Contemplative Prayer

Mark 1:35 – “35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.”

This verse reminds me of how important it is to get away by myself and totally focus on God as I pray.

Two weeks ago, we spent some time talking about breath prayer. We mentioned how to get your body relaxed and focused upon the name that you use for Jesus to totally focus upon him during your centering prayer.

Tonight we're going to talk about contemplative prayer. Does anyone have any idea what contemplative prayer is? I know I didn't until it was explained to me.

Watch true lovers and you will see the art of contemplation in action. If you have ever been in love, you know what contemplation means. A contemplative lover focuses intently on his beloved. Taking in every minute detail: body movements, quirks of behavior, glances, and facial expressions that demonstrate subtle mood shifts. A true lover literally becomes a new person as he becomes absorbed in the contemplation of his beloved.

Contemplative prayer is much like two lovers in love with each other. In contemplation we use new approaches or tools, if you will, to hear God more completely, intimately, or thoroughly. Contemplative prayer expands our view of God by getting a new understanding of who God really is and his wonderful deep love for us. I think that many times we miss what God is trying to tell us in prayer because we are not completely focused as we should. That is what contemplative prayer is all about. Preparing your heart, mind, body, and soul to speak to God and to hear from God.

The contemplative life is one of attentiveness to God. You begin seeing all of life through spiritual eyes. Things like spending time with family, or with me it's preparing sermons, studying to teach, writing, hospital visiting, organizing community service projects, your kids’ ball games, whatever your daily routine is. We all get caught up in activity often for activity’s sake. The contemplative life allows you to place bookends, if you will, in our daily, weekly, or monthly schedule to spend time with God. Some would call it “waste time with God”, but in reality it is an investment of time with God.

There are two ways to experience contemplative prayer. One is action oriented contemplative prayer and the other is reflective contemplative prayer.

1. Action oriented contemplative prayer involves a variety of disciplines or practices that might help you to get in touch with God. Some of these things include things like:

Prayerful reading. This involves choosing a section of Scripture, asking God what he wants to say to you in those passages, allowing those observations to be thought about in your mind, and then applying what you learn to your life and pray back to God your gratitude for the experience.

Disciplined prayer. This is a method of praying that disciplines the mind by using a sacred word. Each time your mind is distracted in this prayer method, return back to the sacred word. A name for Jesus, a particular phrase, “God have mercy on me.”

Breath prayer. We talked about this last week. Use a prayerful word or short statement and repeat it over and over during your prayer time.

Journaling. This involves recording what God is saying to you through the Scripture, write down what you are learning and experiencing with God each day.

Fasting. Of course this involves going without a meal for a day, food for a day or a type of food for a period of time and spending your thoughts on God during the otherwise meal time.

Meditation. This involves choosing a passage of Scripture and thinking through the meaning of the passage and applying the message and learning to your life.

Study. This is just what it implies. You take a theme, word, thought, person, doctrine or issue found in the Scriptures and do a thorough study. This process also applies to an exegesis of a passage, or a detailed study of a section of Scripture.

Silence. This involves spending time alone, with few noises from the outside and sounds from electronic devices. No tv. No dvds. No cds. And no radios. While silence involves the absence of speech, it also involves the need for listening to God. If you simply stop talking and do not listen for God that is not silence.

Solitude. This is where you take a specific time of being alone with yourself and God. Without silence there can be no solitude. There's a great connection between inner solitude and inner silence. The two are almost inseparable.

All of these are actions that we can take as we prepare to pray.