How To Learn To Pray
Probably the best way to learn prayer is from the Word
Perhaps the best way to learn to pray is by praying directly from Scripture—certainly the Psalms are an excellent place for this. If they were important enough to be preserved for our reading today, they are certainly good enough as our prayer guide!
Try to pray one each day, just read through it as if you were praying it yourself. Or just focus on a verse or two. Often something in the Psalm will stand out to you a bit more and you should linger on that in prayer for a bit.
Many of these Psalms were from King David and reveal many things to us about his relationship with the Lord, and give us much insight to the Father, as well as teaching us today about how to pray.
One example is Psalm 28—
1 [A Psalm] of David. To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications When I cry to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
3 Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, And according to the wickedness of their endeavors; Give them according to the work of their hands; Render to them what they deserve.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, Nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them And not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD, Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.
8 The LORD is their strength, And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
9 Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, And bear them up forever.
[Psa 28:1-9 NKJV]
What do you notice in Davids words? He uses the name of the LORD, asks for Him to hear his prayer; he asks the Lord for help, and to punish evildoers; he rejoices with an assurance to answered prayer; he praises the Lord and makes declarations of Him; he prays for his own people.
Included within these nine verses are adoration, faith, humility, supplication, intercession, gratitude—all elements of praying we cover. Notice how he will cry to the Lord, that is a pleading; the object of the prayer is the Lord my Rock, the aim is He would hear and be not silent; and his expressions of confidence in the Lord’s strength and saving refuge.
As you pray this passage for yourself and for others, you may well glean your own insights from it for your own praying.
There are 150 chapters, so at one a day it covers about 5 months. Then maybe pray the Proverbs and you have daily Scripture prayers for half a year.
Pray For The People Of God From The Word Of God
We will pray this week from the passage above: Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; feed them also, And bear them up forever.
Here is insight from Spurgeon:
This is a prayer for the church militant, written in short words, but full of weighty meaning. We must pray for the whole church, and not for ourselves alone.
Save thy people. Deliver them from their enemies, preserve them from their sins, help them under their troubles, rescue them from their temptations, and ward off from them every ill. There is a plea hidden in the expression, thy people: for it may be safely concluded that God's interest in the church, as his own portion, will lead him to guard it from destruction.
Bless thine inheritance. Grant positive blessings, peace, plenty, prosperity, happiness; make all thy dearly purchased and precious heritage to be comforted by thy Spirit. Revive, refresh, enlarge, and sanctify thy church.
Feed them also. Be a shepherd to thy flock, let their bodily and spiritual wants be plentifully supplied. By thy word, and ordinances, direct, rule, sustain, and satisfy those who are the sheep of thy hand.
And lift them up for ever. Carry them in thine arms on earth, and then lift them into thy bosom in heaven. Elevate their minds and thoughts, spiritualize their affections, make them heavenly, Christlike, and full of God.
O Lord, answer this our petition, for Jesus' sake. Amen
Until Thursday, grace and peace…