Contemplative prayer – Page 7

Category: Contemplative prayer

A Sensory Stroll

29 October 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

What if you are not the type that can sit still and pray? Are alternatives to silencing the heart and resting the mind available? Yes. One is to go for a sensory stroll. A stroll is a short leisurely, slow walk. Not natural for most Singaporeans. According to surveys, we are some of the fastest walkers among urbanites around the world. So this spiritual exercise takes some learning.

Learning to walk at a leisurely pace is challenging but we also want to add to that a heightening of our physical senses in the stroll. It can be done one by one awareness. For example, we could begin with a focus on what we see. As you stroll observe the buildings, people, park bench, trees, leaves, flowers, cars and pavements. Observe colours, textures, shapes and lines. Pause if anything catches your attention. Next, you concentrate on hearing: the hum of traffic, children playing, birds chirping, rustling of leaves, the MRT train rolling by, the footfall of others and yourself. Then, feel. The mild breeze, the hot humid steam, the mask against your face, perspiration on the forehead, the out-of-breath feeling. Be aware of smell too. Occasionally, you smell jasmine, or worse, traffic smog or delicious food, depending on where you take your stroll. Such a walk can be a relaxing exercise as your mind is temporarily focused on the sensory input, and not on your worries and other mental preoccupations. So this is a good spiritual exercise to ready the mind and heart and body for reflection, prayer and Bible reading.

With Singapore’s hot humid climate, the early morning or late evening seems to be the more suitable times for this exercise. Occasionally a hike in the forest, reservoir or parks can be a great extended leisurely walk with an added play and pray dimension.

Why not give this a try and let readers know what it was like? Put your experience in the comment box.

Why is Silence Essential in Prayer

17 October 2021 blogpastor 2 Comments

Treasuring silence is one of hardest and oddest thing to do in modern urban society. But it is absolutely necessary if we care about our spirituality and growth in maturity. The spiritual discipline of silence is essential material for our formation into godly persons. In this discipline we shut our souls up from all kinds of sounds: whether they be noise, music, or conversation; and from the inner chatter that never ceases in our minds. We seek this stillness and quiet with the aim of giving our full attention to God. The practice of silence is a tough act but there are good reasons why it is golden for spiritual growth.

Why Silence Is Essential

First, silence helps us cultivate a disposition of openness to God – a disposition of listening. “So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’” (1Sam3:9). A rested body and soul seemed to be of help in receiving God’s communications, but more importantly, having a disposition that is ready to listen to God, open to whatever he shared. And if we are constantly talking TO God, we cannot be listening to him at the same time. We need to make a shift and listen more and talk less. The challenge to listening to God is that we often shelter too much inner noises of anxiety and turbulence and preferences that block us from noticing God’s notifications and invitations to us.

Second, silence demonstrates a disciple’s trust and dependence on God. Rather than leaning on his own understanding to analyze and solve problems, or make a choice or plan, the disciple prefers to lean on and patiently wait for God’s wisdom and power to be shared. Rather than figuring a way out without any reference to God, the disciple discusses, listens and collaborates with the Lord in “osmotic prayer” – a process similar to osmosis where the Lord weaves in his wisdom and will into the disciple’s consciousness as a matter is discussed with God. “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation” (Psalms 62:1,5).

Third, it reflects a beautiful posture of worship and reverence. “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab 2:20). When a great and holy personage walks onto the stage, the only appropriate action is to stop whatever you have been doing, shut your mouth and open your eyes to see, and ears to listen attentively. Such a respectful response of silent attention to God is appropriate whenever we begin prayer too. Be silent before him.

Fourth, as our friendship with God grows more intimate it naturally gravitates towards more silence. Great intimates and lovers are known to communicate in silence. They understand the sounds of silence: expressions of love in the eyes or gentle touch, that look, the smile, the twinkle in the eye, the knowing nod, the kiss, the silent gaze. Someone described this form of prayer as: “I look at Him, and He looks at me”. Gazing at each other with love and in silence.

Fifth, when silence is coupled with solitude over a few days, it often yields the fruit of quiet reflection and meditation: a God given “know thyself” and the surfacing of past memories and emotions that had been repressed during your hurried and harried life. The Holy Spirit wants to help with the processing of these raw and painful materials so that the sting of these can be discerned and extricated, and forgiveness received and released, and the wounds healed and sealed. It was in “a sound of sheer silence”(1 Kings 19:12), not the earthquake, storm or fire, that the Lord revealed himself, surfacing his repressed indignation, disappointment with God, and fear. Having helped Elijah processed his repressed pain, God restored Elijah, and re-commissioned him.

Suggested Exercises for Silence

Set a timer to five minutes and gradually increase it to twenty minutes of silence. Sit comfortably in a relaxed posture. Breath in and out slowly and deeply and focus on our breath. This focus on our breath will help draw our attention away from outer and inner noise. It will help us be quiet before God.

Once you have done the above exercise, add this exercise to it. Imagine God the Father or the Son in front of you. Be conscious of his loving presence. He looks at you without condemnation, but with loving kindness and warm affection. No words: just gazing at each other with love.

Mother Teresa was once interviewed and what a memorable interview it was!

Interviewer: When you pray what do you say to God?

Teresa: I don’t talk, I simply listen.

Interviewer: Ah then, what is it that God says to you when you pray?

Teresa: He also doesn’t talk. He also simply listens.

Interviewer: (Long puzzled silence)

Teresa: “If you cannot understand the meaning of what I just said, I am sorry but there is no way I can explain it any better.”

Last exercise: Imagine you have an audience with God Almighty our heavenly Father, so take time to quietly reflect and note down what you are going to say to God, what petition you plan to present to God. Prepare yourself. When ready to meet with God, kneel before him, with your notes, and begin to reverently present your petitions to God carefully and reverently. “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few” (Eccl 5:1,2).

Speaking in Tongues and Contemplative Prayer

8 October 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

The gift of tongues is one of the spiritual gifts that I appreciate greatly because it is a great aid to prayer. The apostles and the women who followed Jesus, and the mother of Jesus, all spoke in other tongues on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came upon them in power (Acts 1, 2). This gift is very much available for today’s believers as are all the other spiritual gifts (1Cor 12,14). I find praying in tongues a spiritually edifying exercise and devotional practice.

The Apostle Paul spoke in tongues

The apostle Paul himself had this gift of tongues and he readily and frequently used it in his communion with the Lord. He described the gift of tongues as speaking “not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (1Cor 14:2). In Paul’s understanding, while the speaker of tongues does not understand what is being said, mysteriously he “builds himself” (1 Cor 14:4) spiritually in faith, hope and love.

Speaking in tongues seems to facilitate a prayer of surrender, of letting go of having to understand everything that is happening, of having control over all of our life situations. We are saying, “I surrender, Lord. You take over. I will trust You even though I do not understand.” Paul himself used this devotional gift frequently and extensively, and could say to the Corinthian believers who were over-enthusiastic about tongues: “I (Paul) speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Cor 14:18).

Paul uses this gift as a language of praise (Acts 2:11, 10:46) In one instance he mentioned tongues as “giving thanks with your spirit” (1 Cor 14:16) and in another he testified of his experience of tongues as “I will sing with my spirit” (1 Cor 14:15) which means to sing in tongues – a beautiful, melodic expression in tongues of a song of praise to God. I can relate to Paul here for I often fall short of expressing the fullness or depth of gratitude or praise to God because of my lack of vocabulary. Tongues certainly bridges this gap.

The gift of tongues, according to Paul, also came to his aid when he engaged in prayer. “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also” (1 Cor 14:14, 15). The mind is unfruitful, meaning as you listen to yourself praying there is no idea, no conceptual understanding of what you are praying. After praying a while in this manner our mind comes to a place of quiet and a disposition of listening. It is a form of contemplative prayer, you might say. From my experience, when I felt weighed down or was wrestling in confusion or sensed a spiritual attack from the enemy, very often it was praying in tongues that assisted me to reach a place of peace, even without full understanding or resolution of the matter.

If you have the gift of tongues here are a few spiritual exercises you can try:

Read the Psalms until some verses about who God is, and what he has done, strikes you or catches your attention. Stay there with those thoughts about God, and lift up your heart and voice to him in praise in your own language. When you run out of words continue with speaking or singing in tongues with a melody in your heart.
List down some blessings, big or small, that you can thank God for and then praise him in your known language, before moving into thanking God in spirit.
When you feel down for no reason, or confused about something, or feel you are being tempted with disordered desires or thoughts, pray: “Lord, I am struggling about what is happening or what I am feeling or these strong temptations. Please help me as I pray in tongues…..” Pray in spirit and understanding with patience till the peace of Christ prevails. Sometimes like Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, you will need to persevere thrice before peace takes over (Matt 26:44).
Engage in a dialogue with Christ in tongues. Speak in tongues to the Lord for a while. Then wait in quiet as if to listen to his reply. Note the thoughts or desires or emotions or images or verses that comes to your consciousness. If any do rise, do not judge them yet (this is to be done later), but note any down with a pen. Do these two steps over again and for as long as you want to. When the exercise is over, evaluate what you have noted, to see if they are in accord with the teachings of our Lord. See if there are themes in what God is seeking to convey to you or what divine invitations were revealed. Meditate and pray about how you want to respond to these.