3 Tips for a More Powerful Prayer Life
Do you yearn for a more powerful prayer life? In Session 6 of the Discovering Hope in the Psalms online Bible study, we’ll discover three tips for better prayer.
Here’s how this will work:
- Watch this week’s video session above.
- Once you watch the video, answer the questions in the discussion section of this page. The questions relate to both the previous week’s study in the book as well as the video content. We hope these interactions will be both challenging and encouraging!
Before next week, complete Chapter 6—Psalms 42-43: Finding Hope When Downcast in your creative devotional study book. See you next week!
Subscriber Handouts
Go to the Subscriber Specials page to download a PDF of the Lord’s Prayer.
Related Posts
- The Journey of Childlessness (mentioned in the video)
- Honest Prayer
Correction
In the book’s first printing, there’s a mistake on page 134. Psalm 42’s sixth verse starts one line segment higher (see the photo). So the two places that refer to Psalm 42:6a are referring to the line segment “and my God”: page 139 first bullet point and page 143 question 16. (NIV and HCSB recently changed their layout so verse 6’s number appears to the left of the next line segment and a text note explains where verse 6 actually starts.)
Books You Might Like
- Fearless Prayer, by Craig Hazen: An encouraging examination of Jesus’s words, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7)
- The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus, by Janet McHenry: This sweet book interweaves the author’s fascinating personal stories with examples of how she incorporates Jesus’s prayers into her own life
- Answering God, by Eugene H. Peterson: In The Message, Dr. Eugene Peterson translated the Psalms into raw, gritty language to capture the feeling of Hebrew poetry so that Christians could relate to them today; here he shows how to pray the psalms and experience the blessings that praying them brings
Discussion Questions
After watching 3 Tips for a More Powerful Prayer Life, please answer the following questions in the comments below.
- What one thought stuck out to you in this week’s video? Why did it stand out?
- What one thought stuck out to you from this week’s chapter? Why did it stand out?
- Question 23, page 124: (c) Why is it important to remember God’s many great gifts to us when we’re faced with an unmet desire?
- Question 33, page 127: (a) What is something you’ve desired, but God hasn’t given you so far? (b) How can the lessons Asaph learned help you address these unmet desires?
1) How important it is to talk to God while I read his words to me–I don’t want to get lax in that!
2) Even spiritual people like Asaph start out believing lies, especially when envy rears its ugly head. But God wants to replace lies with truth, and he will when we turn to him.
3) So we’re grateful over gifts rather than discontent. And to correct unbalanced judgments.
4a) Full healing for my back. b) I can be thankful for the years I could hike and do other things, draw near to God, and rest knowing God gives me what I need to complete his will.
I found this video very helpful. It was really helpful to learn about your experiences. I definitely could benefit from incorporating more of talking to God while reading scripture. I remember reading a quote once about a theologian, who had said something like the bible is the engine that drives our prayer life, and what you describe here reminds me of that quote! And gives me more motivation to follow this!
I like that: “the Bible is the engine that drives our prayer life.” Without the Bible we can’t know what prayers please God or even what he wants us to pray for.
This is probably one of my favorite chapters! Its so amazing what we see when we slow down and look, I loved how honest Asaph is, someone who is serving God faithfully for many years but has some real struggles, seeing the wicked seemingly prospering, until God shows him reality. One of the really helpful things I learned from this week is that envy really skews our vision, and that was a problem for Asaph. So it was so fascinating and helpful to see him be honest, and see how God met him there, and encouraged him with truth. Jesus said we will know the truth and the truth will set us free, I think we see Asaph being set free from envy and bitterness that was starting to take hold from what he viewed as injustice on Gods part. Ultimately, we all have to trust God with the many injustices we see in this fallen world. Some of the injustice we see will be corrected during our lifetime, but much of it will happen during eternity, when we will enjoy Gods perfect justice forever! Looking forward to that day!
I love that too about Asaph. So many readers have said that the chapter on Psalm 73 is their favorite. Asaph’s honesty and vulnerability are what make him an outstanding teacher for all of us. I look forward to meeting him in eternity.
Throughout scripture we are often told to remember all that God has done for us, because we tend to be very forgetful! Focusing on the positive things God has done for us helps to prevent bitterness from building up inside of us, which is toxic to our health and relationships.
, In high school and college, I ran cross country and track. Since I was young, I had always wanted to be a runner, by the time I graduated high school I had broken every track distance record and cross country records, although my school in rural MN was pretty small! My track and cross country teammates were some phenomenal people. But for a number of reasons I was constantly injured and even in college was only able to actually compete 1 year as a healthy runner, I was so plagued by injury. At the time it was really difficult but over the years I have realized my entire identity was wrapped up in being a runner, it was the only thing that gave meaning to my life. I was forced to find slowly find new meaning, not as a runner but as a child of God, which has been so much healthier for me in the end, as my entire existence should not depend on whether or not I can run. So even though it was hard I had to let go of it, and its been almost 20 years since I was able to run but God has blessed me so richly in so many incredible ways I honestly rarely even think about running. LOL and God has a sense of humor as my husband was a cross country and track runner who never had a single injury and still runs 5 miles a day! For me it was so critical to focus on the many positive things God has done for me, and I think that is why there are so many reminders in scripture to remember, because I think our tendency in this fallen world is to forget the good and focus on the bad. God gives us the solution to this problem in the scriptures, which are full of Gods incredible promises to us!
Well said! Bitterness is incredibly toxic and its basis–as you said–is forgetting the good God gives us and will give us while nursing memories of the bad in this world. Eternity awaits.
Hi Jean, I got behind from lesson 5. Tried to fill them in but it wouldn’t post. trying this one to see if it works
Looks like it worked. Was this one on your PC or tablet?
I’m gonna try posting here. You did get the last ones even though they didn’t show here with the other ladies, so I’m gonna give it a try.
#1. Treating reading the bible like a birthday card. I can see it would be an easy and natural flowing way to read and sink in what you’ve read. I had never thought of it as a birthday card, but have thought of it as a Valentine. I used to show my sunday school kids a video called The Amazing Book, it has a song in it called Letter of Love by Frank Hernandez. It’s a sweet song. The chorus is ” It’s more than ink and paper, it’s more than words to read, it’s a letter of love from up above, Special delivery.” I’m gonna email you the lyrics, I think you’ll like them.
#2. The steps of fath. 1. refrain from sin.
2. seek understanding. 3. draw near to God. 4. consider eternity.
#3. It’s a reminder of His love and care while we’re here,alway remembering there is an eternity with Him ahead.
#4. Asaph’s lessons help me remember Godly priorities.
Hi, Yvonne! Glad this worked.
1) What a sweet refrain! I look forward to seeing it.
2) Asaph’s sets a great example for us.
3) Yes!
4) Yes, they do.
P. S. it worked this time.
I’m happy to see that.