A Model for Prayer, Pt. 2: Four Types of Prayer
Prayer is a major part of the ministry of the Word. The Apostles established the diaconate so they could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). It is remarkable that of all the things they obviously had to do, they would separate out prayer and put it as an equal partner with all the rest of the ministry of the Word. It seems obvious, then, that anyone who is ordained to the ministry of the Word needs to go well beyond the average or “normal” Christian prayer life. Below we look in more depth at four kinds of prayer—petitionary, meditation, repentance, and contemplative.
1. Petitionary Prayer
Personal prayer can be carried out in such a way that it orients the believer toward outward focused, kingdom-centered, corporate prayer. The goals of petitionary prayer are to put the world right (“thy kingdom come”) but also to put your heart at rest (“thy will be done”). Eugene Peterson, in his great book on praying the Psalms, points out how Psalm 4 (an evening prayer, oriented toward accepting and reflecting) comes before Psalm 5 (a morning prayer, oriented toward asking and action.)¹
HEART-AT-REST PRAYER
In the evening, David is trying to put his heart at rest so he can put his body at rest:
In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the LORD. Many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
—Psalm 4:4-8
In verse 8 David achieves the goal of an evening prayer: “I will lie down and sleep in peace.” It is not a statement of triumph to say, “I will lie down and sleep.” That is not something we can avoid! Sleep will finally overtake us; we can’t help it. But the purpose of evening prayer is seen in the phrase in peace. As Peterson says, evening prayer aims to give the soul the same peace and restoration that the body will get in a night’s sleep. Of course, doctors will tell us that the soul and the body always rest better if they do it together! Regular evening prayer is important, therefore, for both our physical and spiritual health. It is not primarily a prayer of praise or of repentance (though true petition can never be separated from them). It is primarily a prayer of petition in which the needs and concerns that burden us are prayed into the hands of God so that our soul does not go weighted down into the night's sleep.
So, there are two purposes for petitionary prayer. One is external. Through our petitions, God affects the circumstances of history (James 5:16b-18). He will work justice in the world through our prayers (Luke 18:7-8). There are many things that he says he will not give or affect until we ask (James 4:2b). When we do ask, he will give us above and beyond what we have asked for (Eph 3:30). He will begrudge us no good thing that we ask for (James 1:6). Yet, on the other hand, we see here that the second purpose of petitionary prayer is internal. Through our petitions, we receive peace and rest. Just as physical sleep is a giving up control and becoming vulnerable, so petition is a giving up control—a resting and trusting in God to care for our needs.
How does David get his heart at rest? We see here a form of self-communing or meditation. He is working on his own heart—he is not speaking to God in the middle of this prayer, but to himself. He is meditating; he is giving himself critique and counsel and working truth into his heart. That explains why, when he is done with counseling, his own heart has changed from the clamor of verse 1 to the quiet of verse 8. In short, David is preaching to himself, which progressively enables him to unburden himself and put his needs in God's hands.
David here tells us that our petitions may be defiled by self-pity if they are not accompanied by praise and thanksgiving for the miraculous, permanent blessings of salvation itself. We are to be amazed at our access to God (“light of your face”) and the joy of knowing we belong to God. It is not until we put our temporal needs in perspective with the glory given and guaranteed that we will be able to make petitions without just getting ourselves deeper into worry and self-pity.
In summary—if, as we lay our requests to God, we find ourselves sinking deeper into despondency, anger, or self-pity—it is because we have failed to really do this kind of heart work. We must be sure that the things we are asking for aren’t idols, or else our petition will make us only more discouraged; the things we are asking for are not enhancing our anger and sense of superiority over others, or else our petition will make us only more bitter; and when we ask for things, we also spend time rejoicing and thanking God for what we already have and cannot lose in the gospel.
CHANGE-THE-WORLD PRAYER
In the morning, David is getting himself ready for eager, aggressive activity:
Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell…. But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies—make straight your way before me….let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
—Psalm 5
First, we see a spontaneous and disciplined balance in method here. In verse 1, David calls attention to the sighing of the heart. They are the spontaneous cries of the heart. But in verse 3, he lays his requests before God in an orderly and systematic fashion. This is an important balance. On the one hand, it means we are to take a very careful inventory of everything weighing on our heart—making our hearts sigh. No sighing should we fail to make into a prayer. Otherwise we will go through the day sinking under self-absorption, anxiety, self-pity, or anger. But on the other hand, it is not enough to just know the heart's concerns. We have to distill them, and then deal with them in specific, orderly, regular (every morning!) petition. In summary, petition must be characterized by both order and ardor. We need to discover our heart’s deepest sighs, but then we take the time and trouble to pray them in a disciplined way.
Second, we see an active-passive balance in attitude. This comes out in the term “wait in expectation” (v.3), or as it is sometimes translated watch. To watch shows first an active, eager, hopeful attitude. We move out in confidence. We are not fearful, second guessing, looking over our shoulder. On the other hand, watch and wait means that we are restraining ourselves from trying to answer God's prayers for him. We relax and allow him to act. We do not take revenge, we do not overwork, we do not cut corners. We rest in the knowledge of his active care of us.
How does David, in this case, get his heart into eager expectation? He seems to have confidence that God will hear his petitions. David had his reasons—his experience with God, the revelations of the Spirit of God in his heart. But, believe it or not, we have even greater resources for assurance that God will hear our petitions. We know that God will answer us when we call (v.1) because one terrible day he did not answer Jesus when he called. Jesus also called out to “my God,” but he was forsaken (Matt 27:46). Jesus' suffering and rejection, however, was done as our substitute (2 Cor 5:21). We deserve to be forsaken and to have our prayers rejected. Why? Because he is a “righteous God” (v.1). Without Christ, verse 1 is rather unnerving. To call to a righteous God for an answer, when we ourselves are so flawed, is a mistake.
This is, perhaps, the ultimate way that petition unburdens the heart—when it is combined with the gospel. David knew intuitively that God would answer him, though in verse 5 he remembers that God will only answer him if he “offers right sacrifices.” The temple was a place to offer sacrifices to cover our sins. But we know that Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice. Therefore, it is in remembering that sacrifice and our acceptance in him that assures us our petitions will be heard—and that he will answer us in the wisest way. If we are turned down, it is not because we are unworthy; it is only because our request wasn’t the wisest.
Jesus told us to pray “our Father,” which is to remind us right up front that we go to God as his loved children, adopted into the family. Because we are his children, we know that he wants to answer us and is committed to us. But because we are his children, we know that we have little wisdom and may not always ask for the wisest thing. We have, though, the assurance that God will always give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows. This is all part of the assurance we have that goes deeper than David's. How much better should we sleep at night than he did!
2. Meditation Prayer
There is wide agreement that, while it is certainly possible for deep experiences of the presence and power of God to happen anywhere, the ordinary way for going deeper spiritually is meditation. To get into deeper self-surrender, then into clearer faith sights of his beauty, and finally into powerful and dynamic prayer for the world you need to start with meditation. It can be described as either pre-prayer or as a blend of Bible study and prayer. Now we are in a position to provide an overview of meditation and provide some practical ways to do it.
MEDITATION AS LECTIO DIVINA
“To [meditate] is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing, within you.”² Meditation is formative reading of the Bible rather than informative reading. In informative reading, you examine and ask questions of the text. In formative reading, the text examines and asks questions of you. Informative reading aims at taking in a lot of facts and data; it may move rapidly, picking up information. Formative reading, however, is slow reading. It aims at sensing rather than simply at informing (e.g. “That’s wonderful!”, “That is sweet to the taste!”). Thus formative reading is called lectio divina or “divine reading.” Formative reading, of course, is much more effective if it follows informative reading. It is hard to sense a truth if you find it confusing or opaque, or if you do not see the richness of meaning in it.
Meditation is to bring the truth of God into contact with the center of one’s being until the Triune God and all his Word become real to you so that you seek him. It is thinking a truth in and thinking a truth out until the ideas become big and sweet, moving and affecting, and until the reality of God is sensed upon the heart. Meditation is, strictly speaking, neither Bible study nor prayer but rather is Bible study turning into prayer.
I...found, from time to time, an inward sweetness, that used, as it were, to carry me away in my contemplations, in...a calm, sweet abstraction of soul from all the concerns of this world, and...fixed ideas and imaginations, of being alone...sweetly conversing with Christ, and wrapped and swallowed up in God. The sense I had of divine things, would often of a sudden as it were, kindle up a sweet burning in my heart; an ardor of my soul, that I know not how to express…³
A PROPOSED WAY TO DO MEDITATION
Start with the goal of attaining an inner collectedness. Pray an invocation verse that addresses God’s presence and God’s desire for fellowship with me (Examples: Psalm 16:8; 27:4, 9-10; 40:16; 43:4; 63:1-3; 67:1; 84:5-7; 103:1-2; 139: 7-10; Matthew 11:28-30; John 4:23). Meditate on each word and ask, “What is the teaching?” Pray it.
Become aware of God’s presence in the room. Remember his worth, that knowing him now is more important than anything else that might distract or concern me. Repent of coming to him for any reason except his own beauty. Give up your small ambitions, as well as your agenda, plans, worries, and cares. Ask to attend to him fully. Write distracting thoughts on a notepad; return to it after devotions.
Pray an illumination verse tells me about how God can enlighten, speak to me (Ps 43:3; Ps 119; Eph 1:17-19, 3:16-19; Rev 3:19-20). Proceed with lectio (spiritual reading) and meditatio (meditative prayer), as outlined above.
If the affecting experience (“sweetness”) and insight experience (“seeing”) proceeds, you are on the doorstep of contemplation. Simply sit quietly and enjoy God and what he has shown you. Don’t ask—just admire and adore. At least once a week, do this at length.
3. Repentance Prayer (Or Affective Prayer)
Affections are not simply emotions. In older literature (the pinnacle of which was Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards), “the affections” is an expression that denotes our root motivations. The affections are not emotional happiness and sadness so much as love and zeal and commitment. Whatever things your heart loves the most in life—whatever it finds the most beautiful—those are the things it has set its affections on and which therefore bind the heart into service. You are motivated or “affected” by those things on which your heart has set its affections.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to the earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
—Colossians 3:1-5
WHAT IS AFFECTIVE PRAYER?
“Affective prayer may be defined as a type of prayer in which the operations of the will predominate over discursus of the intellect...It is often simply meditation filled with love.”⁴ There is a more natural connection between meditation and affective prayer than meditation and contemplation. The transition into affective prayer is thus more gradual and natural. Nevertheless, since some of us are pretty intellectually oriented, we sometimes do need to move ourselves from the more cognitive “listening” to the more emotive “offering.”
Affective prayer has a negative and positive aspect. Negatively, I come to see what things my heart has sold itself to—what my heart is rejoicing in and serving. The Puritans called this mortification. We could just call this repentance, but that word today is rather anemic and means just being sorry for a particular wrongdoing. Mortification, however, means identifying and weakening sin at the motivational level by identifying the idols of the heart—the things that we love too much, the things that affect us the most. For example, if you are deeply rattled when you are criticized, it is because the affections of the heart are set on your reputation. If you are a workaholic, it is because your affections are set either on money or status. Mortification is identifying those things, and repenting of them for their inordinate importance.
Then positively, affective prayer is stirring up one’s affections toward Christ—toward what he has done and what he has given us—in such a way that he replaces the other objects in the heart. This usually means to use the fruits of our meditation to deepen our love for him and to deepen our surrender and service to him. Whenever meditation stirs up our love for God in such a way that we want to surrender our will and serve him in deeper ways, we have moved from meditation into affective prayer.
But note that there is a danger in using force upon your will. Edwards, in Freedom of the Will, shows that the will is really nothing but the exercise of the whole person to get what it most loves and wants. You cannot ultimately force yourself into being a more obedient person. It is as the Spirit works through meditation to arouse your love for Him that you can then take the service of the heart from false masters to the true one.
Sometimes affective prayer is visited and blessed by God so that you feel for the moment the end of the ambiguity of “flesh and spirit.” Instead of feeling yourself having to direct your affections away from their idols toward Christ, there is a simplicity, a oneness of what your mind tells you about Christ’s unique lordship and what your heart feels. You actually wonder, “Why have I ever wanted to sin? Why were these other things ever so important?” Jacques Bousset called this the “prayer of simplicity,” and Teresa of Avila called it the “prayer of acquired recollection.” We must not think for a moment that this means you have really destroyed all sinful opposition to Christ’s lordship in your heart. (John Wesley mistook this experience for that, and called it the experience of “Sinless Perfection.”) Actually, all that has happened is that your sin is finally quiet by the gracious work of the Spirit. It is not doing its normal chatter. But it is very much present. Yet we need such times of clarity. The prayer of simplicity has no method to it, because it is a simple gift. Sometimes, the prayer of simplicity means the Spirit is going to give you a time of real contemplative prayer. If you turn to pure adoration at such a time, usually you will find a remarkable experience of gazing on his beauty.
A PROPOSED WAY TO DO AFFECTIVE PRAYER
The goal of regular, daily repentance prayer is to take the affections of the heart off of false objects and offer up the heart to the Lord. How? Return to your Confession meditation results and ask, “How are these sins being caused by an inordinate hope for someone or something to give me the satisfaction that only Jesus can really give me?” Repent for grieving him and ignoring him. Return to your Thanksgiving meditation results and ask, “How does Christ give me so much more fully and graciously and suitably the very things I am looking for elsewhere?” Rejoice and think of what he has done and what he has given you. Offer up your heart and surrender your will.
The following are questions for transition from meditation into affective prayer:
What sins of omission or commission are revealed here? (Are there promises I am failing to claim? Are there examples I am failing to emulate? Are there commands here I am failing to obey?)
What false emotions or wrong behavior or bad attitudes result in me when I fail to remember this truth about who God or Christ really is?
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?
If you are angry, ask, “Is there something too important to me? Something I am telling myself I have to have? Is that why I am angry—because I am being blocked from having something I think is a necessity when it is not?” Write down what that might be.
If you are fearful or badly worried, ask, “Is there something too important to me? Something I am telling myself I have to have? Is that why I am so scared—because something is being threatened which I think is a necessity when it is not?” Write down what that might be.
If you are despondent or hating yourself, ask, “Is there something too important to me? Something I am telling myself I have to have? Is that why I am so down—because I have lost or failed at something which I think is a necessity when it is not?” Write down what that might be.
GUIDELINES FOR DEALING WITH IDOLS
Idols are dismantled through repenting and rejoicing.
Repent by seeing how weak and poor the idols are (in themselves). Idols create delusions. They appear more wonderful or all-powerful than they really are. Stand back and put them into perspective.
Repent by seeing how dangerous they are (to you). Idols enslave, and they will never be satisfied. Realize how they increasingly destroy you.
Repent by seeing how grievous they are (to Christ). Idols ultimately are cruel to the heart of the one who offers us so much and at such infinite cost. Rejoice by replacing idols so they cannot grow back. You must learn to rejoice in the particular thing that Jesus brings or his particular asset that replaces the particular idol of your heart.
4. Contemplative Prayer
“Contemplation is...the attention of the whole soul upon God...The whole inner self is quiet and still and looking only unto God in a state of utter reverence, total admiration, and wholehearted worship and adoration.”⁵ It may begin with words of praise and adoration, but moves beyond words and analysis to grasp the “big picture.” Contemplative prayer is to quietly gaze and admire, not to analyze.
EXPERIENCES IN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
Following are several accounts of experiences in contemplative prayer.
One Friday night last spring, when praying by my bedside before retiring, I was taken up to a great expanse—with out time and space. It was communion with God. Before this a far-off God I had...
After that experience I was awakened every night a little after one o'clock... I was taken up into the Divine Fellowship for about four hours. What it was I cannot tell you; except that it was Divine.⁶
June 18th, 1735, being in secret prayer, I felt suddenly my heart melting within me, like wax before the fire, with love to God my Savior. I felt not only love and peace, but also a longing to be dissolved and to be with Christ; and there was a cry in my inmost soul, with which I was totally unacquainted before, it was this—Abba, Father! Abba Father! I could not help calling God my Father; I knew now that I was his child, and that he loved me; my soul being filled and satiated, crying, “It is enough—it is enough—I am satisfied; give me strength and I will follow thee through fire and water.”...there was in me “the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost” (Rom 5:5).⁷
In the year of grace 1654 Monday 23 November, the day of St. Clement, Pope and Martyr...from about half-past ten in the evening till about half an hour after midnight.
FIRE
God of Abraham. God of Isaac. God of Jacob.
Not of the philosophers and the learned.
Certainty. Joy. Certainty. Emotion. Sight. Joy.
Forgetfulness of the world and of all outside of God.
The world has not known thee, but I have known thee.
Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of joy. My God, will you leave me?
Let me not ever be separated from you.⁸
Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly had been to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared was so calm and sweet—it appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception.... and I continued in this state near as I can judge an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated: to lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone, to love him with a holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly made pure with a divine and heavenly purity. I have, several other times, had views very much of the same nature, and which have had the same affects.⁹
A PROPOSED WAY TO DO CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER
The goal of contemplative prayer is to sense with the heart the absolute sufficiency and excellence of the Lord. Simply continue to rejoice in the aspect of Christ’s “suitability” and move to deep praise. Simply follow whatever line of thought the Spirit has made dear or pertinent to your heart. Take it back to his presence and admire him and wonder at him. Stop as much as possible the inner chatting and analysis. Don’t be legalistic about this. You may find yourself moved to inner song. If contemplation happens—it just will. You don’t “try” for it. Return to your Adoration results and ask, “What does this show me of his majesty and greatness?,” “What does this show me of his grace, loveliness, sweetness?,” “What does this show me of his wisdom, symmetry, depth?,” “Now how can I neglect or miss such wonder, love, grace and greatness?”
NOTES
Eugene H. Peterson, Answering God: The Psalms as Tools For Prayer (New York: HarperOne, 1991), 61.
Quote attributed to Theophan the Recluse, a Russian Orthodox saint.
Jonathan Edwards, “Personal Narrative” in A Jonathan Edwards Reader (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003).
Jordan Aumann, Spiritual Theology (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1980).
Peter Toon, Anglican author, in From Mind to Heart: Christian Meditation Today, Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1987.
Testimony by Evan Roberts (1904), recounted in S. B. Shaw and Darrel D. King, The Great Welsh Revival, Bridge Logos Foundation, 2014.
Howell Harris, recounted in A Brief Account of the Life of Howell Harris, Esq., Trevecka, 1791.
Blaise Pascal (1654), translated in Great Shorter Works of Pascal, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1948.
Jonathan Edwards, "Personal Narrative," in Representative selections, Eds. Clarence H. Faust and Thomas H. Johnson, New York: American Book Company, 1935.
Editor’s Note: This article and its second part have been excerpted from Keller’s lengthier article, “Gospel Spirituality.”
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.