Prayer And Solitude

Prayer is talking with God. How complicated can that be? We have conversations with people all day long and feel like we have communicated well. So why do we feel insecurity about whether or not God has heard us or that he cares? Why do we struggle over finding the time to talk with God and what to talk about? If God is so interested in me, why is it so difficult to connect with him?

I am convinced that LISTENING to God is becoming a lost art. Many struggle with their prayer lives because of this. One sided conversations become boring and rote to both the listener and the speaker. It is the same with God as with any human.

During a church talk, I challenged people to find a quiet place during the next week and sit for one hour, praying however they wanted. If one was stuck, one could read a short passage of Scripture to get the conversation going...but reading the Bible should only take a small portion of the time. Six people told me how unrealistic this was because they were too busy. One even said they wouldn't know how to do this for ten minutes! The greatest discouragement for me was that one of these people was the pastor, one was his wife, and one was an elder at the church! As I pried a little deeper, the issue for these people (as it is for most of us) wasn't finding the time. It was not knowing what to do with that time. I have no doubt that you or anybody could find an hour (or more) a day to sit quietly with a Bible and converse with the Lord.

But in our efficient, productivity focused mindset that wears "I'm so busy" as a badge of honor, we have truly lost the art of listening to God. We are afraid of our failures, sinfulness, and the pain that will arise in us if left alone with only ourselves. Which shows us how little we are experiencing the true God. Therefore, our prayer lives are not about connecting anymore. They are about getting the right words out and praying for the right things. If this is all prayer is, then we would do well to re-learn how to listen to God in prayer.

At the risk of sounding like a mystic (I was actually classified as a monk at the labor office for one year--true story), I propose that we MUST re-focus some of our prayer time on listening...not talking. This involves some of the classic spiritual disciplines of quiet, solitude, meditation, Lectio Divina, and reflection as a way to get to know God personally through prayer. These are some ways to help us get beyond the intellectual study of Scripture and the recitation of prayer lists.

If you agree with me and want to make a quick start at this, here is my suggestion. Grab your Bible, find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed or distracted (a park, in the woods, in a locked room at home). Read a passage of Scripture and reflect on it for a while. Don't try to figure out the passage too much or remember the original Greek! Rather try to put yourself in the story. What do you hear? What do you see? What do you feel? Play with the story in your mind a little while. Then tell God what strikes you from the passage. Ask him how he felt about the event or where He was during that time. Remember that prayer is communication with the person of God. Just as we "share from our heart" with another person, we do this with God AND He does it with us.

If you are interested in spending more time re-capturing the art of listening to God, I would suggest the classic "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard J. Foster. The first two disciplines he talks about are meditation and prayer.

Would you consider leaving a comment or emailing me the answer to this question....How do you listen to God in your prayer life or your daily life?