PRAYER AND STUDY

Keep your soul free. What matters most in life is not knowledge, but character. -A. G. Sertillanges, "The Intellectual Life"

"It would…be a rather low-voltage spiritual life in which prayer is chiefly undertaken as a discipline…." Dallas Willard

Prayer and study are the two practices that are the most talked about, and perhaps the most commonly practiced - although not as commonly as we would like to imagine. Prayer and study are often either avoided or misapplied. However, they are two disciplines that act as catalysts for transformation in both the heart and mind.

PRAYER: THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

There is much to say about prayer, but in this section we will consider prayer as a spiritual discipline. Prayer, of course, is much more than a spiritual discipline; it is a life.

Why do we need to practice prayer as a discipline? In our culture, it is because we have severely impaired attention spans. In prayer we attend our minds to God, and all too often that attention lasts for a few seconds. We begin our prayer with "Heavenly Father," and it is not long before our minds are meandering off; attending to anything other than the One we began to address.

It is for this reason that we must undertake prayer as a spiritual discipline-to enable ourselves to attain the single-mindedness necessary to attend to the God-who-is-present. It is also vital for us to understand that prayer, just as every other discipline, is a learning process. We will find ourselves distracted. We will notice our minds wandering among the countless concerns of the day. However, as we continue in the paths of prayer, our meanders will be shorter and less frequent.

Prayer is conversation or communication with God. It involves both speaking and listening. So often we pray as if it were a monologue. But prayer is so much more than talking to God. In fact, prayer is more about listening than talking.

Prayer is opening our lives to God for change. Prayer is recognition that God is God and we are not, and so in prayer we yield our desires to God's. Jesus prayed, "Not my will but yours." We ask God to change the way we see ourselves.

A prayer I have found to be frightening, but liberating, is "Lord, shine your Light on the dark-shadowed corners of my heart. Show me what I am hiding from you."

Prayer is not complicated. Prayer is not about saying the "right words," but rather a right orientation of our entire being toward God. Prayers do not need to be flowery. Prayers like that are said either to impress others or to manipulate God. Instead, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray he told them to use simple, straightforward speech (Matthew 6:7-13, 7:7-11).

"Praying is living," Henri Nouwen says. It is not limited to bowed heads, clasped hands, and closed eyes. Since praying is paying attention to God (listening, watching), we really can "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Philippians 4:6)

Our prayers may be hours spent listening in silence and solitude. They may be momentary prayers for someone in a passing car. Our prayers may be spoken as we kneel at our bed before we go to sleep. They may be silently voiced as we walk into a meeting.

To pray without ceasing means that wherever we go and in whatever we are doing, we go and do with the awareness of the always-present God.

STUDY: PERFECTING THE BRAINS GOD GAVE US

Study is one of the most important keys to the change that God works in our lives.

It is through study that we discover the truth found in Scripture. If we do not have right understanding of the things of God, we cannot know how we should live-we will find ourselves to be on very shaky ground (Matthew 7:24-27; James 1:5-8).

Study is the pursuit of truth. We seek to understand things as they truly are.

Richard Foster provides some insight into study by noting four steps involved in study: 1) repetition [or rehearsal], 2) concentration [or attention], 3) comprehension [or understanding], and 4) reflection [or meditation].

Repetition is the easiest way to learn. It really matters what we rehearse in our minds. Can you think of how repetition of truths or lies may affect a person over time?

Attention is necessary for study. There are many things that distract our minds from the attention necessary for attentive study (noise, interruptions, background music, crowds, tiredness, anxiety, etc.). We must do all we can to eliminate them-or at least minimize their effects. We must focus our thoughts on the object of our study (a book, a Bible story, a sermon, etc.) This requires perseverance. Sometimes we just have to plough through with determination to stay on task. Sometimes we will have to lay down the book (or whatever) and come back to it after some time, but we must come back to it.

Understanding is necessary for study. There comes a time (sooner or later!) when you finally "get it." It is the moment of "Eureka!" or "A ha!" when you finally get your mind around a concept, problem, teaching, or subject. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, then you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32).

Finally, meditation, or reflection, is necessary for study. We look back on what we have studied and we "chew it over" in our minds. We dwell on it, play with it, apply it to different situations, challenge it, defend it, roll it over, put it away and pull it out again, and in all of this we ask God to shape our thinking.

The most important aspect to study, therefore, is not in what we do, but in what God does with our minds. Our thinking and study must begin, continue, and end with a request for God to guide our thoughts in His truth.

Prayer must permeate our study. Henry Simmons wrote, "Too many of us are thinking these days as the world thinks because we do not begin our thinking by thinking about God. Only in paying attention to God will we experience the ecstasy that leads to wisdom.”

Thus prayer and study form a beautiful upward spiral. Study of Scripture informs our prayers about God's character. Prayer invites God to shape our minds as we study. God shapes our minds so we understand Him better which helps us pray more and better, and on and on.