Contemplative Prayer

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Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry, Mike Abendroth here.

Today, an interesting topic, a fascinating topic, biblical yet provocative, hopefully in that order.

Contemplative prayer, also known as centering prayer, or breathe prayer.

I would have called it breathing prayer, but it is called breathe prayer.

And this is a topic that, it's not necessarily old, but it still finds traction in our day because we are a mystical group of Christians.

Evangelicalism is, in general, mystical. So let's say you go to Germany.

Most Christians there that I know in Germany, they don't think alcohol's a problem, so there's alcohol on the table.

Go to India, most Christians in India would be teetotalers, and if you're an evangelical in India, you would not drink.

And so for the contemplative prayer people, if you would ask me, most evangelicals in America, they are mystical.

So they are more tempted to go into contemplative prayer, especially when some of the big shots in evangelicalism dabble with mysticism.

We're just a hop, a skip, and a jump away from getting involved with this. Do they have the triple jump anymore?

When I was a kid, we were always into the triple jump. I wasn't the best long jumper, but triple jump

I could kind of get because nobody else could really figure it out since my mom made me learn how to skip when

I was a kid. Remember how big that was, learning how to skip? But when you finally figured out how to skip,

I had a buddy named Skip, wonderful, he's still around. I don't know what it is, but when

I look at pictures of those who are in my class reunion, coming up on 40 years soon, but 35 for now,

I don't know, some of it's genetics, I'm sure. Some of it's a hard life. I've met people in my life.

Think of one person in particular that I met 16 years ago, and because of the ravages of sin and alcohol and just a bad lifestyle, this person looks, seriously, 20 years older than you would think they should be looking.

Anyway, back to the point, contemplative prayer. Now, when we think about prayer, what a privilege it is to pray, that we could ask

God things, that we have a mediator, Christ Jesus, and when we say things like, in Jesus' name, amen, because of Christ and what

He's done, we have access to the Father. And He wants us to pray to Him and to ask

Him for things. And I remember when I was in Poland and I'm thinking to myself, you know,

God, I need help. I'm having this anaphylactic reaction to hazelnuts that God would hear my prayer, and that God would answer prayer.

It's one thing to hear prayer. It's another thing to answer prayer and to think that effective prayers of a righteous person, a righteous man,

James 5, accomplishes much, that God, the sovereign God, ordains prayer.

And again, I don't think God has prayer change His mind because He's not a man that He would repent, but that God ordains prayer and works through the prayers of His people.

So I'm very happy for that. We use our mind. We are to be intellectual in our prayers, that is to say, intelligent.

We use our intellect. I don't mean intellectualism, just trying to be smart for no particular reason.

We are to be rational. We are to think. We are to, when you look at certain prayers in the

Bible, you will see grammar in these prayers. You will see prepositions and verbs, and is prayer more than that?

Of course, but prayer contains that. And we want to pray with our minds.

That's what we're after. We don't wanna turn off our minds. We want to use our minds, and prayer focuses on who

God is. And if you wanna focus on who God is, you're going to have to use your mind. Well, 1978, there was a

Quaker minister. Quakers are known for the inner light, for the light inside of people.

And of course, they would not be Calvinistic because they deny the radical effects of spiritual corruption because of Adam's sin imputed to our account, his first sin.

Not all of his sins, but just his first one. Not Eve's sin, but just Adam's first one as a federal head. And as a consequence, we are born with a sinful nature.

And Quaker minister Richard Foster wrote a book called Celebration of Discipline, The Path to Spiritual Growth.

And we have this mysticism that always has been around, but it really injected itself into evangelicalism in 1978 through this book.

Christianity Today said it was one of the 10 best books of the 20th century, and voted by the readers of Christianity Today as the third most influential book after the

Bible. And so Foster is going to introduce the church. He'd say reintroduce the church, but introduce the church to medieval mysticism.

And so we've got something now called contemplative prayer. He said in his original edition, 1978,

Celebration of Discipline, page 15, Christian mediation, I can't talk,

Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it.

Now, what do you think about that on No Compromise Radio? Let's empty our minds. Now, seriously, who talks like that?

Let's empty our minds. Let's just, what does he mean by that? Let's empty our minds of what we think about God, revelation, sin, self,

Jesus, Bible. Let's just get all those concepts out of our mind. After all, they kind of just clutter up the mind, don't they?

By the way, I'm still on Poland time. It's hard to kind of crack that. Gary Thomas is going to give us an illustration of contemplative prayer.

I'm gonna give you a few and you're gonna see that this is something you need to run from. This is not something good.

And when people talk this way, this is not going to help you. No one I respect in all of church history, in all of Bible history, including

Moses through John, the apostle. No one talks like this.

No one teaches things like this. No one promotes things like this.

Those who dabble with mystical Roman Catholic medieval people and Quakers talk like this.

And I don't respect any of them. Now, I might respect them if they were my grandfather because they were honest and they paid the bills and they, like one time my grandfather took us out to eat at some kind of buffet place and he forgot to pay.

And so he went back in to pay. And of course the common grace of God influencing man.

I mean, theologically respect, okay? I mean, a theological respect.

I do respect people who are less than perfect certainly. And here in my study, there's a picture of Luther.

There's some pictures of my family too, of course. There's pictures of Luther here. I see a picture of Edwards over there.

I see, I don't know, a picture of Machen probably somewhere around here on my computer.

Might take down Edwards. Just might take that guy down. That's for another show.

But these people, you know, they're not perfect but I have a lot of respect for them. Gary Thomas.

Was he a Ronan Martin's laugh fan? Steve would know. Choose a word, Jesus our father for example, as a focus for contemplative prayer.

Repeat the words silently in your mind. And now wait a second, I thought we've got to empty our minds and all that.

For a set amount of time, say 20 minutes. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

That was a fast 20 minutes. Until your heart seems to be repeating the word by itself. So you just kickstart it and then it just starts going on its own.

Just as naturally and involuntarily as you're breathing. But centering prayer is a contemplative act in which you don't do anything.

You're simply resting in the presence of God. And what does that mean? You don't do this.

This isn't good for you. This isn't going to help you. You need to run from this. You need to sprint. You need to dash.

Palmel, hither, thither. King said, this is a respiratory prayer.

I needed a respiratory prayer when I was in the Czech Republic having a seizure with hazelnuts, hazelnuts.

Since I don't like hazelnut coffee, I'm okay. He said that these are prayers which are usually said in association with the breathing rhythm.

With the inhale, pray the first part, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. That's kind of hard to pray in the inhale.

I just should say, if I inhaled and said, Jesus, he calls us the Jesus prayer, by the way. Maybe you should inhale,

Jesus, Jesus. But you don't really say it, but it's hard to do that on the radio.

So I have to say, Jesus. And then the exhale is prayer.

But here, his exhale is, have mercy on me, a sinner. You know, like a good little Catholic deal. Lord Jesus, Son of the

Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. That's gonna make me pass out.

That's what that's gonna do. Brennan Manning, in the signature of Jesus, said the first step in faith is to stop thinking about God in prayer.

I think this should be called a contemplative prayer, uncontemplative prayer, non -contemplative prayer.

Manning says, contemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness. We must come to see reality differently.

Choose a single sacred word. Repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly and often.

Enter into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise will subside and the voice of love will be heard.

Now, looking over here at my biographies, once again, I'll say, nobody that I respect talks this way. George Whitefield, didn't talk this way, didn't.

John Payton, or Payton, didn't talk that way. Edwards, didn't talk that way.

Cramner, didn't talk that way. Hudson Taylor, didn't talk that way. Adoniram Judson, didn't talk that way.

William Carey, didn't talk that way. J .C. Ryle, didn't talk that way. Charles Hodge, didn't talk that way.

And the list goes on. Mark Iaconelli, this is No Compromise Radio.

We're talking about contemplative prayer. Take a moment to sit down this book and simply become aware of your surroundings.

Okay, looking around. It's raining outside in New England. Oh, there's a picture of Spurge in my office.

Spurge, didn't talk that way. Allow your eyes to receive the light, colors, and shapes around you without seeking to do anything that you see.

Then gently close your eyes and turn your awareness to your ears. Allow yourself to receive the sounds and noises around you without judgment.

You know, I have bad news for you. When you empty your mind, you begin to hear things.

Prayer is not listening to God. Does the

Bible say listen to God in prayer? No, when we pray, we're talking to God.

Mark and Patti Verkler want to encourage two -way communication between the

Christian and God. And I don't mean God talks to us through scripture. We talk to God through prayer.

This is what they say. How then are we supposed to hear the voice of God? Blackaby tells us to pray the following prayer.

Guess they're quoting Blackaby here. God, I pray that I will come to such a relationship with you that when you speak,

I will hear and respond. Oh, don't let anyone intimidate you about hearing from God.

One critical point to understanding and experiencing God is knowing clearly when God is speaking. If the

Christian does not know when God is speaking, he is in trouble at the heart of his Christian life. Experiencing God, page 83, 94 as well.

So all the people that they don't do this, they've had trouble. They've had trouble at the heart of their

Christian life. Prayer is two -way fellowship and communication with God.

You speak to God and he speaks to you, Blackaby. Is prayer listening to God?

At the very heart of your Christian experience, you have trouble if you can't hear God speak outside of his word?

I love what Lily Tomlin says. When we talk to God, we're praying. When God talks to us, we're schizophrenic.

See, she gets it. She gets it. You mean to me, you mean to tell me that God commands us to tune into our inner voice?

It's really, we're the ones who are talking. I have a further question about contemplative prayer and this whole thing.

And going inside, saying things about the Bible, about prayer this way, seeking private messages outside the word of God.

Pastoral epistles. If this contemplative prayer and mysticism were true, don't you think the pastoral epistles would have told us as pastors, as elders, as leaders in the church, how to discern what was right and what was wrong, what was hokey and what was not very appropriate?

Jack Hayford, while alone and quiet, listen with your heart. Don't strain your ears for an audible sound.

The Bible describes this order of the Lord's communication with us as a still, small voice.

Further expect his voice to come more by impressions, that is by thoughts or ideas, which begin to form as you are quiet and worshipful in his presence.

Hmm. Beth Moore, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friends.

This is part of contemplative prayer. When we sit back and realize that it is not just that we have something to say to God, it's that God has something to say to us.

I want to be in that tent of meeting. Yikes.

This is nothing but Quakerism. This is nothing more than medieval madness, and I don't mean the ice cream.

This is inner light stuff. And that is at the heart of Quaker, not oats, but faith, that inside the human soul, there's implanted

God's own light, God's own divine energy, God's own spirit.

Of course we have the Holy Spirit in us. That's not my point. You can know

God by what is experienced. What's individually revealed through this inner light.

George Fox, famous Quaker, called this the teacher within.

But see, here's the thing. Man is depraved. Man is dead in trespasses and sins. And then

God, of course, makes him alive, yet there's still a residual sin.

Call it the flesh. Some call it the sin nature. Call it the old man. You've got to be very, very careful not to seek to go inward.

Gregory Boyd wrote a book called Seeing is Believing. Seeing is believing.

Is this kind of just visualization? Just occult visualization? He says, it's not what we believe intellectually that impacts us, it's what we experience as real.

Sometimes, he says in his Baker book, sometimes as I rest with the

Lord, he will say something unexpected like, are you ready for more of my freedom? No, I'm not.

Greg Boyd writes cataphatic prayer in this

Seeing is Believing book, where you have, it's basically mysticism, where you use mental images to help experience

God. Now, I went to, I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. We have a

Catholic school there called Creighton University, and there's a definition of cataphatic prayer. You know,

I went to law school, I went to seminary for six, 10 years. Been teaching at seminary,

Southern Seminary as an adjunct faculty member. I'm on the adjunct faculty of European Biblical Training Center out of Germany, and out of all these years,

I've never known what cataphatic was. Catastrophic, yes, cataphatic, no.

Creighton University says another form of prayer called cataphatic honors and reverences, image and feelings that goes through them to God.

This form of prayer also has an ancient and well -attested history in the world of religions. I shouldn't tell you right away.

Warning, warning. Any sort of prayer that highlights the mediation of creation can be called cataphatic.

So praying before icons or images of saints, the mediation of sacraments and sacramentals, prayer out in creation, all of these are cataphatic forms of prayer.

So see, hey, with Boyd, then you can just go to 2 Corinthians 3, and you can see an image of Jesus in your mind.

I guess that's what that means. Seeing is believing?

I don't think so. Is there a discipline in the Christian faith where we shut down our minds to make contact with God?

Stapleton said, Ruth Carter Stapleton. Ruth Carter, let's see.

Didn't she have a brother, Billy? Didn't he make some beer,

Billy Beer? Didn't they have another brother named Jimmy? Wasn't he the president? You're exactly right.

Ruth Carter, Stapleton said, silence intimidates when it should bless.

It is looked upon as a void when it could and should be considered a profound opportunity for communication with God.

I don't know when my wife wants to communicate with me. Silence is not a good thing.

Silence is not golden. Silence is not the next step,

Stapleton says. To achieve this concentration, select a single meaningful phrase as I'm one with God, God is love, or just the word

Jesus or God. With your eyes closed, quietly and slowly begin to repeat this phrase over and over and over in your mind, not audibly, of course.

Make no effort to move beyond this repetition because when you are ready, you will automatically flow into the indescribable, indefinable,

I'm gonna throw my own word, ineffable state of the mind we call meditation.

Dr. Herbert Benson says these include repetitive prayers such as the rosary, as in the

Catholic tradition, centering prayers in Protestant religions and pre -davening prayers,

I don't know what that means, but that's what it says, in Judaism. The specific method usually reflects the beliefs of the person, eliciting the relaxation response.

Okay, I have a question for you. Here's the summary. Are any of these taught in the Bible? Then what are you doing?

Are any of these taught in the Bible? Where are they from? They're from the East, that's where they're from.

They're from Satan, is where they're from. They're injected into Christianity by people who are not satisfied with what the

Bible teaches because it's too dry, it's too boring, and they want more mysticism.

The West is rational, the West is intellectual. We need Eastern mystical things.

And this is divination is what it is. Why don't you just go get a stick, go outside and try to find some water after you've looked in the

Ouija board for answers to your questions, will you win the swim meet or not? Oh, I did that once when

I was a kid. We had a Ouija board. Will I win the swim meet at Monroe Junior High?

The pool was hot there. It's in a bad part of town and I just wanted to know. Morton versus Monroe, who would win?

Well, some team that starts with an M -O. So Ouija board moved over to M, then

O. I thought it was a modus operandi. See how I can reveal these signs and imagine them. So contemplative prayer.

I think we need to stay away from Ruth Carter Stapleton and everything else. We don't need to inhale deeply, slowly tilting your head back as far as we go.

As far as it'll go. You're gonna watch out for these things.

So my name is Mike Abenroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Let's read the word.

Let's study the word. And we are going to have to use our minds. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, what?

Mind and strength. You're gonna have to use your mind when you pray. And it's hard.

That's why lots of times I walk and pray because then I can think. Because if I get down on my knees and pray, I sleep. I get down on my knees and pray and think about my to -do lists.

We don't need any Eastern contemplative prayer stuff jammed into our evangelical circles.

We are not mystics. We believe in sola scriptura. And we want to do what the Bible says unabashedly.

And so if you want to rest in Christ by putting your alpha brain waves into a hypnosis,

I wanna say that's not gonna be good for you. Well, you can write me at info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can watch us at noco90 .com

on the YouTube station. You can also write Pastor Steve at Pastor Tuesdayguy at nocompromiseradio .com.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abenroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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