Hello, today we’re going to be looking at inspiring Psalms to encourage your heart on a difficult day. 

Some days are just more challenging than others and on those days it can be hard to find reasons to be thankful. When I have difficult days like these I love turning to the Psalms to encourage my heart. I’m reassured that the writers of the Psalms had difficult days too and I’m reminded of God’s love and goodness towards me.  

Recently I have been loving reading the passion translation (TPT) of the Psalms and have enjoyed experiencing the richness of these Psalms through the fresh translation. You can find out more about the passion translation here.

Make sure you read on until the end to find out how I like to use the bible to encourage my heart.

But for now, let’s get into a selection of 11 of my favourite Inspiring Psalms to encourage your heart on a difficult day.

All Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.

Psalm 27v3 TPT

This is a lovely verse that reminds us that God is there for us. We have the privilege of knowing him and speaking to him through prayer. I love to speak this over my anxious and restless heart when I am feeling afraid. I can have confidence that God is there for me and I will not be shaken.

Psalm 46v1 TPT

‘God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in time of trouble – more than enough and always available whenever I need you.’ 

I love the whole of Psalm 46, it is full of encouragement and wonder at the strength of God and encourages us to be still and pause in his presence. When I make time to pause and be in God’s presence, I’m reminded of his love for me, the grace he extends towards me and his strength and power to save me.

Verse one of this Psalm particularly stands out to me, and I praise God that he is more than enough for me and more than enough for you too. How could you be encouraged by thinking about what God being always available whenever we need him means to you today? 

Psalm 34 v 10 TPT

‘Even the strong and the wealthy grow weak and hungry, but those who passionately pursue the Lord will never lack any good thing.’

What a powerful reminder from Psalm 34 of the truth that only God can sustain us and that we will never lack any good thing when we are passionately pursuing him.

Psalm 47 v 7- 8 TPT

This Psalm of celebration encourages us of God’s sovereignty and triumph. His power and rule stretch to the corners of the universe, nothing is outside his reach and that includes you. What an encouraging truth that you are held, known and loved by the triumphant King. Your God also reins over everything including the circumstances that you face, he is still in control. 

Psalm 91 v 2-4 TPT

‘He’s the hope that holds me and the Stronghold to shelter me,
the only God for me, and my great confidence.
He will rescue you from every hidden trap of the enemy,
and he will protect you from false accusation
and any deadly curse.
His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you.
You can run under his covering of majesty and hide.
His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm.’

These verses from Psalm 91 offer me encouragement as I reflect on the confidence I can have when I put my hope in God. In particular I love the way in which the Passion Translation depicts Gods ‘massive arms’ being wrapped around each of us, this is such a wonderfully true image as God holds us, comforts us and protects us.

Psalm 90 v 1-2 TPT

One way in which the scriptures can provide us with ‘encouragement and inspiration so that we can live in hope and endure all things’ (Romans 15v4 TPT), is by considering the faithfulness of God to past generations and the way he fulfils his promises to us. More than this though, these verses from Psalm 90 offer us encouragement that even as earthly things pass away, our God is everlasting and our creator and sustainer.

Psalm 103 v 2-5 TPT

‘Yahweh, you are my soul’s celebration.
How could I ever forget the miracles of kindness
you’ve done for me?
You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done.
You’ve healed me inside and out from every disease.
You’ve rescued me from hell and saved my life.
You’ve crowned me with love and mercy.
You satisfy my every desire with good things.
You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again
like a flying eagle in the sky!’

These verses from Psalm 103 help us to remember and celebrate all that God in his kindness has done for us and offer us encouragement as we remember his kindness, love and power. I encourage you to take the time to ponder upon each of the ‘miracles of kindness’ we find in these verses and to consider what this has meant in your life and the kindness he has shown you and I pray that as you do this you would be strengthened and able to experience the joy of Yahweh as your soul’s celebration. 

Psalm 130 v 5-7 TPT

If you’re looking for encouragement to be patient as you wait for God to answer your prayers and bring breakthrough into an area of your life then Psalm 130 certainly offers comfort and hope. Verse 7 reminds us of his tender kind and forgiving heart and his power to set us free in more ways than we could ever imagine. I pray that you will experience the word bringing you hope as you wait for the Lord in confidence. 

Psalm 139 v 10-11 TPT

‘Wherever I go, your hand will guide me; your strength will empower me.
It’s impossible to disappear from you or to ask the darkness to hide me, for your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.’

In Psalm 139 David expresses his wonderment at how well God knows him and the same is true for you and me. God knows us, sees us, hears us and loves us. In verse 10 we see that he also guides us and strengthens us which is a wonderful encouragement on difficult days. More than that, its impossible to be hidden from God even on our darkest days we are still visible to him. He sees you on your difficult days (and every day) and he longs to strengthen and empower you.  

Psalm 139 v 17-18 TPT

In these verses from Psalm 139 we continue to see David’s amazement and awe at the way in which God knows him. I love the way that the Passion Translation highlights to us how precious it is that God would think of us. The image of God’s desires towards us outnumbering the grains of sand is powerful in every translation and represents an attempt to grasp that God not only thinks of us but thinks of us often. On challenging days it can be easy to feel alone and as if God has forgotten us but I am comforted by how numerous his thoughts for me are. Even as I sleep and wake God’s is still with me and continually thinking of me.

Psalm 147 v 2-5 TPT

‘The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers up the outcasts and brings them home.
He heals the wounds of every shattered heart.
He sets his stars in place, calling them all by their names.
How great is our God!
There’s absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish,
and he has infinite understanding of everything.’

Psalm 147 acts as a wonderful reminder of God’s power and greatness. His power can accomplish anything, and he knows not only the names of all the stars but your name too. I pray that even on your difficult days you will know the power of God and his heart and compassion for the outcasts and the broken hearted. 

Tips for how to use these verses (and others) to encourage your heart.

I hope you have been inspired by reading and thinking about these Psalms. I also wanted to share with you all the ways in which I like to meditate on bible verses in order for them to encourage my heart. Sometimes I find it is easy to almost end up skim reading my bible and when this happens, I tend to neglect to allow the powerfulness of these words to really impact my heart and encourage and strengthen me. I would love to share with you some tips for meditating on these verses.

Time

The first tip I can offer you is to try to set aside more time to sit with God as you read the bible. Sometimes I find that I can add bible reading to my to-do list having recognised how important it is to make sure my day starts right but then end up treating my to-do list and consequently reading my bible as a fast paced challenge by racing to get to the end of the list. This will inevitably lead to me skim reading and not taking the time to really be encouraged by the verses I am reading. 

I understand that it can sometimes be hard to even find time to read the bible to begin with so you might be reading this and thinking that whilst spending more time reading your bible sounds wonderful you simply do not have the time to spend any longer with all your other commitments. If this is the case you can still make more time for each verse by considering a small section of the bible at a time. Instead of seeing how much you can read in the time you are able to spend reading your bible why not choose a smaller section and try re reading that section several times. You will end up spending the same amount of time whilst simultaneously allowing yourself more time to meditate on each verse.

You may already have a daily bible reading plan. Perhaps you’ve even set aside enough time each day to read the bible in a year.

Perhaps however, as I can often find myself doing, you end up racing through the whole of the bible reading for the day in the current devotion you’re following before quickly racing through the devotional commentary as well. These daily devotionals and bible reading plans can be really helpful but why not consider picking one verse from the daily reading that really sticks out to you or even a few words and choosing to remember and meditate on them throughout the day.

This way you can extend the time spent meditating on a particular verse by thinking and praying about it as you do the hoovering, wash the dishes and just go about your every-day life. If you choose to pick one verse each morning to remember for the day you could even challenge yourself to remember what the verse said as you are brushing your teeth before bed. 

I hope that the practice of choosing and consciously trying to through out your day remember a particular verse helps these verses to encourage your heart not just as you read them but throughout your day as well.

Get Creative

My next tip is to try to get creative with your bible reading and meditation as I have found doing this helps the verses I read in the bible to sink in and encourage my heart more deeply.

For Christmas last year my fiancé bought me a bible specifically designed for bible journaling which I have been loving using. The idea is that you are able to use the wide margins in your bible to help you reflect further on a particular verse. You can consider drawing, or writing out the verse or maybe even get creative with paints or water colours. 

This is the bible I have but you can also just choose a verse and get creative on a separate piece of paper. I enjoy using colouring pencils in my journaling bible and find the process of creating and colouring and drawing very relaxing. Moreover, it really helps me to think about the verse I am getting creative with and allows me to spend time letting the verse encourage my heart. I also find it easier to remember the verse by thinking about how the picture I have drawn. 

Here is an example of bible journaling from my bible of one of the Psalms included in this post (Psalm ). For more inspiration you can search for bible journaling on pinterest

Try using the verses as a prompt for your prayer

My next tip is to use the verses that you are reading to prompt you in your prayers.

When trying to use the bible as a prompt for your prayers, the psalms can be a great place to start as they are already outpourings, prayers and songs from the hearts of God’s people. You can use verses as a prompt for your prayers by identifying the promises that God makes in the verses or by looking out for anything that God provides which you are in need of. Think about how the verses make you feel and tell God about that. For example, if you feel comforted that the verse has reminded you that he knows you thank him for that. 

An easy way to use verses in this way is to fill in the rest of this sentence…

God thank you for the reminder in Verse X that you are… 

You can then go on to think and pray about what the reminder means to you.

Try saying these verses aloud

Finally, I find that I can be especially encouraged by the bible when I take the time and stop to read some of the verses aloud.

Sometimes I can find that I am skim reading the verses I am reading and not spending time considering how the truth contained in them can inspire and encourage my heart. When I sense this is happening I find that reading the verses aloud can be really helpful. As I hear the words I am saying I am often struck by the truth in them and I am forced to slow down and think about the words and what they mean for me.

Perhaps you don’t feel confident reading aloud or often find yourself reading your bible in a public place. If this is the case you can still take advantage of hearing the verses aloud by listening to an audiobook version of the bible like this one. Listening to someone else read the bible is also a useful tip if you are struggling to find time to sit down and read the bible yourself as you can listen whilst doing other things for example whilst you are on your way to work.

Thanks for checking out these 12 Inspiring Psalms to encourage your heart on a difficult day and my tips for using them. I hope they have offered you some encouragement.