Reading and Praying the Psalms

We (Theta Community) pray and read through the Psalter every 2 months. Having prayed through it so many times, here are a few ways of reading it with eyes, ears, and heart wide open.

1. Summarize each Psalm with one-word. Write it up near the title in your Bible. Here are my first five:

Psalm 1 “Flourish”

Psalm 2 “Anointed”

Psalm 3 “Shield”

Psalm 4 “Shalom”

Psalm 5 “Abiding”

2. How does Jesus' prayer (Our Father...) petitions reflect this Psalm? John Pless from Concordia Fort Wayne has a very helpful resource on this. "It would not be difficult to arrange all of [the psalms] according to the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, and thus to show how the Psalter is entirely taken up in the prayer of Jesus." Bonhoeffer. For instance, Psalm 140 was my morning Psalm yesterday, and very clearly is taken up into the short petition, "Deliver us from evil." 

3. Pray it with Jesus: How do we listen to what Jesus is saying to his Father? We begin by opening and using his prayer book, the Psalter.

1. How is Jesus praying a verse or verses from this psalm?

2. I join him in this prayer. How does it communicate what my heart is saying to the Father through the power of the Spirit (supplication)? Maybe it communicates something my heart is saying to the Father on behalf of another (intercession). Jesus does both and we do too. He communicates on his own behalf (supplication) and on behalf of others (intercession).

4. Read Tim Keller or Jim Limburg or Dane Ortlund along with praying the Psalms.

5. Join us on Facebook group: Praying the Psalms (@prayingwithgod)

6. Find a musical version that opens your imagination. Poor Bishop Hooper has been working on one psalm a week for two years. These are treasures, and our Community listens to them most Wednesday mornings as we reflect on the morning Psalm. Here is an example of Psalm 1.

7. Find a Psalm Reading schedule and habitually use it. I have found the 60 day schedule to be sustainable. We create a 2 month prayer and Psalm reading card at Trinity, and I'd be happy to give that away if you would like it.