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Episode 6 - Use the Psalms to Pray
44 Plays4 months ago
The Psalms can teach us how to pray, but also what types of things to pray about. Listen in to learn how to use the Psalms as a springboard for praying about your own life and the needs that other people have.
Some points here come from this book.
Central Ohio Youth for Christ: www.coyfc.org
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Transcript
Introduction to Faith and Prayer
00:00:11
Speaker
I'm Brian from Central Ohio Youth for Christ and the busyness of your day with whatever you're doing, you can listen to this, open your mind and your heart just a little bit to entertain God, to think about Jesus, his offer of relationship for you, and the incredible journey you get to go on after that of having ah personal connection to God, praying in a way that changes people forever, and it changes you.
00:00:40
Speaker
i can think of nothing more exciting than that. Seeing answers to prayer as confirmation that believing in Jesus is totally real, what the Bible says is true, it's awesome.
00:00:52
Speaker
So yes, I want you to learn to pray, and I want you to pray in a way that opens your eyes and focuses your attention attention to see how God is moving, how is he answering prayers, and how is he showing up in the lives of people around you.
Understanding Relationship with God
00:01:08
Speaker
We've talked about this idea and previous episodes of having a relationship with God. And this is something that you can actually get clarity on. If you hear that and think, oh, that sounds really nice, but I'm not totally sure what it is.
00:01:20
Speaker
Here's what it's about. Maybe the most famous verse in the Bible. You may have seen it at football stadiums, John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, Jesus, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
00:01:38
Speaker
God did not send a son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. God loves the entire world, all the people in the world, including you.
00:01:51
Speaker
He gave his one and the only son. Why did he do that? Jesus came, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. He did those things to offer love and forgiveness for each of us, to die in our place, pay the debt that we owe God. That's the legal term.
00:02:12
Speaker
Your lived experience is probably the same as mine was. You know that things are broken, that things are screwed up, not only out there, but in here, in yourself.
Seeking Forgiveness and Transformation
00:02:23
Speaker
And Jesus died on the cross to offer his love and forgiveness in a relationship with God as a gift that's meant to be received. This is not a you live your entire life hoping to reach that. This is something that you can firm up right now and have certainty on not only where you stand with God, but have him come into your life, change you from the inside out.
00:02:50
Speaker
Here are some things that people have prayed in order to do that. Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for loving me. i admit I'm broken. I need your grace, your kindness, and your love.
00:03:04
Speaker
Thank you for paying the ultimate price by dying on the cross for me, for things I've done that are wrong, for the brokenness that's inside of me. Would you now forgive me for everything?
00:03:15
Speaker
I'm not bringing anything to the table. Instead, your forgiveness is a gift, but I want it. I'm opening the door of my heart now. I'm asking you, Jesus, would you please come in forever?
00:03:27
Speaker
Would you please give me eternal life in heaven with you when I die?
Guidance from the Bible and Prayer
00:03:31
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Thank you for saving me, for coming into my heart. Please make me the kind of person you want me to be.
00:03:39
Speaker
What I tacked on when I was younger was, would you please show me that this is true? If it's true, I want to believe it. And I was just talking to a friend a few days ago about that prayer and telling him that God knows if we're being genuine and authentic.
00:03:55
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If you're at that place where you want to turn to Jesus to start a relationship with him, please do that. Pause the podcast right now and turn to God and pray those things in your heart.
00:04:08
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The reason why we look at parts of the Bible is that Jesus said, he prayed for his followers in the book of John. He said, God, would you grow them by your truth? Use your truth to grow them, to set them apart.
00:04:23
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Or Paul writes in Romans 12, verse 1 and 2, that we should give all of ourselves to God. And when we do that, it's our spiritual act of worship. We're doing that in view of God's mercy.
00:04:36
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And after that, we'll be able to know what God's good, pleasing, and perfect will
Inspiration for Prayer through the Bible
00:04:41
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is. How do we know that? That's the goldmine. We get to that because God changes our thinking.
00:04:48
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We're not conforming any longer to what how everyone else thinks. Instead, God is changing. He's renewing our mind. That's why we look at the Bible, to change how we think about prayer.
00:05:00
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Pray along with me. Lord, would you change how I pray? What I talk to you about? Could you change those things too? I see a lot of things are broken in me and out in the world.
00:05:13
Speaker
I don't want to be problem focused or complain when I pray, but and instead I want to connect with you. want to talk with you about the things that you care about. Could you teach me how to pray based on your words and truth in the Bible?
00:05:27
Speaker
Amen. Well, just like Some of my friends who are also musicians, they listen to certain albums for inspiration. the albums get their creative juices flowing and it encourages them to play their instruments.
00:05:42
Speaker
For some people, they look for design ideas and pictures for a room layout. Or if you're like me, you you know look at videos or information on how to make the perfect cup of coffee or workout
Overcoming Prayer Challenges
00:05:56
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routines.
00:05:56
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We can use the Bible to get inspiration on how to pray, what to pray about, and ah to teach us Today, we're going to look at the Psalms, these poems or songs in the Old Testament and how they teach us how to pray.
00:06:13
Speaker
The Psalms are about different things, but they all are examples of people relating to God in honest and authentic ways. And if you've never read them, I encourage you to either get a copy of the Bible or get the Bible app on your phone and read through some of the Psalms And try to ask yourself the question, what is it saying about prayer and how to relate to God?
00:06:38
Speaker
Keep in mind that a growing prayer life is one of the main priorities in growing spiritually. A lot of people find it difficult to pray, myself included, or to want to pray.
00:06:49
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Yeah, i I am there regularly. Sometimes prayer can feel boring. Sometimes it can feel like nothing is happening.
Insights from George Mueller
00:06:57
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Here's what one leader, George Mueller, said about prayer.
00:07:02
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He said, Formally, when I rose or woke up, I began to pray as soon as possible. Generally, I spent all my time until breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events, I almost invariably began with prayer.
00:07:16
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But what was the result? Well, often spent a quarter of an hour or half an hour, even an hour, on my knees before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.
00:07:28
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And often ever having suffered so much from wandering a mind for the first 10 minutes or quarter of an hour, even half an hour, only then I really began to pray. What's he saying? It takes a long time to warm up.
00:07:40
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That's what he's saying. My mind is wandering for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and then I start to dial in. Well, if you're in today's day and age, that might be all the time that you've got.
00:07:53
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And so you may miss the window. Well, he says, I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart is being nourished by the truth, being brought into a real experience of fellowship or sharing with God, connection with God.
00:08:08
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I speak to him as my father and my friend, vile or wicked though I am and I'm unworthy of it. ah But I speak to him about the things he's brought before me in his precious word.
Renewing Perspective through Psalms
00:08:19
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It's often astonishing me that I didn't sooner see the point.
00:08:23
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What's he saying? Well, the point is he's using the word, the Bible, to guide and teach how he prays. The reality is we can fall into the trap of praying the same old things about the same old things.
00:08:40
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You list the same request about the same topics, same people, same circumstances in your life. This can lead to prayer feeling boring because it's hard to see what new things are happening.
00:08:53
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And the solution that George Mueller is proposing is pray using the Bible. And where we're going to start as an example is using the book of Psalms.
00:09:05
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But this idea of praying in the Bible ah shows up all over the place. In Ephesians 5, 18 and Paul says, be filled with the holy spirit singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves That's what people were supposed to do in a group setting,
00:09:22
Speaker
connecting with god together isaiah fifty five eight and nine ah says in the old testament god says my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
00:09:36
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Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Well, if you want to pray on a new level, we need to interact with God's thoughts.
00:09:47
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There's no better way to do that than interacting with him through the word, through the Bible.
Exercise: Psalm 23 in Prayer
00:09:53
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Paul says in Colossians 3.16, Let the message of Christ and all its richness fill your lives.
00:09:59
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Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. Psalm 3. But you, O Lord, are a shield around me.
00:10:11
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You are my glory, the one who holds my head high. What would it be like if you're praying through problem circumstances in your life and you're you're reminding yourself God is your shield, the one who holds your head high?
00:10:30
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Psalm 36, verse 7. God's unfailing love toward you protective. It's not only there, never stops, but it's something that can experience.
00:10:42
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god's unfailing love toward you is protective it's not only there it never stops but it's something that you can experience Or in Psalm 7119, Getting a sense how big God is. Even from those three verses, think what could happen to your perspective you and prayed through those verses.
Deepening Prayer through Psalms
00:11:01
Speaker
getting a sense of how big god is even from this three verses think about what could happen to your perspective if you read and prayed through those verses
00:11:13
Speaker
We're going to take a really famous psalm, Psalm 23, and we are going to pray through some of the verses together. We're going to do a part of this exercise, and you can follow along in the podcast.
00:11:29
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And there will be opportunities for you to pause, to think about the verse, and to pray out loud or even silently, depending on where you're at. Pray whatever comes to mind.
00:11:40
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We want to take, just like musicians listen to a famous artist to get inspiration on how to play or sing, we want to hear this line, ask God to bring to mind things that we could pray for based on this verse, based on truth in this verse.
00:11:59
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Psalm 23, verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need.
00:12:09
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The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need.
00:12:16
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I'll pray in real time right now based on this verse and then leave you time to think and pray in silence about the other ones coming up. God, thank you that you as my shepherd, you wanna guide me, you know what's best for me.
00:12:33
Speaker
You see things that i don't see. You know how to provide for me and care for me. You know where I need to go. God, I pray that you would give me your guidance and wisdom on how to be a great dad, how to be a parent to my three kids, how to be a good husband, a good friend.
00:12:54
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i I want to be a really great friend to people that I care about, Lord, and i need your help in that. Please give me guidance there as well.
00:13:05
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Thank you that this verse says, i have all I need. That sometimes I don't feel like I have everything that I need. You know, things are broken in my life. Things need fixed.
00:13:19
Speaker
It always feels like maybe we could use maybe a little bit more money or help there, but I think this is telling me, God, that I have everything I need because you are my shepherd, that I can ask you and you are going to provide.
00:13:34
Speaker
Just please remind me to ask you to provide. Here's one you can think through on your own. He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams.
00:13:53
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Verse two, he lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams.
00:14:14
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Verse three, he renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
00:14:32
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He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
00:14:54
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Verse 4, even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid because you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
00:15:18
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Hopefully hearing these verses and having the space and time to listen and ask God to bring things to your mind has actually brought things to your mind and instructed you on what to pray.
00:15:29
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We don't want to pray the same old things about the same old things, although God cares about that. He wants a more dynamic relationship and that actually is possible.
00:15:40
Speaker
So this is an exercise that you can do. You can use the Psalms, read through them, Use them as inspiration for how to pray and what to pray about.
00:15:53
Speaker
There's many Psalms in the Bible. What you can do is you can do a simple thing where you can start at the beginning of a month and whatever day of the month it is, that's what Psalm you read.
00:16:06
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If it's the first day, if it's May 1st, you read Psalm 1. Then the next day, Psalm 2. The next month, you can add 30. Do Psalm 31, 32.
00:16:19
Speaker
thirty two The month after that, you can add another 30. Psalm 61, 62, and so on, and actually work your way through praying through all the Psalms. It's great because they had a wide variety of personalities and a wide variety of ideas.
00:16:35
Speaker
Really sets the table for freedom in relating to God. Super enriching. ah One person said they felt like they actually were able to dial in and pay attention to who God is and to really engage him in prayer when they were going through this exercise.
00:16:55
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Another person said it felt like they had ah really simple but profound experience of God's peace kind of washing over them as they prayed through the Psalms.
Challenge: Diverse Prayer Topics
00:17:07
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I don't know what your experience is going to be like for me. ah usually helps me to focus. And this is some of how I pray for other people that I think about in advance and use a tool like a prayer calendar to keep in mind who am I committing to pray for, at least these two people,
00:17:28
Speaker
on you know today's date, and i look to the Psalms to get ideas of what to pray for, becomes super encouraging. So hopefully this tool being the second tool that we've looked at to catalyze a real dynamic prayer time with God has been helpful to you.
00:17:49
Speaker
And you can go on and use it ah to connect with God on a deeper level and to inform how you pray for other people. That's your challenge is to whatever day you're listening to this podcast, look at the date on your watch or your phone and then open a Bible.
00:18:08
Speaker
to that psalm. Ask God to bring someone to your mind and read through the first verse of the psalm and pray about that verse. Whatever God brings to mind, pray about it for yourself, pray about it for someone else, and see what happens. I hope you enjoy it.