How to Turn a Psalm Into Your Own Prayer

Bible Gateway's guide to praying Scripture, written by Phil Collins, Ph.D., in partnership with the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement, offers a plain way to pray a psalm as your own prayer. Start by choosing a passage that is meaningful to you and that speaks truth into your life. The guide says a psalm is a great place to start, and it points to Psalm 100 if you want to pray a prayer of praise to God.

Before you read, stop and ask God to bless the time, to keep you focused, and to help you pray His Word. That short request sets the tone: you are about to speak with the One who gave the words. Then read slowly, the guide says, meditating on each word and verse. There is no hurry.

As you finish a sentence or a verse, stop. Turn what you just read into a prayer. The guide calls this bringing the ideas and truths of the passage into a conversation with God. When Psalm 100:3 reminds you that God made you and that you belong to Him, thank Him for that. Then name a neighbor or a grandchild you long to see come into His fold. When Psalm 100:5 speaks of His goodness reaching every generation, pray for the children of your church by name.

The guide says the Bible's own words can lead four kinds of prayer: worship, confession, thanksgiving, and petition for yourself and others. Psalm 100 carries you into praise. Psalm 51:1-2 gives words for confession on a day you need them. Psalm 23:1-4 turns easily into requests for a friend in the hospital or a widow in your pew. Psalm 34:18 is a prayer you can offer this week for anyone in your church who is grieving.

Try it for five mornings. Use a printed Bible, one psalm, and ten unhurried minutes. Some mornings the psalm will say what you feel. Other mornings it will say what you need to feel, and you can pray it anyway, trusting God to make it yours. This month, pray a psalm over your pastor too. He carries many burdens, and the Psalms give you words for him when your own run thin.

The tips come from Bible Gateway's Scripture Engagement section, where they sit under a larger set of pages on praying Scripture. This one was written by Phil Collins, Ph.D., in 2014, in partnership with the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement. The whole practice is five tips, short enough to keep beside an open Bible and begin the same morning.

The guide does not stop with private prayer. Its next page takes up praying Scripture in a small group, so a Sunday school class or a weekday Bible study can pray a psalm together the same way. Once five mornings alone have shown you how it works, that is a natural place to take it next.

Scripture: Psalm 100:3, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 51:1-2, Psalm 23:1-4, Psalm 34:18