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Pray the Psalms

I've talked on here before that written prayers are actually quite beneficial. Most Christians I know are wary of any sort of prayer that isn't spontaneous and impromptu. That is just a result of our tradition and the way we have always defined prayer. 

Today I want to encourage everybody to try praying through the book of Psalms. We often refer to this book as "the song book in the Bible" but it would be more accurate to refer to it as the "prayer book." We mustn't forget that most hymns and songs of praise are simply prayers put to music, at least the best ones are anyway.

Praying through the Psalms is a tried and true discipline of the Christian faith. It has been done since the beginning and practiced consistently throughout. The Psalms represent the full range of human experience. There is joy, grief, anger, praise, longing, and thanksgiving. In fact, the book of Psalms is the most quoted Old Testament book in the New Testament. 

Try praying one psalm a week. Start at the beginning and pray using the words of that psalm. Each day repeat that psalm until it is something you no longer have to read. Make it a part of you and your vocabulary. Then, the next week, move onto the next psalm.

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