Elmer Towns - Praying the Psalms: To Touch God and Be Touched by Him

Copyright 2004 Elmer L. Towns All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request.

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Please note that Destiny Images publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some Bible publishers styles. PTP abbreviation refers reader to Praying The Psalms text. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules. Destiny Image Publishers, Inc. P.O.

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My wife and I began praying each of the Psalms, and when we got to Psalm 2 the entire reading opened up to us. We had never seen the Lord Jesus Christ in that Psalm. We shared Praying the Psalms with a godly pastor who said, This is magnificent! I would beg you to pray the Psalms daily, because it will take your worship to a higher level.

Doug Oldham, Gospel Singer
Three gold and one platinum record awards
Gospel Singer of the Year, 1974 Praying the Psalms is a wonderful way to meet God every day in your private devotions. You cannot get closer to God than when you pray the Scriptures. Since the Book of Psalms reflects the heart of God, you will get close to His heart when you pray the Psalms. Bill Bright

Lord, I love to pray the Psalms because they express my passion, and I feel deeply when I read them. The Psalmist was pouring out his soul to You about the things that deeply moved him. Lord, I join him in prayer.

The Psalmist journeyed into Your heart, O Lord, and that is where I want to go. I want to pray the Psalms, and look into Your heart.Lord, I want to cry when the Psalmist weeps, shout when the Psalmist rejoices, burn when the Psalmist gets angry, and fall on my face when the Psalmist worships You. This book is a modern day translation of the Psalms into prayers so you can identify with and pray them. But not all the Psalms were originally prayers to God. Some Psalms were originally written as devotional thoughts about God (Psalm 23); a few Psalms pour out anger at enemies (Psalms 3 and 4). Some Psalms are instructional (Psalm 119), teaching the law of God. Lord, I want You to feel my passionate love for You as I pray these Psalms, and I want You to feel my anger as I vent my feelings about evil people. Lord, I want You to feel my passionate love for You as I pray these Psalms, and I want You to feel my anger as I vent my feelings about evil people.

Sometimes I pray these Psalms begging You for protection for rest or from relief from pain. Sometimes I intercede to You for forgiveness, or for Your guidance in my life. I need to touch You and let You touch me. I pray these Psalms to enter Your presence. I know the Bible is Gods Wordevery wordthats what I teach. So why did I update Bible words and add some modern terms and phrases? I did it to help you the reader understand the Psalms and pray them daily. Isnt that why God gave you the Psalmsso you would pray to Him and help you live for Him? So with all reverence for the original Hebrew version of Psalms, Ive tried to apply them to modern language so you can pray the Psalms passionately.

Dont let this version of Psalms substitute for the original; read the Scriptures constantly. Read all of them reverently, because then you are holding Gods Word in your hands. Lord, I love Your Word the Scriptures. Help me love You better as I study the Psalms. Help the prayers of this book open my eyes to see You more clearly, and find deeper insight into the Word of God. This book is just a tool for Praying the Psalms. If it contributes to your life, give God the praise.

For any good insight, I give credit to my Hebrew professors in seminary and the research tools Ive used. For any weaknesses, I take full responsibility. Lord, overlook the weaknesses of this book and help readers effectively pray the Psalms. Dont let them get hung up on phrases or differences in words. Help them see the meaning behind the words of Scripture Psalms and pray the Psalms to You. Lord, help intercessors prevail with Psalms of intercession help worshippers adore You with Psalms of worship help beginners feel Your presence by their first attempts at prayer. May you the reader touch God through these Psalms, and in return, may God touch you.

Elmer Towns
From my home at the foot of the
Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
Winter, A.D. 2002

This may be the first portion of Scripture that youve read seriously. So you ask, What is a Psalm? The Psalms were written as prayers for the Hebrew people to sing. The song was their deep feeling about God, or as a prayer to God. In Bible times as you passed a field you might have heard the workers singing one of the Psalms. Lord, I sing my passion to You. Each Psalm is a worship event. Lord, I sing my passion to You. Each Psalm is a worship event.

Therefore, Ive rewritten some of the Psalms, that describe God, into prayers. Instead of reading, The Lord is my shepherd, youll pray, Lord, You are my shepherd. Now, each Psalm is a prayer to God. Lord, teach me to talk to You. The Psalms are a mirror that reflects your soul. As you pray them, youll see in these mirrors your sin and hypocrisy more clearly than ever before.

So pray the Psalms of repentance and turn to God. But youll also see in these mirrors the essence of a godly life. Then pray with the Psalmist, As the young deer being chased will thirst for water, so my soul longs for Your presence, O God (Ps. 42:1, PTP). Look deep into each mirror and youll see God. Lord, I want to know You. Lord, I want to know You.

The Psalms are poetry, not like English poetry, i.e., Roses are red, violets are blue, the angles in Heaven know I surely love you. Hebrew poetry had neither rhyme nor meter. Their poetry had rhythm; as they accentuated different phrases, so that the content of phrases matched. Did you get what I just said, i.e., content? The secret of Hebrew poetry is matching thoughts, not matching rhymes or meter. The Hebrews matched their phrases in four ways. Synonymous poetry is when the thought in the first phrase is repeated in the second phrase.

Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world (Ps. 49:1). Antithetic poetry is when the thought of the first phrase is the opposite of the idea in the second line. The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives (Ps. 37:21). In

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