by Tim Isbell I wrote this post to help readers apply Martin Luther's teaching on pondering (or meditative) prayer. It's found in Timothy Keller's book: Prayer - Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.1 This web page begins with a personal story and then provides a prayer framework for you to try. The storyI meet individually with a few men and we work our way through Timothy Keller's book. Recently, two of us met for morning coffee at Panera Bread and talked about pondering prayer. It was intriguing enough that we decided to give the method a try. Later that morning I was preparing for an upcoming meeting where I anticipated a "train wreck" - and saw no way to stop it. I expected more criticism than I thought I deserved and the perceived unfairness of that bothered me - too much. So I searched for an avoidance strategy but fell short. A little later in that morning, I read some scripture in preparation to pray. My usual practice is to select something from the Revised Common Lectionary, which was preparing readers for Palm Sunday. I wasn't thinking about the upcoming meeting; I just wanted to try Luther's teaching. The lectionary included Isaiah 50, and verse 10 caught my eye: But watch out, you who live in your own lightand warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment. (NLT) The lectionary readings also included the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, where he had to know he would experience the ultimate train wreck (Luke 18.28-40). And I read Paul's teaching in Philippians 2.5-11, telling readers to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus when he went to the cross. In just a few minutes, the Lord showed me that I was searching for a strategy for my difficult meeting while "living in my own light." In other words, I was looking for a smart, human strategy. After sharing this with my wife, we prayed for God's light, the meeting, my role in it, and the other participants. And the meeting went remarkably well. By now you're ready for Luther's framework for pondering prayer. Pondering Prayer framework
I continue to use Luther's framework, and find God remarkably present through it. I hope you will give Pondering Prayer a try, and let me know how it goes. Blessings, Tim Footnotes: 1The source document for this teaching is from Keller's book Prayer, chapter 6 (p 89-93). For my personal notes from Keller's entire book, click on Prayer by Keller. 2In talking about this addition with one of my other of my book-study partners, he remembered a C.S. Lewis quote along the same line. It's in The Weight of Glory: "It is written that we shall 'stand before' Him…The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God … to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness … to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son--it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But it is so.” To subscribe to RSS or email notifications of new content on this site, click on IsbellOnline News. |
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