Contemplative Prayer

I am currently reading through Kenneth Boa's Conformed to His Image. It is a wonderful work by an exceptional author. One of the specific thing that I recently read was on the aspect of devotional spirituality called "Contemplative Prayer." I love the way he describes this ancient practice: "Contemplative prayer seeks to apprehend God through love and faith in such a way that theology is not merely speculative but lived." In other words, contemplating and meditating on God through prayer is a way for us to not only have a theology in our minds, but to experience who God is, thus verifying and correcting our theology through experience. It is a deep, thoughtful interaction with God in which we surrender ourselves to God and His Spirit in prayer.

I have practiced this before and I have heard many others talk about it. I hope not to offend anyone when I say this, but I have been pretty freaked out by people who talk about contemplative prayer because they make it seem like some mystical, magical practice in which everything is over-spiritualized. However, one point that Boa makes about contemplative prayer is that it is not for the new believers. New believers need to grow in their knowledge of Scripture first because (his second point) contemplative prayer must coincide with the truth of the Word. This point is so very necessary to make. If we do not have a foundation, then the house will not stand, right?

Contemplation and meditation on who God is and who I am in Him is a way to take the truths of Scripture and make them so real. They become completely grounded in our hearts and souls when we meditate on them in this way. Unfortunately, many take this time to become spiritually influenced by every new age mystical thought. Though we may believe we are focusing on God, we begin making god up in our own minds through this experience, which can easily lead us away from the truth of who He is, which is found grounded in His Word.

Boa goes on to talk about times of drought in our prayer lives, in which we feel spiritually dry. These are necessary times for us because they remind us that God is good even when we feel He is far from us. This is something we must learn to trust. Contemplation helps us to see that even when that emotional experience with him is not "spectacular," God is still there, and He is still good. May we learn to trust Him as we slow down to be with Him and experience who He is in our prayer lives. Blessings to you as you meditate on God and His Word.