Summer in the Psalms - Psalm 9

When I Don't Know What or How to Pray

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Today, we're doing a quick check-up. There's no heart monitor in the room but this is just as important. After all, prayer is our lifeline. Prayer is what connects us to the source of Life, to our Father and Creator.

So, what has your prayer life looked like today? This week? This month? Is it a daily rhythm or has busyness or distraction seeped in and taken your attention away? Usually when this happens, we open the door for worry and fear.

As we're studying the Psalms together again this Summer, I knew I wanted my dear friend, Patty Conrad, to join us and share how she has learned to pray through the Psalms. These words, as ancient and poetic as they may be, can serve as a guide, a practical prayer prompt for us when we don't know what or how to pray. Maybe we're unsure how to approach the throne room of the Almighty. Maybe we know, but we need something to help us make it a daily habit.

My dear friend, Patty Conrad, is sharing her reflection of Psalm 9 with us and teaching us how to pray through the Psalms. After all, prayer is how we align our will to God's and it is our very lifeline. We can use these ancient words to guide our prayers today.

Patty Conrad graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Education. She taught special education for 8 years, has been homeschooling for 22 years and currently teaches 1st grade at a private classical school.  Patty and her husband have four boys: two teenagers and two young adults. She enjoys planning, cooking, reading and spending time with her family and friends.

How would you describe your prayer life? Fresh and fruitful, inconsistent and ineffective or nearly nonexistent? No matter where you land on that spectrum, learning to pray scripture, and specifically, learning to pray the Psalms, is a simple yet powerful way to daily reinvigorate your prayer life.

Over 20 years ago Scott and I attended a conference led by Don Whitney where we learned a way to pray centered on the text of the Bible. He taught us to go through a passage line by line and talk with God about whatever came to mind. At the time no one had a smart phone, so I would print out a Psalm, place it in a sheet protector, and we would prayer-walk the campus of the boys ranch where we lived and worked, going through the verses together. Over the next few months we saw the Lord transform our lives in monumental ways and we believe our evening prayer walks were an important part of the His preparation for what was to come.

The Psalms provide such a perfect set of passages to use in daily prayer, since they were inspired to be sung back to the Lord. They encompass the whole spectrum of human emotion and can easily be skimmed daily by following this simple approach: take thirty seconds or so to quickly scan five specific psalms and pick the one that best leads you to prayer on that occasion. If you take all 150 psalms and divide them by thirty days it gives you five psalms per day. For example, if today is the 9th day of the month, I would scan Psalm 9, 39, 69, 99, and 129.

Let’s take a look at two verses from Psalm 9 together to prompt prayer about whatever comes to mind:

Verse 1:

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Dear Lord, I pray that I would be wholehearted in giving thanks to you. I am in awe of how you have blessed me and my family and I want to be able to recount your wonderful deeds - I am in awe of your amazing creation, of all that you have made. And, Lord, I give thanks to you for the blessing of my family and the gift of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I thank you for the wonderful deeds that you have done in your word, in history, and in calling me to yourself.

Verse 18:

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Lord, I come to you on behalf of the needy and I know that is all of us, for all of us are in need of a Savior, in need of your sanctification and in need of transformation; but there are also those, Lord, who are in need of healing, in need of provision, in need of reconciliation, in need of justice, in need of freedom...so I pray for them Lord and I thank you that the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. I pray for those who are living in impoverished conditions Lord, that you would be their hope, that you would meet their deepest need to know you as their Savior and Lord, and that you would meet their physical needs as well. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

With this short introduction I encourage you to take a look at the rest of Psalm 9 and pray these verses back to the Lord. For more resources check out Donald Whitney’s book, Praying the Bible, or Crossway’s YouTube videos: Praying the Bible with Don Whitney.

Now, It's Your Turn!

I challenge you to take a moment to pray, then read or listen to Psalm 9 today. Think about what stands out to you. Consider writing down a statement of faith. It may help to think of this as an I-statement. Maybe yours is similar to Patty's:

I will use the Psalms as my prayer guide today.

Then, jot down a question to think about today. Maybe yours is similar to Patty's:

Which verse in today's psalm resonates with me? How can I use this as a prayer prompt for myself or another in my life?

May this reflection lead our hearts to gratitude and praise today and may we stand in victory against the tactics and schemes of the enemy.

And praise God for refreshment as we are intentional to spend a summer in the Psalms together, for if we want His truth to ever be on our lips, it must first be planted in our hearts.

Our strength grows as we rely on strength from above. Our joy grows as we see God transforming us from the inside out. Our peace grows as we spend time in God's presence, and we find rest when we intentionally seek the Lord first in our lives, for the Lord is ever our portion.

The good life, well it starts with a good day. Then another. Then another. Let's choose to live #TheGoodDay one day at a time.

I love hearing from you, so go ahead. Leave a comment. Be brave. Maybe your comment will speak life into someone else!

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