Praying through the psalms is a process that keeps your prayer life fresh and your prayer requests specific. Using God’s Word, you can articulate your prayers keeping in line with God’s will. As you read, you take a phrase and flesh out ways to pray that scriptural truth.
The method I use to pray through a daily psalm is to take the calendar day of the month to pray that psalm or an increment of 30 (e.g., May 20 – Psalm 20, 50, 80, 110, 140; on months with 31 days, I go back to the long Psalm 119). I take a section of 30 each month and then keep moving forward. Within 5 months, I have prayed through every psalm.
Here’s an example of how you can use Psalm 20 to pray for you and your church.
20:1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
Where in your life do you need the Lord to help? Spiritually? Practically? Is there a danger area in which you need protection? Ask God to help in specific areas.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
In what areas in our church do you see needing help? How can you pray for God to send the resources, support, or volunteers to give the needed support in the life of this church?
3 May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
What are you offering to the Lord from your life? Do you need to ask God to bless your efforts and contributions? Do you need to seek wisdom from Him on what you need to offer?
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
What desires are in your heart that God would affirm? What plans would you like to see accomplished? Write those down and pray for God to see your plans through or grant even greater plans than you could imagine.
5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
Who do you need to thank God for saving with the gospel? Who still needs to hear the gospel for whom you can pray?
6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
The Lord has anointed people in leadership positions in this church to do His work. Who specifically will you pray for? What will you pray for him or her?
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
What are you trusting in instead of trusting in God? A person? A thing? A circumstance? Yourself? What do you need over to God’s capable hands?
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
Who in the church have you seen take a spiritual fall? Pray that God will use whatever means necessary to get him or her upright again.
9 O Lord, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
For which governmental leader should you pray? How should you pray for him or her?
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
