Don Whitney's presentations at our "Spiritual Life Conference" here last weekend were everything we had hoped for, and more!  Most of the excited feedback I heard was in regard to his Saturday night material on "Family Worship" (see below about ordering his booklet and audio CD), and about his Friday night material on "Prayer."

Don has graciously allowed us to post the audio recordings of his messages.  You can listen to them on our church web site.  There's a link there from the home page that will take you to them.  If you weren't here, you really ought to listen to them.  They cover eight key areas of spiritual disciplines that are essential to a healthy and growing and productive life.  And if you were here, you ought to listen to them again to make sure you've thoroughly digested them and put them to work in your life.

Now, to what Don had to say about prayer.  It was the first session on Friday night.  He helped us face the frustration that almost all of us feel about how anemic our prayer lives are.  We tend to feel discouraged over this, thinking there must be something wrong with us.  But he showed us that it's not us; it's our method.  We pray about the same things in the same way day after day.  And then we wonder why our prayer life is boring? 

No, the problem isn't with us; it's with our method.  Don borrowed from Martin Luther's classic instructions on prayer (written in the 1500s to help his barber learn how to pray!).  What Don showed us was how to pray the Psalms, using the words of a Psalm, phrase by phrase, to launch us into fresh prayers every day about the things we have on our "prayer list." 

For example, with Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd," he suggested that we pray that phrase, and then stop and think for a minute (listen to the second message on Friday night, "Meditation") before praying for all the things that phrase brings to mind.  "Lord, I thank you for all the ways (list some of them!) that You are such a marvelous shepherd to me.  I pray that you will shepherd my spouse, my children, my grandchildren, in these specific ways ...."

What Psalm do you pray?  Here again, Don had a simple solution that works for every believer, from the simplest soul to the most sophisticated intellectual.  Turn to the Psalm that corresponds to the date you're praying.  Then add multiples of 30 - 30 days in the month - to look at a total of five Psalms.  Today is January 23rd, so this morning I looked at Psalms 23, 53, 83, 113, and 143.  Then select one of those to use as your prayer guide Psalm for that day.  In a month with 31 days, use part of Psalm 119 on that last day.

It works.  One lady went home Friday night with a commitment to try it.  On Saturday morning, she got started at 5:30, intending to spend ten or fifteen minutes.  Before she realized it, it was 7:00.  She didn't want to stop.  How long has it been since that's happened to your prayer life!?

Let me add one additional suggestion to what Don offered.  Trying reading / praying the Psalm, thinking about what it would have meant when Jesus did so.  He did, you know, in the prayers in the synagogues, using these Psalms which He had written!  It won't work for all of them (as in penitential Psalms life Psalm 51), but in others you'll gain a new perspective about Him.

Yesterday I used Psalm 52, and was thrilled with a deeper sense of Jesus' praying those words, asking God the Father to give Him victory over the evil one, Satan, who was seeking to thwart His saving work.  I heard Jesus' voice in that Psalm, rejoicing that God will "snatch and tear (Satan) from your tent."  And He did, in the victory at Calvary and at the empty grave.

Are you trying to pray this way in your personal morning worship time?  If so, add a comment to this posting, and share a testimony about how it's going.  Your words will be an encouragement to others to give it a try! 

P. S.  Don's material about "Family Worship" is available in a copyrighted booklet and an audio CD.  That's why they're not on the church web site along with the other messages.  But you can order copies of those by going to his web site: www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.