Psalm 115:14-15

International Standard Version (ISV): May the LORD add to your numbers—to you and to your descendants. May you be blessed by the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth.

Directions:  Choose a translation of the Bible that you easily understand, but that has depth of meaning.  I recommend that you keep a special journal just for praying the Psalms.  Try praying the Psalms for yourself before reading my version of these verses.  The point of this method is for the Spirit to speak with your heart and that you will commune with God about how your own experience relates to His word.  I only include my sample to help you understand what I mean in the steps and because it is always good for Christians to share their thoughts about God and experiences with Him.

Step 1:  Choose a verse or two from one of the Psalms and write it out in a notebook. 

Step 2: After reading a thought from the verse, begin writing your own version of that thought.  This is not exactly paraphrasing the Psalmist’s words although you can paraphrase if you wish.  This is taking the thought and applying it to your own life and changing the words to fit your own experience.  Continue writing about your experience with God until you no longer have anything more to say.

Step 3:  Go to the next thought in the verse and repeat Step 2. 

Step 4:  Continue this process until you feel satisfied that you are finished or until the verse’s thoughts are finished.

My version (verses 14-15): 

I can do nothing to increase the church family, but You can add more and more brothers and sisters to our circle. You can guide the church on through generations of believers, so why have so many church families gone so wrong? Because they thought that their job was to do the work instead of to practice humility and love, and to wait for the fruit that You create with Your word. You created a self-healing system in Your church that is still working to this day even under the burden of physical separation from You. If You can set that up then You can add to our numbers in a sustainable way. The key is to submit to working with You, not for You, and not trying to direct You in the ways that we believe are best.