7 Mountain Prayer: for Jesus and you
Instead of the usual end of year review; and before we pray over 2019, let’s rest a moment and recharge our prayer batteries!
This week is often the least demanding of the year when Christmas activities are done and many of the usual activities are canceled because of holidays. Hopefully, we can make time to quiet ourselves before the Lord and just be still for a few hours. One thing He is so glad to speak into our hearts when we are still is just how much He loves and appreciates the moments you carve out for Him. He loves to be with us in “still water” times so He can restore and replenish our lives with His peace, truth, and comfort. He will be sure to thank you for your faithfulness to intercede on behalf of your family, church, and the 7 Mountain focus for every aspect of culture in our community. But most of all, He always gets back to let’s just relax and breathe in My abundant LIFE together.
So our prayer focus assignment this week is JESUS and enjoying some lavish love time with Him. Yes, you families with school kids home, or those of you who are using this week to travel may think that’s impossible, but maybe not. You could actually schedule in a family quiet hour or two when the baby is napping and everyone must shut off technology and tasks to have quiet time with Jesus. This is too vital not to fight for.
Help us, Lord Jesus. We are not a culture that values and practices being still much. Let us taste and see how good it is to rest with You with no agenda but to replenish spirit, soul, and body by enjoying time with You.
The following excerpt from “Notes to My Future Self #6: I discovered the richness of contemplative prayer” by David Tensen, founder of LeaderHeart Ministries (leaderheart.org) in Australia, explains the practice of contemplative prayer.
Sadly, most Christian religious traditions rarely go out of their way to explore and explain different approaches to prayer. For me, coming from a Pentecostal background, I tended to only know prayer as a time of petitioning (asking for intervention), praise and worship, journalling or speaking in tongues. Most of that was all done out loud and with plenty of energy. All of these things are fantastic but not necessarily formational. I’m so glad to have been introduced and practising some different forms of prayer this year. I have a feeling that many of these will be instrumental practices for me in the coming decades.
The Why
One of the gifts that come with going through burnout and ‘coming to the end of yourself’ is that you have very little energy to produce the same amount of output that you used to. Everything, including prayer, feels like a chore. Coming to God with a list of things I need Him to do, finding energy for praise and worship or journal all feels like swimming in molasses to nowhere. After all, most midlife faith crises include a deep disappointment in God and unanswered prayer to requests you thought you had the power to change God’s mind. Till now you often think that you can invoke heaven to relieve you from pain immediately. As if you are the Lord, or He is some kind of Panadol.It’s purely and simply naivety and ignorance that have kept me from knowing about ancient contemplative/monastic types of prayer which, I now realise, have been part of the Christian tradition for many thousands of years. In my research, I also discovered that if you want to experience real spiritual and personal transformation the only two types of prayer that cause this are, in fact, outward prayer for self (God, help me be…). and a contemplative prayer approach.
What is the difference, you might ask? Contemplative practice really is about ‘being’ and less about doing. It is about making way for the deep work of the Spirit. If anything were to happen that results in personal formation and change, one cannot say it was a result of their own effort or energy, but would honestly have to say it is a deep work of the spirit who is working in us to form us into the image of Christ, especially beyond our consciousness.
The How
I’m starting slow, understanding that contemplative prayer approaches are actually spiritual practices. Emphasis on ‘practices’.There is no end goal. Only intent. There is no indication that you have arrived. There is no place where you can say ‘I’ve got it.’ or ‘I cracked the code.’ Or ‘I have some kind of secret that I can share with you so that you can pray and get breakthrough in all things.’ It is a practice. Much like marriage is practice. A daily commitment and intention to spend time with someone who loves you and you’ve made the decision and choice to love also. Beyond that, you really enjoy just spending time together.
We are so blessed in this day and age to have access to some fantastic teachers on contemplative approaches to prayer including Father Thomas Keating, Father Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault and a myriad of texts from the Desert Fathers and Mothers who were doing this thousands of years ago. It’s easy to find their books and videos online.
For me to explain how one practices contemplative prayer here in this article would be an insult to those who have spent a lifetime practising, teaching, and training others. But several contemplative and monastic approaches to prayer include Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, Examen, and more.
If you come from an Evangelical / Protestant background as I do, I kind of had to get over the terrible habit of being the one in control of how prayer works, my desired outcome, and reliance on my energy. I also had to get over any criticism and judgement I had on the Catholic tradition which is so much older (and grounded) than the Protestant tradition, and is where you will find some of the most outstanding, beautiful, loving teachers on this subject.
Tensen closes with this final note:
I should note that contemplative practice shouldn’t be something that replaces other kinds of prayer. There is always value in petition prayer, praise and worship, journaling, adoration, communion etc. But I would argue that contemplative prayer should be part of our spiritual life; after all, what we do comes out of who we are – and God is deeply, mysteriously being and relationship itself.
To read Tensen’s complete article, including the value of contemplative prayer, click #6. I discovered the richness of contemplative prayer.
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Thank you again for praying together for Huntsville/Madison County.
As we move quietly into 2019, Jesus will release more of His peace, truth
and love throughout our city as we, His containers, release what He has poured into us!
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