God’s word, when heard, becomes a transformative power within us.  Mark Buchanan explains: “If this stuff gets in you, down in your guts, it is going to shape you in ways beyond your asking or imagination.”[i] The more we heed God’s voice in Scripture, the more it gets down in our guts and shapes us in ways beyond our imagination.

I’ve seen this stuff at work.  My friends Nathan and Karen were teachers in local Memphis public schools.  They were also voracious consumers of Scripture and intent on listening to God.  One day they asked to meet with the staff and elders of our congregation.  With great courage and conviction they announced “We believe God has called us to move to the Philippines to become missionaries.”  Nathan’s mother and father had been laboring for decades in the Philippines starting churches and establishing a highly respected school in the city of Bacolod.  Nathan and Karen discerned that God wanted them to pack up their home, their two boys, and move thousands of miles to partner with the older Luthers in this work.  As we prayed about it, we reached the same conclusion.  We sent Nathan and Karen to get additional training and then watched them fly away to a completely different life.  I recently returned from visiting them and their work in the Philippines.  Churches were thriving.  Their school was overflowing.  Life after life was changing.  How did this all happen?  I believe it started when that word got down inside Nathan and Karen and shaped them beyond their asking or imagination.  Because they heard (and heeded) they, and the lives of many others, were forever changed.

Jesus affirms the power of the Word in his Sermon on the Mount.  As a concluding exhortation, Jesus describes what happens to the person “who hears these words of mine and does them” (Jesus believes real hearing always leads to heeding) (Matt. 7:24 ESV).  That person is changed into something akin to a house resting on a solid foundation that cannot be shaken despite the strongest storms (Matt. 7:24-25).  Today you may feel like a shack likely to fall at the first sign of showers.  You may see yourself as a hut about to collapse from a single clap of thunder.  But if you learn to listen to Jesus, you will be transformed into a solidly constructed and firmly founded home that remains immovable and impenetrable even in the wildest weather.

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is the ancient method of hearing the renovating and revolutionary word of God.  It is a method for gaining our lost ears so we may once again listen to the ever-speaking Father, Son and Spirit.

First, choose a brief text of Scripture and read it.  Read as if you are reading a letter from someone you deeply love.  Read as if you are reading these words for the very first time.  As you read, ask, “God, what do you wish to say to me today?”  Listen for a word or phrase that seems to get stuck in your mind or impressed on your heart.

Second, begin to reflect on that word or phrase.  Repeat it.  Write it down.  Draw something which represents it.  Interrogate it: “What’s going on in my life that would cause this word to stick out today?  What sin am I wrestling with that this word addresses?  What blindspot to I possess which this word illuminates?  What comfort and I seeking or courage am I needing that this word brings?  What is it about who I am right now that needs this word?

Third, respond to God in prayer based on what you’ve heard.  Give a shout of praise.  Kneel in humble repentance.  Thank Him for the insight.  Ask him further questions.

Finally, rest in the presence of God.  Spend a few moments in quiet and calming silence with the Father who’s shared so intimately with you today.

Take Ten

Set aside just ten minutes today to experience this powerful practice.  Don’t put it off.  Do it right now if you can.  Listen carefully.  Let that word get down inside of you and change you in ways you never even dreamed of.

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Longing to Listen

A former member of our congregation stopped by our church office recently.  “What’s going on?” I asked her.  “Well,” she said, “I finally retired.  But now I’m not sure what to do.  I guess I’m in a season of discernment.  I’m trying to listen to God and discover what he wants me to do next.”

In some ways, her description of her life-stage fits many of us.  For those who are truly seeking a more significant spiritual life, listening seems to be the one commonality.  We’re listening for God’s guidance in our work.  We’re listening for God’s leadership in our relationships.  We’re listening for God’s direction in major decisions.  We’re listening for God’s answers to circumstances that puzzle us.  For more and more of us, life with Jesus is a life of listening.

In his book The Power of a Whisper Bill Hybels focuses on about twenty individuals in the Bible who heard God in a distinct way.[i] These include Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Balaam, Joshua, Samuel, Job, Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, Philip, Peter, and Paul.  Each was blessed with direct interaction with and instruction from God.  Each heard from the Lord.  Many of us long for this very thing.  We hunger for a fresh and living word from the One who made us and loves us.

Hearing by Reading

Thankfully, this craving can be satisfied through the meditative reading of Scripture.  Marjorie Thompson calls this “spiritual reading”:

“Spiritual reading is reflective and prayerful.  It is concerned not with speed or volume but with depth and receptivity.  That is because the purpose of spiritual reading is to open ourselves to how God may be speaking to us in and through any particular text.  The manner of spiritual reading is like drinking in the words of a love letter or pondering the meaning of a poem.  It is not like skittering over the surface of a popular magazine or plowing through a computer manual.  We are seeking not merely information but formation.”[ii]

The meditative reading of Scripture is one of the most promising ways to perceive the hushed voice of God.  It is based on a singular conviction: God still speaks.  He is not mute.  He not silent.  God has not lost his voice.  We have lost our ears.  Just as he did to Adam, Moses, and Mary, so God still addresses any person who humbly seeks an audience with him in the pages of his word.  He may express himself in many other ways.  But most certainly does so through the words of the Bible.

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[ii]Marjorie Thompson, Soul Feast (Westminster John Knox, 1985), 18 (emphasis added).

Our Hearing Problem

Our fourth-grader recently inquired, “Why did you and Mom discipline me so much when I was younger?”  Don’t worry.  We weren’t abusive parents.  And Jacob wasn’t a trouble child.  It’s just that, in comparison to his older sister, Jacob required a little more “motivation” early on in order to get him to stop bad behaviors and start desired deeds.  We could unintentionally break his sister’s heart with a firm “No!”  But it took an earthquake to even get Jacob’s attention.

One of Jacob’s chief challenges was listening.  Without any doubt, his ears performed perfectly.  When we asked him to do something (e.g., “Jacob, please make your bed”; “Jacob, please quit bouncing that ball in the house”) the sound-waves of our words played their intended tune on his ear drums.  They bounced their way into his brain.  In spite of this, that bed remained unmade.  That ball kept bouncing.

Jacob heard us.  But he didn’t really hear us.

This, it appears, is not only a common struggle for spirited elementary-aged boys.  It is also one of the most common struggles for those of us desiring deeper spiritual lives.  In her book When the Soul Listens, Jan Johnson surveys situations in Scripture when certain people were praised and other characters were condemned.  And the primary thing separating those commended from those critiqued was their ability or willingness to hear God.^[1] For example, God scolded Israel in Is. 42:20 – “He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”   Jesus repeatedly invited “If anyone has ears, let him hear” (e.g., Mk. 4).  The Bible is filled with appeals to hear God and admonitions against not hearing God.  It’s not that people are physically deaf and they are being invited to receive auditory healing.  Their ears perform perfectly.  When God speaks or writes his words wind up in their brains.

They hear God.  But they don’t really hear God.

Jesus diagnoses his audience in his Sermon on the Mount with this very problem.  Repeatedly, Jesus says, “You have heard…but I say to you” (e.g., Matt. 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32).  In many of these cases, Jesus is referring to a specific Scripture which his listeners knew well.  They had read this particular Scripture.  Studied it.  Dissected it.  Memorized it.  Quoted it.  But they hadn’t really heard it.  They understood the letter of the law.  But they remained deaf to the spirit of the law.  What Jesus attempts to do in his Sermon on the Mount is get us to hear God once more.  Really hear.

Hearing God Through Lectio Divina

Thankfully, there is an ancient method which can empower us to do this very thing.  The early Christians discovered a way to listen closely to God.  They believed Scripture was not merely a record of what God had once said.  They trusted it was also the record of what God was now saying.  To them the Bible was not a dusty diary of words God spoke to other people in past times.  It was a living log of words God was speaking to them at the present time.  And one specific approach enabled them to hear God through the text.  The practice is called lectio divina (pronounced lex-ee-o dih-vee-nah).  The phrase literally means holy or sacred reading.

While its roots run deep in both Old and New Testaments,[2] lectio divina was popularized by a man named Saint Benedict (ca 480-550).^[3] While attending school in Rome, Benedict became appalled at the sin running rampant throughout the ancient city.  He determined to create an opportunity for people to experience a different life–an existence free from the epidemic of evil and filled with the countermeasure of consecration.  Benedict retreated to a village, attracted bands of people dissatisfied with their spiritual status quo, organized them into monasteries and created a guide for their living called The Rule of St. Benedict (published ca 540).  This guide spelled out the three primary activities through which people could enter into a life of sanctity and piety: prayer, work, and lectio divina.  Benedict believed that one of the most fundamental ways to lead people into the deeper life of the Spirit was guide them into a consistent practice of lectio divina.  Why?  Because it was one of the best ways of enabling people to hear God.  Really hear God.  And Benedict believed if people could truly listen to God, they would be forever changed.

What Benedict popularized, a man named Guigo II systematized (ca. 1115-1198).[4] In one of his books Guigo described the four rungs of a ladder by which people could be “lifted up from the earth into heaven.”  These four steps allowed an individual to listen deeply to God through lectio divina: 1) lectio (lex-ee-o), 2) meditatio (med-ita-tsee-o), 3) oratio (o-ra-tsee-o) and 4) contemplatio (con-tem-pla-tsee-o).  Participation in each of these four activities would open up spiritual ears and enable us to hear what the living God is saying to us today.  I’ve reworded these four steps below as 1) read, 2) reflect, 3) respond and 4) rest.

Take Ten

Take ten minutes today to experience this ancient practice.  Through faith, trust that as you move through the four steps of lectio divina, you will hear God communicating to you in new and fresh ways.

1. Read – Lectio involves reading Scripture.  First, select a biblical text.  Choose one that is just a few verses in length.  Before reading it, get into a comfortable position and maintain silence for several minutes.  This prepares your heart to listen.  Now, read the text slowly.  Savor each word.  To help you hear every sentence and through, consider reading it out loud.  When finished, read it two or three additional times.  As you slowly read, be sensitive for one word or a phrase that sticks out and begs for more of your attention. Your goal is to hear one word or phrase that speaks to you or that piques your interest.  Keep reading until this word or phrase comes to you.
2. Reflect – In meditatio you now reflect on this word or phrase.  Slowly repeat the word or phrase that has caught your attention.  Meditate on it.  Chew on it.  If you keep a journal, write the word or phrase there.  Ask questions of it: “Why did this word or phrase catch my attention?”; “What is it about my life that needs to hear this word today?”  Your goal is to identify why God has placed this word or phrase on your heart and what God may be asking you to do or be through it.  Is he calling for some action?  Is he requiring some repentance?  Is he granting some insight?  Is he highlighting a reason for praise?
3. Respond – In oratio you respond to what you’ve heard from God.  By means of the word or phrase you’ve identified God has spoken to you.  Now, you speak to Him.  If God has convicted you of sin, respond with prayerful repentance.  If God has given you a new understanding about something, respond with prayerful gratitude.  If God has called you to action, respond with a verbal commitment to begin the action.
4. Rest – Finally, in contemplatio, you rest.  Just as you began with a few moments of silence, so now finish this heavenly conversation with a few moments of silence.  Rest quietly in the grace and presence of God.

[2] See Richard Foster Celebration of Discipline 20th Anniversary Edition (Harper SanFrancisco, 1998), 15-17.

^[3] Tony Jones The Sacred Way, (Zondervan, 2005), 48.

[4] Jones, 49-50.

Perfect Prayer

“Did I pray that correctly?”

I’m sometimes asked this question by a friend when we meet for prayer.  After she completes a brief time of leading our petitions, she occasionally gives voice to this fear: “Did I pray OK?”  She worries that she isn’t using the right words in the right way.  She frets that she doesn’t have the right emphasis and the right emotions.

Another friend regularly asks me to pray on his behalf, something I am honored to do.  But there are times when he prefaces his request with remarks like this: “You always pray better than I do.  You always know just what to say.  I think God’s more likely to answer your prayer about this than he is mine.”  My friend doubts he can produce the kind of plea that will catch God’s ear.

People of prayer have long struggled with this perspective.  It’s an outlook which views God as one who must be persuaded to act.  And only precise prayer-words will convince this reluctant God to answer affirmatively.

This was even a stance taken by many even in Jesus’ day.  While preaching about piety in Matt. 6:1-18, Jesus warns,

“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply.” (Matt. 6:7-8 The Message).

Some ancient mystics believed they needed the right rule, the perfect program, or the most winsome words in order to get what they wanted from God.  Only those who could stitch words together into a flawless format could win over God’s heart.

Simple Supplication

But prayer is intended to be much simpler.  Peter Kreeft writes about the ease of prayer:[i]

Prayer is easier than we think…We can all do it, even the most sinful, shallow, silly, and stupid of us.  You do not have to master some mystical method. You do not have to master a method at all.  Can you talk to a friend? Then you can talk to God, for he is your Friend. And that is what prayer is. The single most important piece of advice about prayer is one word: Begin! God makes it easy: just do it!

Prayer is easier than we think.  It doesn’t require seamless sentences and faultless phonetics.  It can be as natural and unscripted as a conversation with a friend.  Jesus’ preferred image is that of a dialogue between a child and a parent: “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father…’” (Matt. 6:9 ESV).

Still, many of us feel the need for help.  We realize we don’t need perfect prose or sanctified speech.  But we’re not exactly sure what to say.  We feel a bit like Anne of Green Gables.[ii] The movie features Ann Shirley, an orphaned child placed the home of Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert.  One evening Marilla and Anne discuss prayer:

“Have you said your prayers?” Marilla asks Anne.

“I never say any prayers,” Anne responds.

“What do you mean? Haven’t you been taught to say your prayers?”

“Mrs. Hammond told me that God made my hair red on purpose, and I’ve never cared for him since.”

“Well, while you’re under my roof you will say your prayers.”

“Why, of course.  If you want me to. How does one do it?”

“You thank God for his blessings, and then humbly ask him for the things you want.”

“I’ll do my best. ‘Dear gracious heavenly Father, I thank you for everything. As for the things I especially want, they’re so numerous it would take a great deal of time to mention them all. So, I’ll just mention the two most important: please let me stay at Green Gables; please make me beautiful when I grow up. I remain yours respectfully, Anne Shirley—with an e.’ Did I do all right?”

“Yes, if you were addressing a business letter to the catalog store. Get into bed.”

“I should have said ‘amen’ instead of ‘yours respectfully.’ Think it’ll make any difference?”

“I expect God will overlook it—this time. Good night.”

We want to embrace the simplicity of prayer promised by Jesus, but we’re so often still unsure of what to say or how to say it.

The Ready Made Prayers of Jesus

This is why Jesus introduces us to what Mark Thibodeaux calls “ready-made prayers.”[iii] Jesus’ “Lord’s Prayer” in Matt. 6 is one of these—a pre-written prayer ready to be prayed by any follower of Jesus hungry for help on praying.  Through supplications such as this, Jesus takes us by the hand and walks us through a conversation with the Father.  Not to show us the only words that can ever be used.  But to reveal to us themes and habits that make for the most fruitful and enriching times of divine discussion.

This “Lord’s Prayer” is only one of many ready-made prayers.  The Gospels are filled with other petitions Jesus himself spoke.  They provide magnificent mentoring regarding prayer.  There are at least ten occasions on which the Gospel authors record the actual words Jesus spoke in prayer.  In them we find Jesus praying at least three types of prayers.[iv]

First, Jesus prayed inward prayers of complaint.  Here, Jesus gave voice to the deepest feelings of disappointment.  In his inward prayers of complaint Jesus teaches us how to look deep within ourselves and to share dark and discouraging feelings with God in prayer, to complain about our pain.

• ³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” ³⁹And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” ⁴⁰And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? ⁴¹ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ⁴²Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” ⁴³And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. ⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (Matt. 26:36-46 ESV)

• ³³And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with  sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mk. 15:33-37 ESV)

• ²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now  finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. (Jn. 19:28-29 ESV).

Second, Jesus prayed upward prayers of confidence.  Despite the darkness and the despair, Jesus was able to pray upwardly with confidence that God still ruled, still listened, still reigned, and still cared.  Through these upward prayers of confidence Jesus shows us how to trust God even in the darkness.

• ²¹ In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” (Luke 10:21 ESV)

• ⁴¹And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” (John 11:41-43 ESV).

• ²³And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. ²⁷“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” (John 12:23-29 ESV).

• ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (Jn. 19:30 ESV).

• ⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Lk. 23:44-46 ESV).

Third, Jesus prayed outward prayers of compassion.  Here Jesus looked outward and prayed for the needs of friends and foes alike. With his outward prayers of compassion Jesus instructs us how to passionately plea for the people around us.

• ¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.  ⁶ “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake  I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:1-26 ESV).

• ³² Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. ³³And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk. 23:32-34 ESV).

Take Ten

Choose one of the prayers of Jesus above and use it to inspire and/or inform a time of prayer today.

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[ii] Anne of Green Gables (Walt Disney, 1985), based on a novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[iii] Mark Thibodeaux, Armchair Mystic (Saint Anthony Messenger Press, 2001).

[iv] See my Prayers from the Pit (21^st Century Christian, 2011).

I was blessed with the opportunity to write a guest commentary on the day before Christmas for Memphis’ Commercial Appeal.  I chose to write on how the prayers of Jesus inform our own prayers during the often difficult days of the holidays.

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The Psalms are the original pre-owned prayers.  They are supplications and songs used by the people of God for generations.  Learning to pray the Psalms may be the simplest yet most significant step you can take towards growth in your relationship with God.

The Psalms fall into three categories: Orientation, Disorientation and Reorientation.[i] In psalms of orientation God is viewed as trustworthy and reliable.  Life is happy and the one praying is grateful for the stability and predictability of life.  These psalms provide opportunities to pray about some of the most basic things of life which are responsible for the pleasantness of life.  Examples include Ps. 19, 104, and 119.

Like psalms of orientation, psalms of reorientation are also prayers of praise and thanksgiving.  But rather than focus on the stability and dependability of the life which God has created, reorientation prayers rejoice for a recent way in which God has delivered the author from despair or danger.  They offer praise at its highest and loudest.  Examples include Ps. 16, 23, 100, and 150.

Psalms of disorientation stand in stark contrast to the other two.  These are prayers gasped and groaned when life is at its worst.  In them, God seems neither dependable nor desirable.  Those who are praying lament their situation in life and beg God for a change in their circumstances.  These are the most disturbing prayers in the Old Testament.  They include Ps. 13, 51, and 69.

I’ve found it helpful to reclassify these Old Testament prayers as prayers of the plain (orientation), prayers of the peak (reorientation), and prayers of the pit (disorientation).

• Prayers of the Plain are those psalms in which life is ordinary and routine and we thank God for the basic things of life that make life so good.
• Prayers of the Peak are those psalms in which life is unusually good and we thank God for a specific way in which he has been active in our lives.
• Prayers of the Pit are those psalms in which life is hard and horrible and we give voice to our harshest feelings.  They are the prayers which are colored primarily by challenge and suffering in life.

Each kind of Psalm stretches us to go beyond what we normally experience in prayer.  Prayers of the Plain stretch us to pray about issues we may generally overlook or take for granted, such as a beautiful and life-giving earth or the wise and insight-giving Scriptures.  Prayers of the Pit stretch us to grieve to God with bold and unapologetic laments that we may have never used before in prayer.  And Prayers from the Peak stretch us to praise in ways we may have never done before in prayer, using colorful and creative language.

Take Ten

One way to deepen your prayer-life is to pray one Psalm each day.  You can do this in about ten minutes (you may need to divide up some of the longer Psalms).  Some of the Psalms can be prayed nearly verbatim, just as they are written.  In others, you will need to make some revisions, such as changing second-person or third-person language to first-person language.  In some cases, you may wish to read the entire Psalm and then just paraphrase it to God in your own words.

There are two options for praying a Psalm daily: pray through the Psalter chronologically, or pray one type of Psalm each day (e.g., a Prayer from the Plain on day 1,  a Prayer from the Pit on day 2, and a Prayer from the Peak on day 3).  Below is a table that identifies each of the Psalms for you.  Take ten right now and pray through one Psalm.

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Making Our Last Resort the First Resort

I was recently talking to a friend who is a preaching minister.  For several months he had faced an immovable impediment in his ministry.  One person was frustrating every move he made to pursue the path he believed God wanted his congregation to take.  He and other leaders had discerned bold visions for the church’s future, but all plans were on pause because of this single stubborn person.  My friend tried everything to pass the impasse.  He sought to reason with the man.  Then, he asked his mentors what to say and do.  And, he sent other church leaders to speak to the individual.  But all this work produced no progress.

Finally, one day, a colleague from another congregation asked my friend, “Have you fasted and prayed about this?  If I were you, that’s what I would do.  Fast and pray.”  My friend had not.  That week he began.  He decided to spend each Thursday fasting and praying.

Four weeks later, that intractable individual holding everything up and holding everyone hostage took a job offer in another state.

Prayer had been my friend’s last resort.  It should have been his first resort.  Because, in the end, it was his only resort.

Jesus makes a similar case in his Sermon on the Mount.  In Matt. 6:1-18 Jesus speaks specifically about piety, about growing more intimate with the Father.  Jesus draws attention to three practices of piety: giving, praying, and fasting.  Of the three, Jesus shows prayer to be the most indispensable.

First, Jesus spends greater time speaking on prayer than on the other two practices which are mentioned in his section on piety.  Giving receives three verses of Jesus’ speech.  Fasting similarly receives three verses.  But prayer receives eleven verses.  Jesus devotes nearly four times the space to speaking on prayer as he does highlighting these other practices.

Second, when we consider that fasting (Matt. 6:16-18) by its very nature centers on prayer, two-thirds of Jesus’ piety presentation contain instruction and inspiration regarding prayer.  Of the eighteen verses in this message on spirituality, fourteen focus on prayer.

Third, when Jesus speaks of fasting and of giving, he identifies mistakes which other Jewish spiritual leaders are making.  But in his section on supplication, Jesus additionally identifies mistakes which Gentile spiritual leaders are making.  Jesus is so intent on ensuring that we experience prayer as originally intended that he doubles his efforts to reveal flawed approaches to it.  That is, Jesus spends twice as long clarifying wrong approaches to prayer as he does clarifying wrong approaches to giving or to fasting.

Finally, only in the portion on prayer does Jesus give us a “formula.”  Only here does Jesus spell out in detail exactly how to do prayer.  It’s here we find the “Lord’s Prayer.”  Though never intended as something which must be said word-for-word, its words nonetheless have become the pathway to richer prayer for centuries.  Countless Christians have grown more in tune with the Father and more in line with his will through the words of this prayer than any other prayer.  No other section in Jesus’ piety presentation contains this level of detailed instruction.

If we wish to dive deeper into the spiritual life, prayer must never be our last resort.  It must always be our first resort.

Ready Made Prayers

And Jesus’ model-prayer introduces something which Mark Thibodeaux calls “ready-made prayers.”^[i] Ready-made prayers are those which someone else has authored for us.  We pray using someone else’s words rather than our own.  And by praying them, we are led into experiences we may have never reached by relying solely on our own prayer-words.

Scripture is full of these ready-made prayers.  In fact, Adele Calhoun writes that “In the early centuries of the church, believers were taught to pray the Scriptures.  Since the Bible is divinely inspired, they believed that praying Scripture deeply connected them to the mind and heart of God.  Furthermore, as Scripture was repeatedly prayed, it became memorized.  This was a wonderful benefit for those who were illiterate.  It also meant that memorized Scripture could lead them to pray at any hour of the day or night.”[ii] For centuries Christians have relied heavily on the ready-made prayers found in Scripture.

In upcoming posts, we’ll explore three sources of these “pre-packaged” prayers in the Bible: the Psalms, Jesus’ prayers, and the prayers and writings of Paul.

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[ii] Adele Calhoun Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (IVP Books, 2005), 246.

At Seattle’s Boeing Field, brand new commercial jets are put through their paces.[i] During test flights in 2004, Boeing discovered serious problems in several new planes.  Mechanics found glass beads destroying the inside of the engines.  The beads, about the size of sugar granules, wrecked the engines beyond repair.

Officials set out to determine the source of the droplets.  Eventually, their investigation led them to a runway.  New reflective lines had just been painted on the airstrip.  The paint contained small glass beads which reflected light.  But the paint was defective.  On one patch of paint, the beads granules were separating from the paint.  As the plane engines increased thrust and passed this patch, they sucked up these granules.  The result was fifty million dollars of damage.

Sometimes it is the tiny threats which cause some of the greatest harm.  This is especially true in our spiritual life.

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The word “examen” comes from Latin and refers to the weight indicator on a balance scale.  It carries the idea of “an accurate assessment of the true situation.”[i] The Examen gives us an assessment of the true situation between us and God.  This spiritual practice forces us to pay attention to matters we may normally remain oblivious to.  It empowers us to see the small but significant things that get in between us and God.

Another name for the Examen is the Prayer of Examen.  Traditionally, the Prayer of Examen has two aspects.[ii] The first is an “examen of consciousness” through which we recognize the ways in which God has been present to us during the day and how we’ve responded to that presence.  We examine how conscious we have been of God throughout the day and in what ways God may have been speaking to us or reaching out to us during the day.  Because our spiritual lives are so often unexamined, these moments of divine consciousness are often invisible to us.  The Examen makes them visible.

The second aspect of the Prayer of Examen is an “examen of conscience” through which we recognize the moral and spiritual areas of our character which need cleansing and purifying.  Here, through a detailed review of the past few areas, we bring into vision what may ordinarily be out of vision.  We notice the “big” and “small” habits and customs which have either helped or hindered our drawing near to God.

Writing about this examen of conscience, St. Ignatius of Loyola writes, “Let him go over hour by hour, or period by period, commencing at the hour he rose, and continuing up to the hour and instant of the present examen, and let him make…as many dots as were the times he has fallen into that particular sin or defect.  Then let him resolve anew to amend himself up to the second Examen which he will make.”[iii] In other words, Loyola actually envisioned us making a visually tally of the times we had fallen into a particular sin or defect over the course of several hours.  Then, with God’s help, we resolved to live anew for the remainder of the day.

If you choose to spend an Examen reflecting on character issues, it may be helpful to think through think through different categories of sin.[iv] For example you could consider the list of the seven deadly sins: pride, anger, lust, envy, greed, sloth, and gluttony.  You could use the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20).  Or you could reflect on lists in Paul’s letters in which he contrasts sins to avoid with qualities to pursue (Rom. 12:9-21; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Gal. 5:16-23; Col. 3:5-14).  With these in mind, during your Examen you can consider your answer to two questions: In what ways did I struggle with the sins in this list today?  In what ways did I experience the positive qualities in this list today?

If, during an Examen, you find that a particular sin shows up again and again, you might choose to dig more deeply by asking yourself, Why did I do what I did?  What happened as a result of my sin?[v] Exploring these two questions can help get at some of the profounder issues underlying that particular sin.

Marjorie Thompson writes that when using an Examen to focus on character issues it is very important to “put on neither the rose-colored glasses of naïve optimism nor the gray-colored glasses of needless pessimism.”[vi] That is, some of us are so positive and uncritical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character struggles during our day.  Others of us are so negative and critical that it’s difficult for us to discern any character successes during our day.  This is why the Examen necessitates an examination of both highs and lows, successes and failures, steps forward and steps backward.

This kind of daily self-examination can be difficult.  Yet it is worth it.  Thompson reminds us of three benefits which flow from it.[vii] First, it leads to greater self-awareness.  The more we truly know ourselves the better able we are to truly know God.  Second, it leads to greater truthfulness and honesty about ourselves.  We can now let go of pretense and humbly accept ourselves as we are.  Finally, it leads to greater compassion.  The more clearly we see ourselves, the less likely we are to judge and critique others.  Seeing our brokenness helps us identify with the brokenness in others.

Take Ten

Ruth Haley Barton provides the following as a way of conducting both an examen of consciousness and an examen of conscience.  Take ten minutes today and follow her pattern of prayer:[viii]

1. Look back on the events of the past twenty-four hours, asking God to guide you in seeing what he wants you to see.
2. As you reflect on the events, ask God to show you where he was present with you, even though you may not have recognized it at the time.
3. Ask God to show you the places where you are growing and changing.  Thank him for evidence of his transforming work.
4. Ask God to show you places where you fell short of Christlikeness.  Be careful not to succumb to shame or morbid introspection; instead, simply name your failure honestly, confess it to God, and receive his forgiveness.
5. Finish by thanking God for the day and for his presence in your life.

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[ii] Foster, Prayer, 27-28.

[iii] St. Ignatius Loyola and Father Elder Mullan, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (Saint Benedict Press, 2010), 21-22.

[iv] John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted (Zondervan, 1997), 123-124.

[v] Ortberg, Life, 126.

[vi] Marjorie Thompson, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (Westminster John Knox, 1995), 86.

[vii] Thompson, 98-99.

[viii] Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rythms Participant’s Guide (Zondervan, 2011), 62.

Jesus identifies spiritual roadblocks which seemed invisible to even the most devout in his day.  The mystical masters of Jesus’ world could certainly spot the spiritual roadblock of murder (Matt. 6:21) or adultery (Matt. 6:27).  They perceived with precision that immoralities like these kept people from intimacy with God.  But they failed to recognize the spiritual barrier of anger which was the first step toward murder (Matt. 6:22).  They could not detect the barricade of lust which eventually fueled adultery (Matt. 6:28).  The professionally pious seemed content to rid their path of obvious obstacles of murder and adultery.  But they remained oblivious to “lesser” yet equally damaging depravities like anger and lust.

This failure marks all of us.  It marks me.  Early in my walk with Jesus I labored to rid my life of the low hanging fruit regarding when it came to ungodliness.  My sexual impurity was easy to spot and became the object of intense repentance and renewal.  But once I tackled the noticeable corruptions like sexual impurity, I relaxed.  I slowed down.  I figured the fight was basically over.

As I grew older in the faith, however, it began to dawn on me that “lesser” yet similarly significant sins were standing between me and my Father.  These iniquities disguised themselves and remained in the shadows.  They were woven deep into my habits of thinking, my worldview, and my “natural” tendencies.  Only with great intentionality could I even fathom them, much less fight them: my deep hunger for approval, my fear of failure, and my drive to control conditions and colleagues.  I soon sought a way to better highlight these hidden sins and deal with them in an aggressive manner.  The Examen provided just this.

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