Tiling the Soil of the Soul – The classic Spiritual Disciplines October 16, 2005
Contemplative Prayer: DIGGING THE WELL DEEPER
Psalm 27
I’ve titled this series on the Spiritual Disciplines, “Tiling the soil of the soul.”
Most of us realize that we cannot grow the fruit of the Spirit, or weed out the sins of our lives by sheer will power alone. But the Holy Spirit partners with us, as we use the classic spiritual disciplines to till the soil of our soul, the weeds cannot grow and the Spirit brings growth to the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
We till the soul of the soul through the classic Christian spiritual disciplines like meditation, fasting, solitude, service and prayer.
Last Month we looked at Christian meditation and I invited you to begin to practice meditation. Did anybody begin? Do you have something to share – either about an experience, a blessing, or the difficulty of meditation?
Contemplative Prayer
- Bill Leslie was the Pastor of LaSalle St. Church in Chicago, an evangelical, inner-city church sponsored by Moody Church. At one point in his ministry, he burnt out, and for part of his recovery, he went to a Catholic nun for counseling and spiritual direction. She asked him what he felt like in ministry. He said that he feels like he is a pump, and everyone who comes by takes a turn at the handle, and the well has gone dry: its all been pumped away.
She tells him he is pumping of the surface: he has to dig the well deeper. Then this Catholic Nun says to this evangelical pastor, "Do you know what you need? You need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
Christians can often put such a strong emphasis on conversion, correct behavior and right theology that we forget about the relationship that we have been redeemed to.
If more of us were more honest in our Evangelism we would say, "You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus, but I’ll be darned if I know what that would look like!"
How do we dig the well deeper? How do we make sure it doesn’t go dry during the times during the tough times. How do we develop a relationship with our maker?
PRAYER!
Different modes of prayer - Talking/Listening
We are very good at the talking. Those of us who have been taught to pray may have been taught the A.C.T.S. acrostic.
A = Adoration
C = Confession
T = Thanksgiving
S = Supplication, or asking for our needs
It is a great model, but it focuses on us doing all the talking, and prayer is supposed to be a relationship, a dialogue.
Do you have a person in your life that is all business? They come into the office and say "Mike, this is what we have to get done today..." You say, "Good Morning George " George just continues, You again say "Good Morning George" until George finally says "Good Morning Mike."
Often times our prayers are the same way, we are running around in our lives and we stop for a second and say, "Oh, God, I need you to save my friend Susan, heal Aunt Bessy, and stop that stupid cat from digging up my garden. Now where was I..." And God says "Good Morning Mike"
Quote from Children’s Letters to God.
"Dear God,
Is reverend Coe a friend of yours, or do you just know him through business?
- Donny"
Ouch!
It is a great temptation for pastors to begin to have a business relationship with God – I see it in my own life. I think that there are some people who pray a great deal, but still keep their relationship with God one of business, or that of a penitent to a judge.
We must pray not just to speak to God, but also, to hear from Him what we are to speak. We are much better at talking than we are at listening. In many ways, nobody has trained us to listen; we need to learn how to listen.
Even more than listening to hear from God what we should speak back to him; we need to pray to dig the well deeper - to develop our relationship with God - to "Seek His Face"
Psalm 27
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation -
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life -
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice
with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.
7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 To you, O my heart, he has said, "Seek my face!’’
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Saviour.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not hand me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD. (Psalms 27 NIV)
How to pray
“Real prayer is something we learn.” If you think to yourself “I’m not sure how to do this,” you’re actually in a good place because you know that you need to learn more!
Begin with scripture
Listening to God is still a very subjective activity. We can fall into two problems in listening prayer. First, we can assume that every thought that comes into our head is God speaking. We can assume that we are listening to God when we are really just listening to our own thoughts. The second difficulty is the opposite: we can fail to recognize when God is speaking, we can think that His voice is just our own thoughts! By beginning with the objective Word of God, we can attune our ears to his voice.
Meditate on Scripture before you pray – If you haven’t done it yet, go back to last month’s teaching on meditation – get a booklet, or go to the church web site to download the sermon notes. Even if you meditate on one verse for 5-10 minutes before you pray, it will greatly increase your ability to discern God’s voice in your prayers.
Donald S. Whitney writes, “the process works like this: after the input of a passage of Scripture, meditation allows us to take what God has said to us and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in meaningful prayer. As a result, we pray about what we’ve encountered in the Bible, now personalized through meditation. And not only do we have something substantial to say in prayer, and the confidence that we are praying God’s thoughts to Him, but we transition smoothly into prayer with a passion for what we’re praying about. Then as we move on with our prayer, we don’t jerk and lurch along because we already have some spiritual momentum.”
The Puritan William Bridge wrote this about meditation:
“As (meditation) is the sister of reading, so it is the mother of prayer. Though a man’s heart be much indisposed to prayer, yet, if he can but fall into a meditation of God, and the things of God, his heart will soon come off to prayer… Begin with reading or hearing. Go on with meditation; end in prayer… Reading without meditation is unfruitful; meditation without reading is hurtful; to meditate and to read without prayer upon both, is without blessing.”
Listen before you speak
Spend time in silence before God, wait to see what he says. Ask questions and wait for the answers.
Cheryl Bradbee has been practicing listening first in prayer for the past year or so – on Mondays she ask God what he wants her to pray about this week. Then, she listens for His agenda. For the rest of the week she prays what God wanted her to pray.
Listening is not easy.
I have a new friend who asks me questions, and then when I am halfway through the answer, she is no longer interested and asks me another question! We can be the same with God, we ask him questions and spend no time listening for the answer and the wonder why we’re walking around in the dark!
Practice listening on people
John writes:
If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. - 1 John 4:20
I would like to use the phrasing of that verse to say, “how can someone say “I hear from God,” when they cannot listen to people? If you cannot listen to a friend that you can see, how can you say you hear from God who you don’t see?”
Wm. Stringfellow writes:
“Listening is a rare happening among human beings. You cannot listen to the word another is speaking if you are preoccupied with your appearance or impressing the other, or if you are trying to decide what you are going to say when the other stops talking, or if you are debating about whether the word being spoken is true or relevant or agreeable. Such matters may have their place, but only after listening to the word as the word is being uttered. Listening, in other words, is a primitive act of love, in which a person gives self to another’s word, making self accessible and vulnerable to that word.”
I’ve said to Donna, that we should offer courses in active listening as a way to teach people how to love each other. As we learn to listen to each other, we can apply that skill to God in our prayers.
Imagination
God may not speak to you in words audible or inaudible. He may speak to you in pictures, images, feelings, sensations, dreams, and visions. Allow God to use your imagination to speak to you.
I love the words that George Bernard Shaw puts in Ste. Joan of Arc’s mouth in his play “Saint Joan” when her skeptics tell her that the voice of God that she was hearing was just her imagination. She responds to them, “Yes, that is how God speaks to me.”
Foster encourages us to use our imagination even in our requests, so if we are praying for healing we imagine the sick person made whole by God.
Speak
Finally, speak your mind to God. Prayer is about relationship, and although we should not make it one-sided by doing all the talking, we should also not make it one-sided by doing all the listening! The good thing is that the listening will shape our talking.
Set a Schedule
It is hard to keep any friendship going without regular contact & it is the same with God. Pam and I try to have two dates a week – one to get the business of schedules, tasks and family done – that isn’t a date as much as it is a business meeting. The other date is to have some relational time together – often it is just a cup of tea on the porch swing after the kids have gone to bed. If we miss the first meeting too often, our schedule begins to show it – we get double-booked, stressed out, and things don’t get done. If we miss the second meeting too often our relationship begins to show it – we forget who each other is and the love that we share. If we don’t book either of those dates, they don’t happen.
It is the same with God – you must book a time or it will not happen! And we need to have a time daily, not just weekly – find the time in you schedule to pray, without it you will drift from God, the spiritual fruit will start to dry up and the weeds will begin to grow!
Support in Contemplative Prayer
Contemplative Prayer might be new for some of you, and even if it is not, contemplation does not come naturally in our culture, so we need support to keep it up.
Read
Reading about prayer always motivates me to pray, a good book can keep me going in my prayers or it can kick start me if I have let things slip. I’ve included a list of some of my favorites in the back of this pamphlet.
Listen
Listen to speakers on prayer anytime you can, either live or on tape. Don’t forget the “Soaking in God’s Presence” Conference at TACF this week!
Retreat
There are many retreat centres that offer directed prayer retreats throughout the year. This is a great way to learn contemplative prayer. You can find them online, or ask mike for help finding one that is right for you.
Spiritual Direction or Spiritual Friendship
The latest thing in fitness is personal coaching, either online or in person. The practice is actually much older in the spiritual exercises and it is called spiritual direction.
Because listening to God can be subjective, it is always good to have someone to bounce things off of. There are trained spiritual directors in the city that you can go to talk about what you are hearing and they with help you discern and make suggestions for further listening. I would be happy to function this way for anyone. Spiritual friendship is similar to spiritual direction except that the two of you act as directors for each other, listening together. Having a spiritual friend, or soul-friend is like having a training buddy. Like coaches and training buddies, spiritual directors charge a fee; soul friends do not.
Pray
– Andrew Murray wrote “reading a book about prayer, listening to lectures and talking about it is very good, but it won’t teach you to pray. You get nothing without exercise, without practice. I might listen for a year to a professor of music playing the most beautiful music, but that won’t teach me to play an instrument.”
The psalmist says: "Taste and see that the LORD is good. (Psalms 34:8 NIV) I believe that God has put a whole banquet table of himself in front of us, and most of us including myself have been surviving on the appetizers for most of our lives.
We need to dig the well deeper, so that it won’t go dry during the hard times, and we need to develop our relationship with God so that we can enjoy the good times with Him.
Other Resources
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster Ó1978 Harper & Row, ISBN: 0060628316
The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard Ó1988 Harper & Row, ISBN 0060694416
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney Ó1991 Navpress, ISBN1576830276
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard J. Foster, HarperCollins Canada, ISBN: 006053379X
Space For God: Study and Practice of Spiritualty and Prayer by Don Postema Ó1983, 1997 CRC Publications ISBN 0933140460
The Way of the Heart: Connecting With God Through Prayer, Wisdom and Silence by Henri J. M. Nouwen Ó1981 Ballantine Books ISBN 0345463358
Daring to Draw Near by John White Ó1977 IVP ISBN 0877847886
Jesus Man of Prayer by Sister Margaret Magdalen.
Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton Ó1969 Image, Doubleday ISBN 0385092199
Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Mme. Guyon, SeedSowers ISBN 0940232006
True Prayer by Kenneth Leech Ó1980 HarperCollins ISBN 0060652322
The Celtic Way of Prayer: the Recovery of the Religious Imagination by Esther De Waal ISBN: 0385493746
Seek My Face: Prayer as Personal Relationship in Scripture by William A. Barry, S.J. Ó1989 Paulist Press
