IFS Psalms Course: A Sacred Journey Through Prayer, Lament, and Praise
- Elion 4
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
A free course inside the Everything IFS Academy
The Book of Psalms is often read as a collection of comforting verses, poetic prayers, or inspirational lines pulled out for moments of need. Read that way, it can feel fragmented beautiful, but scattered. A songbook without a spine. A collection of emotions without orientation.
But the Psalms were never meant to be random. They are a carefully shaped spiritual landscape a full range of human experience held in conversation with God. Joy and rage. Trust and terror. Praise, protest, confession, longing, silence.
This free course explores the Book of Psalms through its major movements and themes, thoughtfully informed by Internal Family Systems (IFS). It is not therapy, and it does not replace Scripture, theology, or the living tradition of prayer. It is designed for readers who want to encounter the Psalms as a companion for real life honest, relational, and unafraid of the full emotional truth of being human before God.
What This Course Offers
This course invites you to move through the Psalms as a coherent journey rather than isolated texts a path that traces how trust is formed, lost, tested, restored, and renewed.
Inside the course, you’ll explore:
Righteousness as orientation rather than moral performance
Trust, refuge, and safety in the presence of fear
Lament as faithful speech, not spiritual failure
Repentance as restoration rather than self-condemnation
Longing, praise, and belonging as the heartbeat of devotion
Throughout the course, insights from Internal Family Systems (IFS) help illuminate how the Psalms meet inner experience how trust forms, how fear seeks refuge, how shame speaks, how protection hardens, and how longing continues to reach for God even when words fail.
This approach does not replace Scripture. It does not turn prayer into psychology. It offers another lens for noticing what is already there.
Chapter 1: The Way of Righteousness
Foundations of wisdom, identity, and God’s revealed glory.
Psalm 1 — The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked
Psalm 8 — What Is Man That You Are Mindful of Him?
Psalm 19 — The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Chapter 2: Trust and Refuge
Learning to rest in God’s protection, guidance, and faithfulness.
Psalm 23 — The Lord Is My Shepherd
Psalm 27 — The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
Psalm 46 — God Is Our Refuge and Strength
Psalm 91 — He Who Dwells in the Shelter of the Most High
Psalm 121 — The Lord Is Your Keeper
Chapter 3: Lament and Suffering
Giving voice to grief, doubt, abandonment, and deep sorrow.
Psalm 13 — How Long, O Lord
Psalm 22 — My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Psalm 42 — Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?
Psalm 88 — A Cry from the Deep Darkness
Chapter 4: Repentance and Restoration
Confession, forgiveness, and the return to wholeness.
Psalm 32 — Blessed Is the One Whose Sin Is Forgiven
Psalm 51 — Create in Me a Clean Heart
Psalm 130 — Out of the Depths I Cry to You
Chapter 5: Longing, Praise, and Belonging
Delight in God, intimacy with the Divine, and joyful praise.
Psalm 34 — Taste and See That the Lord Is Good
Psalm 63 — My Soul Thirsts for You
Psalm 103 — Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Psalm 139 — You Have Searched Me and Known Me
Psalm 145 — The Greatness and Goodness of God
How This Course Is Different
You won’t find:
The Psalms reduced to inspirational slogans
Pressure to resolve pain quickly or neatly
Emotional honesty framed as lack of faith
You will find:
The Psalms honored as relational prayer
Space for trust, fear, anger, grief, and praise to coexist
An emphasis on orientation toward God rather than emotional control
Each lesson includes historical notes and optional reflective elements, encouraging slow, thoughtful engagement and allowing the Psalms to be experienced as lived prayer rather than spiritual performance.
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