Make Psalm 119 Your Prayer Guide

by Katy Kauffman

“Teach me to pray, Lord.” Has your heart ever whispered that to God?

Teach me how to draw close to You in praise and how to open my heart towards others in empathy and intercession. Teach me how to pray for myself so that my days become an adventure with You and I know how to overcome challenges in Your power and wisdom.

Teach me to pray for a world that’s missing the answers to life’s most important questions and that needs to find the heart satisfaction and help that only You can give us.

Teach me to pray.

The disciples saw just how much Jesus valued praying to the Father even with His busy schedule of teaching, healing, and ministry. They asked Jesus the same thing—“Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1 NKJV*). He unlocked for them the beauty and power of prayer by giving them a pattern for daily prayer:

• We draw close to God as our Father and keep deep within our hearts an awe for Him and a desire for His will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (v.2).
  
• We ask God for what we need each day, leaning on His goodness to provide and His power to make it happen (v.3).
  
• We ask God’s forgiveness for those thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions that hurt others and disrupt our relationship with Him (v.4).
  
• We choose to follow Him instead of our own way and appeal to Him for help to refuse temptation and resist the devil’s tactics (v.4).

Have you ever prayed Scripture to God? His Word is infused with power and insight, and when we pray God’s Word back to Him, our prayers will be filled with exactly what God wants for us.

This pattern for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer keeps us grounded in a focus on God and in trusting Him to be involved in our lives. The book of Psalms does the same thing, orienting our attention on the facets of God’s character and how to trust Him in life’s challenges.

Did you know that the longest chapter of Scripture gives us four ways to pray? Longer than some books of the Bible with its 176 verses, Psalm 119 is a storehouse of insight into how to pray with faith and power.

4 Categories for Prayer

When we pray, we can pick a verse from one of the four categories below to pray through. I’ve included a little note about what’s in each verse. Use Psalm 119 as a prayer guide for a fresh way to praise God and intercede for others and yourself.

Category #1 – Prayers of Faith & Praise

Psalms is a beautiful place to find declarations of faith. Look at these verses from Psalm 119 to see the psalmist’s faith in God and praise for who He is. We can pray these to God:

• “You are my portion” (verse 57).
• Thank You for being near to me (verse 151).
• Your Word is my treasure (verse 162).
• Thank You for “Your righteous judgments”—not biased, selfish, or short-sighted (verse 164).
• Teach me Your ways, and help me to live them (verse 171).

Category #2 – Prayers that Focus on God’s Greatness

The book of Psalms taught me about God when I most needed to understand His character. Formidable and gentle, powerful and loving, He is Someone we can always cry out to when life’s storms rush in and drench us with sorrow or desperation.

Refresh your heart with these verses, and pray about each aspect of God’s character.

• “The earth … is full of Your mercy” (verse 64).
• “You are good, and do good” (verse 68).
• You have created me (verse 73).
• Your faithfulness is everlasting (verse 90).
• Your custom is to be merciful to those who love You (verse 132).
• Your “tender mercies”—Your compassion—is great (verse 156).

Category #3 – Prayers that Battle Injustice

I have prayed these for a beloved country and the injustices they face. We can pray through these passages for ourselves or others, asking God to help during (or after) an oppressive circumstance.

• Redeem us from oppression, Lord (verse 134).
• Plead our cause and redeem us; renew us according to Your Word (verse 154).
• Even if people persecute us without reason, we will stay “in awe of Your Word” (verse 161).

Category #4 – Prayers that Aid Us in Temptation

“A lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV). These verses shine with a commitment to stay on God’s path and not follow after sin. Building such a commitment in our hearts will keep us walking in God’s ways, not our own. Here’s the heart attitude we can keep as we travel life’s road:

• Lord, help me to heed what Your Word says (verse 9).
• I will seek You always (verse 10).
• I will hide Your words in my heart (verse 11).
• Lord, teach me Your ways, so I can keep them (verse 33).
• Help me not to look at what’s worthless but renew me in sticking to Your path (verse 37).
• I will think about which way I’m going and consistently turn to Your way (verse 59).
• Help me to be blameless in keeping Your commands (verse 80).
• Help me to restrain myself from following after what’s evil so I can follow Your Word (verse 101).
• Your Word is my lamp and light (verse 105).
• I have set my heart to keep Your commands (verse 112).
• Lord, guide my steps and don’t let sin rule over me (verse 133).

Which of these categories resonates with you? Was there a particular verse you liked? Share your thoughts in the comments section, and may we always look to Scripture for wisdom and power in prayer.

*All Scripture verses are taken from the NKJV.