A Model for Prayer, Pt. 1: How to Pray
Editor’s Note: This article and its second part have been excerpted from Keller’s lengthier article, “Gospel Spirituality.”
Part Two of this article can be found here.
The Importance of a Minister’s Prayer Life
The corporate prayer life of a church must be grounded in the healthy, regular, personal prayer of its pastor and its people. In Matthew 6:5-13, Jesus instructs:
“And when you pray, you shall not be like...those who love to pray…in order that they may be seen by men…. But you, whenever you are praying, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not babble like the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. You then pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy, may your kingdom come, may your will be done, as in heaven also on earth. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
First, we see here that God does want secret or private prayer. The word “room” means an inner room—a storeroom in the inner part of the house, not a room with windows. The point here is about our motivation. Jesus is concerned about people who regularly engage in corporate prayer and corporate worship but have no private prayer lives. A. H. McNeile wrote about this verse, “The secret of religion is religion in secret.” He means that private prayer is the one thing you do when no one is watching, and therefore you won’t do it out of duty or because you are caught up in excitement or going along with peer pressure. No one really sees your private prayer life, so there is almost no accountability for it. It is one of the key indicators that your Christianity is inner and true and not just the product of your environment.
Jesus’ teaching here is that the only reward for secret prayer is a relationship with God—God himself is the reward—while corporate worship may have other rewards such as applause, social support, reputation, and so on. Archbishop William Temple went a bit deeper on this subject when he said, “Your religion is what you do with your solitude.” It is a searching question: When you have time all to yourself, when you don’t have to think of anything, where does your mind most effortlessly go? What do you enjoy daydreaming about, thinking about in your “inner sanctum”? That, Temple argues, is your real god, your real faith, what has captured your heart and imagination. If, when you have time, you instinctively pray, then you can know that your heart is beginning to rest in God as the reward or ultimate prize of your life.
A minister’s personal prayer life and spirituality is foundational to their pastoral ministry in two ways. On the one hand, a rich and deep experience of God is what you draw on as you minister. As noted above one of the main instruments in the pastor’s “black bag” is prayer itself. When you pray with parishioners, God is present and working in the heart. Your public prayer with people will only be as effective as your private prayer. You also pass on what you learn from God’s pastoring and nurturing of you in your own prayer life to others.
On the other hand, a rich and deep experience of God is what you are leading your congregants into for themselves. Oftentimes, their greatest need is for a rich prayer life.
A Simple Way to Pray
The gospel gives you a basis for going boldly into God’s presence that other teaching does. Paul says the Son gives us the warrant to do it, and the Spirit gives us the help to do it (Galatians 4:4-7).
There are four parts to a “daily walk” of prayer. They are:
Bible Reading: Reading a passage of the Bible and trying to get the gist of what it means.
Meditation: A blend of prayer and Bible study. Meditation is to pray the truth into the heart.
Prayer: Talking to God by praising him, confessing sins, and asking for help.
Contemplation: Simply enjoying and admiring God without talking.
The first discipline missing from most people’s repertoire of disciplines of the inner life is meditation on the truth. Meditating is a crossing of two other disciplines: Bible study and prayer. Meditation is both, yet it is not just moving one to another—it is a blending of them. Most of us first study our Bible, and then move to the prayer list, but the prayer is detached from the Bible you just studied. But meditation is praying the truth (just studied) deep into your soul until it catches fire. By “fire,” I mean the igniting of all sorts of personal connections so that the truth shapes your thinking, affects your feelings, and changes your actions. Meditation is working out the truth personally.
The closest analogy to meditating on the truth is the way a person eagerly reads a love letter. You tear it open and you weigh every word. You never simply say, “I already know whatever it says,” but rather, “Look at this! What does this mean? What did he or she really mean by that?” You aren’t reading it quickly just for information—you want to know what lies deep in the clauses and phrases. And more important, you want the letter to sink in and form you.
The second discipline missing from most people's repertoire of inner disciplines has had many names. I am calling it contemplation, though others have called it by other names. Augustine understood how these disciplines worked together as “the soul's ascent into God” in a process of three parts. His names for them were retentio, contemplatio, and dilectio. This is a bit confusing for the reader here, because what he calls retentio is what most of us would call “Bible study,” what he calls contemplatio is what we are calling “meditation,” and what he calls dilectio is what I am calling “contemplation.” But with this difference of terminology in mind, listen to his explanation of how the process works.
First, retentio means the distillation of the truths of Scripture and holding them centrally in the mind. This means study and concentration on a passage of Scripture to simply understand it, so you see its thrust. Retentio is thus learning what a passage says.
Second, contemplatio means “gazing at God through this truth.” It is to pose and answer questions such as:
What does this tell me about God; what does it reveal about him?
How can I praise him for and through this?
How can I humble myself before him through this?
If he is really like this, what difference does this particular truth make to how I live today?
Does my life demonstrate that I am remembering and acting out of this truth?
“Lord, what are you trying to tell me about you, and why do you want me to know it now, today?”
During the process of contemplatio, you will find you are moving from a more objective analytical view of things toward a personal dealing with God directly as the living reality he is. Knowing about God becomes knowing him. And this moves you to speak directly to him personally—to pray fervently.
Third, dilectio means delighting and relishing in the God you have been studying. After you begin to actually praise and confess and aspire toward him on the basis of the digested and meditated truth, often something else happens. If you have moved from learning to personal meditation, then, depending on your spiritual sharpness, the circumstances of your life at that time, and God's sovereign Spirit, you begin to experience him. Sometimes it is mild, sometimes strong, and sometimes you are very dry.
Whenever you are meditating (contemplatio) and you suddenly find new ideas coming to you and flowing in, then write them down and move to praising and confessing and delighting. That is (as Luther would say) the “Holy Spirit preaching to you.” What is this? It is actually seeing him by faith with the heart. Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3 are all about this. It is to adore, to marvel, to rest in (or to be troubled by, to be humbled by) him—he himself. It is one thing to study a piece of music and another to play it. It is one thing to work on a diamond, cutting and polishing it; it is another to stand back and let it take your breath away.
A Helpful Place to Start
Outlined below is a step-by-step description of how to proceed with this kind of prayer.
A. Lectio: Reading (Augustine's Retentio)
First, the description: Lectio Divina, or “divine reading,” sometimes refers to the entire four parts of prayer, but usually it refers to a devoted study and consideration of a text of the Scripture. Its goal is to personalize the Word and to hear God speaking to you here and now. Lectio assumes that you already understand the passage in a general way. If the text is confusing or opaque to you, you need to study it first. Lectio means to read it gently and slowly, aiming more at weighing and tasting the truth as it goes by.
Second, the practice of lectio: If you have a longer amount of time, study the text first. Outline the text. Ask, “What do I learn about God and who he is and what he's done? What do I learn about myself? What do I learn about my salvation, the cross, community, and the new creation? What do I learn about how I should live, examples to follow, commands to obey, and promises to claim?” Look up difficult words or comments in reference material. Then, do the slow spiritual reading. Be aware of his presence; seek full attentiveness and know that God wants to connect. Read slowly. When a thought or phrase or word captures your attention, stop and dwell on it. Some things will resonate with you or strike you or surprise you. A good method is to repeat the word(s) or phrase over and over internally or out loud, staying with it until you've drained the new thought or sense you've just had. Then move on until another part engages you. Underline those parts that touched you as you read.
B. Meditatio: Reflecting (Augustine's Contemplatio)
Now in meditation, take the “radioactive” phrases, verses, and ideas and reflect on the truth deeply. The purpose is to bring the mind into contact with the heart so as to move into a deeper sense of God and his reality and presence. Meditation is not simply thinking, nor simply praying (see Psalm 103); it is the descent of truth into the inmost heart, until your whole being yearns for God.
Here are two different methods of reflecting:
Method #1
Choose 1-2 verses or sentences from your lectio. Go through the text repeatedly, each time putting the emphasis on a different word. Ask: “How does this emphasis bring out another aspect of truth? What particular truth does this word bring out? What would be different if the word was missing? Why is God showing me this now, today?”
Method #2
Choose 1-2 verses or sentences from your lectio. Use the following outline:
Teaching: What is the basic truth or teaching this conveys?
Adoration: How can I adore God for this? What attribute of God does it show?
Confession: What wrong thoughts, feelings, or behaviors happen when this is forgotten?
Thanksgiving: How is Jesus the ultimate revelation of this attribute and/or the ultimate answer to this sin? How is this sin being caused by an inordinate hope for someone or something to give me the satisfaction that only Jesus can really give me?
Supplication: What do I need from God if I am to realize this truth in my life?
C. Oratio: Praying
First, the description: While lectio is listening intently to God, and meditatio is intently speaking to your own heart, oratio is speaking to God about what you are learning and hearing. Prayer after meditation is almost always more engaged at a deeper level of spiritual awareness. You begin with praying your meditations. Then, you can proceed to kingdom prayer and petition for needs.
Second, the practice: Using the steps involved in meditatio, pray specifically to God.
Pray adoration back to him. Tell him what you love and adore about him. Visualize how the world would be different if everyone saw this glory. Yearn for it.
Pray confession back to him. Admit what you have done and what you are. Visualize what would you be like if this truth were explosively present in your life. Yearn for it.
Pray thanksgiving back to him. Remember some narrative from the life of Christ where he exhibited the trait you are thanking him for. Thank him for what he's done.
Pray supplication back to him. Ask him for what you need to be and what you need to do that this truth points to. Now move on to more general kingdom prayer—asking for the “kingdom to come” in your own life, in the lives of people you know and love, in the needs of the city and the world.
D. Contemplatio: Sensing (Augustine's Dilectio)
Usually, though not always, during lectio or meditatio or oratio, there is an engaging and you begin to get a sense on the heart of the cognitive truths you are reflecting on. More moderate levels can be described as sweetness (Ah!) or illumination (Aha!). At the more profound levels, you experience what has been called “infused contemplation” (infused means “given” or “poured in from outside”):
There is a sense of the reality of God’s presence.
The soul becomes much more passive than active, receiving.
It receives enormous assurance of belonging to God.
It can be indescribable.
It may physically affect you at the time.
It results in permanent changes in one’s life.
Contemplation is really a pure gift (as “infused” indicates). The moments can happen anywhere in your time of devotion and may be fleeting or prolonged, subtle or pronounced. It can mingle with the flow of your meditation and prayer or even the lectio. Your God is passing by, and you are not consumed because you are hidden in Jesus. It is thus not completely proper to speak of method except to say this: since it is essentially a wordless gazing and admiration, don’t try to stick to any scheme or method if it comes strongly. Luther said, “When the Holy Spirit starts this, break off from your meditation routine.” It is clarity, an ability to rest, an ability to delight in his beauty for itself. I would try to contemplate at the very end of every devotional period; I simply try to gaze adoringly at what I've seen of him that day, without inner comment. But real contemplation is out of our control.
About the Author
Timothy Keller was the Chairman of Redeemer City to City and the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For over twenty-five years, he led a diverse congregation of urban professionals that grew to a weekly attendance of over 5,000.