Praying the Psalms

The singing and chanting of Psalms is the major component of each prayer service. Henry Morris, author of Treasures in the Psalms, writes that, although praise is a frequent theme in the psalms, spiritual warfare is even more frequent, and "the first Psalm contains the definitive statement on this conflict." Morris: "It is singularly appropriate that a book of praise is also a book of warfare and struggle and suffering. . . . it is trust in God that enables the believer to be joyful in spite of trouble. . . . The world is in darkness, but the light of God's promise continually illumines the way."

Psalm 1, the foundation for all other psalms.

Blessed are those
who do not walk in the
counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
But their delight is in the law
of the Lord,
and on God's law they meditate
day and night.
They are like trees planted by
streams of water,
which yield fruit in season
and whose leaves do not wither.
Whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not
stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly
of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over
the way of the
righteous,
but the way of the wicked
will perish.