Psalm 91: A Prayer Guide Through Tough Times

When things get tough, people of faith and prayer turn to Psalm 91 for strength and encouragement. With great stress, the mind can go a bit wacky with fretting, fear, negative self-talk. Having a ready-made guide for reflection and prayer is essential at times like this. Without a guide, you usually end up endlessly going around the same mountain of anxiety. 

So if life is a struggle for you right now, do yourself a favor. Print off a copy of Psalm 91. In fact, print off several copies…each one from a different translation. Go the gamut. Start with the antiquity of the King James and move to the more contextual interpretation of the Amplified Bible to the conversational tone of The Message or The Living Bible. 

Once you have your copies, you will use them to amp up your prayer life and renew your mind according to the truth and promises of God. Sound good? It's better than good. What you are about to embark on is powerful, life-changing, faith building. 

Follow any one or all of the following suggestions for putting Psalm 91 to work in your life: 

One: Slowly read over each of the translations of the Psalm at least three times a day. Focus. This is not busy work. This is spiritual nourishment for your soul. Continue with this practice indefinitely, just like you continue to eat food on a daily basis. Over time you will have the verses memorized. Naturally some translations will resonate more fully with you than do others. Then a new day will dawn when you hear Psalm 91 playing in your self talk. Eureka! You now have a potent weapon for keeping your thinking in check, staying faith-filled, positive, forward moving. Victory is at hand. Two: Record your translations of Psalm 91 onto your computer or some recording device, then copy the recording to your ipod, mobile phone, CD or the like. Play the recording at least twice a day where you give focused attention to the content. In addition, play Psalm 91 as white noise where your subconscious can work with it. White noise is especially effective at overcoming the negative thinking. So, consider this "white noise" playing through the night as you sleep. This is especially effective if you have trouble going to sleep or a tendency to wake through the night. Many use this technique when suffering the grief of a death or divorce, or suffering any type of physical pain. Three: Keep a Psalm 91 journal. Twice a day write out one of the translations into your journal. Notice this is written out by hand. Doing this activity on the computer will not render the same fine results. There is something about the way your hand and your brain are connected in this activity that effects your sub-conscious mind – for the better of course. Naturally, over a period of time you will find that you have memorized Psalm 91 from more than one translation. You will also begin having insights into the meaning of the verses. This is gold! Record it in your journal. Eventually you will have a journal full of encouragement that will stagger your mind. You will realize the energizing work of the Holy Spirit in these insights. Gold, pure gold! Four: Embark on a study of Psalm 91. An excellent free e-course is available. Get started today. Five: Use video meditations based on Psalm 91 on a daily basis to encourage your heart and feed your soul. Copy them to a DVD. Upload them to your hard drive or your phone. Keep them close for a quick dose of spiritual plasma. Remain faithful to any one or more of these Psalm 91 practices and the sink-hole of fretful thinking will be history…past history. Tools for change are available and they are free. Use them liberally for this life-changing experience.