For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake… Philippians 1.29

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
“And how shall we pray those psalms of unspeakable misery and suffering, the meaning of which we have hardly begun to sense even remotely? We can and we should pray the psalms of suffering, the psalms of passion, not in order to generate in ourselves what our hearts do not know of their own experience, nor to make our own laments, but because all this suffering was real and actual in Jesus Christ…”

I sometimes hear believers lamenting that they don’t “suffer” for their faith in our culture. Maybe a little suffering would quicken us to revival, some opine. We don’t go looking for suffering, but we must be prepared to endure it should it come. What better way to learn how to suffer than to enter into the very sufferings of our Lord? We cannot read Psalms 22, 31, 34, 69, 88, and others without seeing here our Lord Jesus’ experience of physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual suffering. We enter His pain and, by so doing, groan with Him, and prepare ourselves for whatever we may have to endure for Him in this life. Thus the psalms of suffering, prayed from within the suffering of our Lord, equip and prepare us to suffer on His behalf, no matter the form that suffering may take.

Read through Psalm 88. Can you see the infinite suffering of Jesus here? Pray through this psalm as though you were observing the Lord in this suffering, and remember as you do – we caused our loving Savior this horror.

Praying the Psalms
For more instruction in how to use the psalms in prayer – and why you should – order a copy of our book, God’s Prayer Program (click here). Here you will learn information and guidelines to help you make praying the psalms a regular part of your prayer life.

On Forgiveness
Forgiveness plays an important role in Christian community life. But what is forgiveness? Why is it so important? How can we practice forgiveness more consistently? Dr. Stan Gale addresses these and many other questions in his book, Forgiveness: Discovering the Healing Power of the Gospel. Listen to our Conversation with Stan by clicking here.

Our heavenly Father supports The Fellowship of Ailbe through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.