeping Prayer Fresh and Alive"
Author: Lynn Anderson
Publication Date: October 3, 2001

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