Peter Adam
Personal relational prayer with God in the Bible.
[You might like to reflect on whether you pray prayers like these! You may feel them, but do you pray them?]
Pause between each one, and say each one slowly, if possible, out loud, to allow you time to savour it.
TRUST
‘I trust in you LORD’ [Ps 31:14].[1]
‘I trust in your unfailing love’ [Ps 13:5].
‘I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits’ [Ps 130:5].
‘I life my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven’ [Ps 123:1].
‘Into your hands I commit my spirit’ [Ps 31:5].
‘I waited patiently for the LORD: he turned to me and heard my cry’ [Ps 40:1].
‘My hope is in you all day long’ [Ps 25:5].
‘In you, LORD, have I taken refuge’ [Ps 71:1].
‘I cling to you; your right hand upholds me’ [Ps 63:8].
‘In peace I will lay down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety’ [Ps 4:8].
LOVE AND DESIRE[2]
‘I love you, LORD, my strength’ [Ps 18:1, see also Ps 116:1].
‘I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever’ [Ps 89:1].
‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God’ [Ps 42:1].
‘You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you’ [Ps 63:1].
‘Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you’ [Ps 73:25].
‘I long to dwell in your tent forever, and take refuge in the shadow of your wings’ [Ps 61:4].
‘On my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night’ [Ps 63:6].
GODS WORDS
‘My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises’ [Ps 119:148].
‘Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long’ [Ps 119:97].
‘My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end’ [Ps 119:112].
PRAISE AND THANKS
‘Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will sing of your righteousness’ [Ps 51:15].
‘I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart’ [Ps 9:1].
‘My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with my soul’ [Ps 108:1].
‘Because you are my God, I sing in the shadow of your wings’ [Ps 63:7].
‘My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you’ [Ps 71:23]. ‘I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done’ [Ps 143:5].
‘Have mercy on me, O God … blot out my transgressions … Wash away all my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin’ [Ps 51:1].
‘My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise’ [Ps 51:17].
‘Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin’ [Ps 32:5].
GREAT NEED
‘Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck’ [Ps 69:1].
‘My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word’ [Ps 119:28].
‘Out of the depths I call to you, LORD; Lord, hear my voice … I wait for the LORD, more than watchmen wait for the morning’ [Ps 130:1,6].
‘These things I remember as I pour out my soul…’ [Ps 42:4].
‘Listen to my words, LORD, consider my lament’ [Ps 5:1].
EXHORTING YOURSELF TO PRAY:
‘Praise the LORD my soul, and all my inmost being praise his holy name’ [Ps 103:1].
‘Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God’ [Ps 42:5, 43:5].
‘Truly my soul finds rest in God, my salvation comes from him … Yes, my soul, find rest in God’ [Ps 62:1,5].
[As you pray these prayers, you might also add phrases like ‘in Christ’, ‘through Christ’, ‘by Christ’, ‘through Holy Spirit’, ‘by Holy Spirit’, etc.][3]
Sometimes our prayers become ‘shopping-list’ praying, need-orientated praying, task-orientated praying. As married couples who only engage in task-list conversations with each other need to have relational conversations, so we all need to learn to have relational conversations with God.
Words are a natural expression of emotions, for by them we communicate our emotions to others. As CS Lewis wrote, ‘I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed…’[4] This applies to all emotions.
There is a connection between our emotional openness with other people and emotional openness with God. It is best to try to increase both at the same time. Tell people you love them, trust them, thank them, praise them, share your pain and laments and sins with them [appropriately, of course!]. This will help you do the same with God.[5]
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NIV11. ↑
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In the NT, see Jn 14:21,23, [24], and 21:15,16,17; and 1 Pet 1:8. ↑
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Yes, the Psalms are about Christ, but because they are about Christ, they are also about us. ↑
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CS Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms. New York, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1958, 93. ↑
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See more resources on prayer and ministry at peteradam.org ↑