And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

  - Matthew 27.46

When thou recitest thy canonical hours...recite them thyself leisurely to the congregation, if though wilt gain the profit of them. Every verse that thou recitest, expound their texts minutely; speak in thine own character exactly, and fix on them thine understanding...

  - Anonymous, Life of Colman Ela, Irish, 12th century from an earlier ms.[1]

I have often commented on the value of using the psalms as our guide and even scripts in prayer. We don’t know how to pray as we should, as Paul observed (Rom. 8.26). So it looks like we need all the help we can get.

Celtic Christians – such as Colman Ela – understood this well, and made a point to instruct individual believers and worship leaders in the art of praying the psalms and making them your own when you do. They wanted them to have God’s words whenever they approached Him with their concerns and needs.

And that sounds like pretty good advice to me.

We have no one greater to look to for an example of this than our Lord Jesus Himself. Just at the point of His death, Jesus cried out the first verse of the 22nd Psalm, which He seems clearly to have been meditating on, as the writer of Hebrews seemed to understand (12.1; see how Psalm 22 goes from suffering to triumph half-way through, just like Jesus suffering with His eye on the joy to come).

Jesus also must have been praying His way through Psalms 31, 34, 69, and 88 as well, using the words of Scripture to help Him to bear up under the incredible suffering He accepted on our behalf.

As He found in those psalms words to describe His suffering, express His pain, and inform His voice in crying out to God, He also must have found great reassurance in the psalms that He was precisely where He needed to be, doing exactly what He had been sent to do.

Praying the psalms, making them your own, can have a powerful effect on your prayer life. Here are words to express your every mood, expand the horizons of your prayers, lift you up into the heavenly court of our ascended King, and offer you the comfort, insight, purpose, guidance, and help you need for whatever you may be facing.

To begin praying the psalms, start with a familiar one, praying it over and over for several days, slowly, reflectively, until you are able to make its words your own. When the inspired words of the Spirit of God begin to express the deep sentiments of your soul, you will be lifted into the very presence of glory in prayer.

Do this once, and you’ll do it always.

If you struggle with prayer – and even if you don’t – you can find using the psalms in prayer a source of much confidence and delightful conversation with the Lord.

Psalm 47.7, 8 (Truro: “Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns!”)
God is the King of all the earth,
Sing praise to Him with glorious psalms!
He rules the nations by His worth,
And on His throne receives their alms.

Teach me to pray, O Lord, and show me a psalm to help me get started in your prayer book.

A little help for our friends
Never let it be said that we aren’t ready to help in areas where we encourage you to stretch out in faith. At the bookstore at our website you’ll find abundant resources to help you in learning to pray the psalms. From John Nunnikhoven’s excellent books on praying the psalms to my little handbook, God’s Prayer Program and even The Ailbe Psalter – here are some excellent guides to help you get grounded in this most important discipline of prayer. Check out our bookstore offerings by following this link.

T. M. Moore, Principal
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