Season 11 Ep.6 / Contemplative Prayer

Alex (00:03.989)

Well, Brenda, we're continuing our series on prayer. And today we're gonna talk about a form of prayer that makes us slow way down, even stop actually, and breathe and just be. And I think you said right before we started, this really is the hardest form of prayer to talk about because it's the hardest one to do. And it feels a little bit more intangible than the others.

Brenda (00:14.647)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (00:25.966)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Alex (00:31.777)

So not to tease it any longer, we're going to talk about contemplative prayer today. And it's probably the form of prayer that we're least familiar with in our traditions. And so we wanted to just start today by talking about this word picture of what we think about when we think about contemplative prayer that we're imagining ourselves as a child just curling up on our parents lap. We're not talking.

We're not asking for anything, we're not performing, we're just being held. And I think we've all seen children who just seek the presence of their parent. They just want to be in close contact. And that's really what contemplative prayer is. It's not about saying the right words, doing the right things, asking or praising or remembering. It's just about being.

Brenda (01:05.122)

Mm-mm.

Alex (01:24.437)

with the Lord and resting in his presence and recognizing that he loves us.

Brenda (01:29.646)

Mm.

And I just can't help but to think of my own grandchildren and how there's just nothing sweeter than the snuggles, right? To have them crawl up in your lap and just hold on to you, put their head on your shoulder. As much as I love playing with them and dancing with them and swimming with them and walking and doing all the things, there is just a sweetness in that just being together so close. You know, heartbeats literally together. And I think it's a beautiful picture for this because I do think that this is a heart

Alex (01:36.383)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (01:49.184)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (01:53.514)

Hmm.

Brenda (02:00.592)

prayer to your point, not maybe so much to communicate how to do, although there is some difficulty in that, but the actual doing. And if I'm being honest, I think one of the reasons it's so hard for me is because as I shared before about my life, my new life coach said that I'm a people, ideas, and words person. And when we start talking about contemplative prayer, we're talking about silence, stillness, and solitude, then that means no words,

Alex (02:09.973)

Hmm.

Alex (02:22.289)

Right.

Brenda (02:30.632)

ideas, no people, and raining all those things in that are very central to how I just operate in normal daily life. And I think also to your point, I wasn't raised in a tradition, in a Christian tradition, in a denomination that really talked about this at all. And so I think in that sense, it has been something for me to overcome and just not feeling weird.

Alex (02:32.352)

huh.

Alex (02:56.681)

Yes, it's so true. think that, yeah, we've almost been told that there's something wrong or new agey to woo-woo about this and so I think we approach it with a little bit of suspicion almost when I think that there's just such beauty in the quietness and the stillness with the Lord and it may take some practice before it begins to feel comfortable.

Brenda (03:12.62)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (03:23.906)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's gonna be...

really key. And I think the other thing I know for me just because I am so, you know, active and busy, my mind's going and I love to be with people, slowing down, being still, getting away and being silent, it exposes me. And it's kind of like the spotlight shines in on my inner restlessness. And I'm going to be honest with you. I mean, even this week as I was just kind of cramming a little bit for this podcast, like I really need to do this a little bit. I need to practice this more. So I have something to talk about.

Alex (03:55.946)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (03:58.464)

But it's good because I think even in my experience one of the things that was highlighting for me is I am much more dependent on my phone than I want to believe. I'm much more dependent on just a constant barrage of ideas and interaction even just through that device. And just to be able to pull away from that device and to be able to sit with the Lord with no distractions like that is I think, I don't know, it's just very challenging and I'm not sure we've been in an age where it's any more challenging than it is today.

Alex (04:06.18)

yes.

Alex (04:13.461)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (04:26.453)

Yeah, I think you're right. A friend just told me this week how even with AI, and I think we talked about this on our AI Facebook Live, like she can't sit down to do her quiet time without wanting to check AI and ask questions. And so yes, I think it's more tempting than it's ever been. And the other thing I find, Brenda, the thing that makes contemplative prayer hard for me aside, of course, my thoughts are racing and they are hard.

to slow down. But when I do begin to get some stillness in my body, I find the emotions that I'm able to ignore or push away from throughout the day, they come to the surface. And that can feel really scary. And it can make you feel like you're doing something wrong. Because this this sadness comes this anger comes this disappointment comes these feelings that I haven't welcomed in other parts of my day come when I get still.

Brenda (05:15.288)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (05:27.404)

Yeah, and I just think there's something in even our prayers and the way we're wired as humans to feel like we need to be doing something. There's something I need to be doing instead of just really just doing nothing and letting the work of the Lord and the love of the Lord and the Holy Spirit do the work in me and for me. So I just want to, you know, spotlight, I think maybe what I would say is a foundational verse or if you could pick one verse out of the Bible that really highlights that contemplative prayer is a good thing, it would be Psalm 4.

Alex (05:34.593)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (05:57.28)

4610 and on Monday I actually found like a guide online of somebody to lead me through a 10-minute contemplative prayer which is kind of interesting because he said a few things in the beginning and then he went silent for 10 minutes, right? So huh, but it's really interesting like I have to be led in silence.

Alex (06:17.629)

Yes.

Brenda (06:18.446)

It just really struck me. like, oh my goodness, like I don't even do silence well. Like I'm always thinking about, Lord, what do I say? How do I talk? Give me wisdom. Give me discernment. Give me understanding. It's like I have to be mentored and just have to be quiet. So the thing I love that this man did though is he started off our time and he quoted Psalm 46 10 like this. said, be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am.

Alex (06:29.493)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (06:48.876)

Be still and no. Be still. Be. And then it went quiet for 10 minutes.

Alex (06:57.312)

Mm-hmm.

Oh I love that, that's beautiful. Great way to enter into contemplative prayer and I do think it's helpful to have things that, you know, a verse or a word that helps us to enter into contemplative prayer because it is hard to get in touch with silence and stillness and to just be receptive. We want to have an agenda, we want to have an outcome or a checklist and this is really just being with God. And to your point, be

and not doing and so I've actually heard a contemplative prayer described as the Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 of prayer. You know, it's by grace we've been saved through faith. It's not of works and this is a form of prayer where we don't work, where we don't do. And that helped me to realize like there's something that spiritually that's being formed in me when like really an embracing of grace.

Brenda (07:37.966)

Hmm.

Alex (07:58.765)

even when I can view being with God as not something that I have to do for Him.

So that was really motivating to me to approach contemplative prayer that way. We touched on a type of contemplative prayer in the podcast that we did on the Lectio Divina and the last part of the Lectio Divina is contemplation. so this is just taking that and making it all we do in our prayer time. So this is where the word and silence come together.

Brenda (08:05.038)

Mm-hmm. That's a great point.

Alex (08:33.429)

You know, here's the distinction that we want to make that we are not trying to empty our minds or turn ourselves inward, that Christian contemplation is really about the outflow of the Spirit working in us and the Word working in us. And so we're reflecting on how God has revealed himself through those things. It's the recognition, I think, that the Word of Christ dwells in us richly and that we're able to sit in silence with the

and the Spirit before the Lord.

Brenda (09:06.094)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and I think the Lectio Divina is a great place to start. I mean, I think for me, it was kind of my first introduction to really starting with the contemplative of sitting in silence, listening for the Lord. But because I was afraid to go to woo woo or new age or something like that, it felt really safe to be in that space. And now as I'm maturing more, think being able to set aside 10 minutes and to really just sit with the Lord. And I am definitely, I have to say out of all the prayers we're teaching, this is the one that I'm the weakest at.

Alex (09:10.645)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (09:22.721)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (09:35.763)

It's hard.

Brenda (09:37.148)

Yeah, this is the one that I'm still growing so much. And this is actually what I think this next year the Lord is saying to me. I mean, I really feel like my 59th year, I wanted it to be all about doing God, what do you want me to do? Do, do, do so I can launch into my sixties, right? And the Lord is just saying, I just want you to be, I just want you to be, I want you to know, I want you to know what I think about you. I want you to know what my heart is for you. I want you to be able to be content, not having to do, do, but just to be, be. And I don't think there's a way we

Alex (09:44.597)

you

Alex (09:50.241)

Yes.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Alex (10:05.619)

Mm.

Brenda (10:06.992)

can do this really apart from learning to be contemplative. And you know, there's something about getting older. I don't know. There's maybe life slows down. Maybe you just begin to realize in all you're doing, it's all been about being anyways. There's just some things that come on the scene as you get older and certainly has been true for me, I think, to want to have more of this time with Jesus in this way. But I always like looking to see what words mean and I wanted to kind of get an idea of like, does it mean to be

Alex (10:20.284)

Right.

Alex (10:35.699)

Hmm.

Brenda (10:36.942)

contemplative. And I love that the Latin word means to observe or to gaze attentively. And there's really two root words. There's the con, meaning with or together, and then the templum, which means temple or sacred space. And so if we put these two together, we get this idea of the act of gazing upon God as we carve out space to be with him in the temple of his presence.

Alex (10:45.031)

Hmm

Alex (11:02.841)

It's beautiful.

Brenda (11:04.234)

I love that. And also because He makes His Spirit dwell within us, it's not only entering into a sacred space, it's also living as His sacred space and taking time to acknowledge that. So I just thought that whole definition gave so much richness for me. I think the word picture you gave in the beginning and this definition encouraged my heart so much more to be in this space.

Alex (11:13.887)

Hmm.

Alex (11:28.254)

Yeah.

Yeah, and I know one form of contemplative prayer that I've used is the centering prayer. And again, some people feel uncomfortable with this, but your definition is what reminded me of it. To gaze attentively, centering prayer is about coming back to a word or a phrase. And I like to come back to a word or a phrase about Jesus or God's character. And so when our mind does drift, we have something to pull our gaze back to.

this space of contemplative prayer because inevitably if I sit still my to-do list is going to start running through my head. Centering Prayer just recognizes that and says, have a word or have an idea or phrase that draws your mind back to that you're sitting in the presence of God. There are apps that help us with that too and we'll talk about those towards the end. But I think that we as Americans, we do have such a go-do culture.

Brenda (12:05.079)

Yes.

Alex (12:28.769)

that we need to remember that this type of prayer is like sitting by the fire on a cold day. It's not something we have to do. We don't do anything to feel the fire's warmth. We sit in the presence of the fire and the fire does its work. And it's such a beautiful reminder, I think, of us gazing on Jesus, but also remembering that his gaze is on us. And I think it can be hard for us to remember that. And that his gaze on us, when we're doing nothing

Brenda (12:29.165)

Hmm.

Brenda (12:51.086)

Mmm.

Alex (12:58.689)

for him is one of love.

Brenda (13:01.517)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and it really reminds me if you have children and you watch your children sleep or if you have nieces or nephews or if you have friends you're close to, a sleeping child is, I mean, when I would see my children sleep, my heart would just well up. Sometimes when they were awake, not so much. But always when they went to sleep, no matter how rough the day had been, but I think it's that same idea. It's like I don't go in and gaze at them at night and say, thank you in my heart, like for all the things you did for me today.

Alex (13:16.728)

yes.

Alex (13:32.254)

Right.

Brenda (13:33.216)

you know, basically they took from me all day, know, pretty much, particularly when they were younger. But it was just their being that I was just delighting over who they were, how God made them, and the fact that they were mine, you know. And so again, I don't know, the more we are talking about this, the more I'm thinking about this, the more I'm understanding the word pictures that can illustrate these earthly realities that speak to these spiritual principles. It's just really painting more and more of such a beautiful picture for me.

want to go there more. I'm like, okay, I want to have this experience with the Lord. I love what you said, Alex, is I'm very confused if I'm being honest, like centering, contemplative. In my contemplative prayer, I chose, you know, on the river yesterday to really focus on the word hope. That was the word the Holy Spirit brought to me. I kept coming back to that. I kept looking just for hope in creation, just asking, you know, just sitting there. Like every time I would kind of stray away and I had my palms open, kind of up in surrender, and I don't know who

Alex (14:04.656)

Right?

Brenda (14:33.07)

else was watching me that was around. I hope I wasn't looking anyhow. Doesn't matter how I was looking. The Lord knew my heart. But all that just to say that I think what we just want to really point out is the same thing that however you want to say this prayer, describe this prayer, use these kind of prayers, we're talking about a place of silence still in solitude where you are receiving from the Lord and it's not something that you're having to do. And I think we have some biblical examples of this.

Alex (14:37.661)

Ha ha!

Alex (15:02.066)

Uh-huh.

Brenda (15:02.96)

In 1 Samuel 3 10, have, you know, Samuel as a young boy saying, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening and he doesn't feel the silence. He sits to receive it. In 1 Kings 19, we have Elijah, who is looking for God and the wind and the fire and the earthquake. But God shows up in that still small voice, a gentle whisper like a wind brushing your face. Again, it reminds me being on the river yesterday where there was this cool breeze and it was coming by my face.

And it was just even in that I could just sense such hope I could sense the presence of the Holy Spirit and the love of the Father his gaze on me Really that this wind was on my face, right? And so that became very personal to me I know it was blowing everywhere, but it was blowing on my face and that became a very personal moment And then we see we just see the example of Jesus like he is often withdrawing to quiet places to pray he chooses solitude and you know, it's not because he lacked words or

Alex (15:37.897)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Alex (15:48.201)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Brenda (16:02.736)

But you know or he really just longed to be with the Father. I think that intimate knowing the Father, hearing from the Father. And I even think when it's interesting because when the disciples come to talk to him about prayer, they don't say teach us how to pray. They say teach us to pray. They obviously saw something very different about the way he would go away and be with the Father and then the resulting power and confidence and ministry that would flow from that.

Alex (16:20.254)

you

Brenda (16:32.655)

And so, just what a great model that Jesus could pull away in that solitude and go be with the Father. And that, think, was very intriguing and curious to his disciples.

Alex (16:33.182)

you

Alex (16:43.491)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I love that.

And so we keep coming back to this kind of core idea that contemplative prayer is reminding us that it's not what we do. It's who we are that God loves that this is a type of prayer that's rooted in our belovedness and not in our performance. And I think that it forces us into this position, this physical posture and position where we're doing nothing, we're being silent. And we recognize that we don't have to impress God anymore, that we're just

being honest before him and who we are in a different way than we talked about with process journaling, right? Where we're saying everything about what we feel to be before the Lord as who we are. And in this way, we're before the Lord and who we are not doing anything remembering that it is just who we are.

Brenda (17:26.19)

You

Brenda (17:37.454)

Mmm.

I think it's a great distinction. Last spring, Paul and I got to go to the Inn at Serenby. It's a resort place right outside of Atlanta, Georgia with our friend Marty Solomon from Baymah. And it was such a special time. And one of the things that he really encouraged us was to develop a ritual working up to 20 minutes a day of silent stillness. Yeah, of silent stillness and solitude with the Lord. I know we talked about, you know, writing your process journal for 15 or 20 minutes. I feel like that comes really easy to me. Like, right, right.

Alex (17:58.175)

20 minutes. That's a lot.

Alex (18:08.055)

yeah. Word, word, word, word, word.

Brenda (18:08.4)

Right, right, Right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right,

Alex (18:41.15)

Mm.

Brenda (18:54.34)

And then he encouraged us to breathe, to say it again, to breathe, to say it backwards, to breathe in between each phrase. Like, break it down and just let it sink in, this whole idea of being the beloved of God.

Alex (19:08.836)

Mm-hmm. I love that. And I like all these ways that we're talking about. Like there is a place to kind of enter into this type of prayer, to enter into silence and stillness. I think that different people who talk about this talk about us thresholds in the door, like how we cross into the doorway of silence and stillness. And I found in my own life, the doorway into silence and stillness was grief, that there were times

Brenda (19:26.541)

Yeah.

Brenda (19:35.864)

Mm.

Alex (19:38.286)

when

I couldn't lament and I couldn't process during those times when you say, I feel so sad or I feel overwhelmed with feelings that I don't have any words. And that's what put me in a position to be able to do silence and stillness before the Lord. I find it challenging to bring it into my everyday life when I'm not in seasons of intense grieving because I am more on the go. I am more focused on what I'm going to get done.

Brenda (20:09.102)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (20:09.371)

think the challenge is to bring that into daily life when daily life doesn't feel quite as overwhelming and heavy. But I'm appreciative that grief took me to a place where there wasn't any choice but to just sit before the Lord in silence because there really weren't any words. so yeah I feel real like affectionate towards contemplative prayer because I feel like I've seen the ways that

can do its work and it can feel in the beginning like it's doing nothing and then it's like slowly we begin to feel our hearts begin to change and to like you were focusing yesterday on truth or Marty is pointing us to focus on how we're loved like those truths begin to sink deeper in those places of stillness and silence.

Brenda (20:44.056)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (21:04.13)

Yeah.

And I guess I would just say that my affection is growing. And it really is. And I really am thankful that the Lord has brought me into this season this year where I feel very, very strongly. And to be honest with you, the kind of this idea of this is where God wants to bring growth has been a result of some contemplative time with him. Some stillness of getting away from people, of getting away from my own ideas, of getting away from all the words and just sitting with him. And I feel like this is what the Lord began to speak over me.

Alex (21:08.093)

Hmm.

Alex (21:24.657)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (21:35.008)

and then it was confirmed by other people that were coming around me, even some of the potential life next season that he's taking me into. it's really, I just think, so sweet of the Lord to encourage and affirm this kind of prayer in my own life to spur me on in it. And you know, at the end of the day, he wants to be with us. He wants to be with us. I don't know, I think even the way we can approach Bible study is

Alex (21:56.221)

Mm.

Brenda (22:04.772)

for the knowledge of it. And of course there is gain in the knowledge, but more so for the knowledge than even being with him, being in his word as opposed to being with him. So I think this kind of reorients us toward the fact that God wants us to be with him. And he wants to be with us. I mean, that's the amazing part is he wants to be with us. You know, it's just incredible. Well, let's just talk a little bit about how to begin this kind of prayer and maybe grow in it for maybe those who are not as familiar. But we would just say the first thing,

Alex (22:11.293)

you

Alex (22:19.259)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (22:23.549)

Yeah.

Brenda (22:34.732)

as in all things in life, start small. Don't jump to 15 or 20 minutes because that just may be way more than you can bite off. And two to five minutes of silence, getting away, getting still, getting to creating that sacred space and set a timer. Set a timer and try not to have your phone up where the numbers are going down in front of you. had that.

Alex (22:37.264)

Right?

Alex (22:54.607)

And you're watching it exactly. It makes it so much worse.

Brenda (22:57.262)

Set a timer, turn your phone over, don't look at the time go by and just ask the Lord to help you kind of just get lost in time with Him. I have to say as I've been doing this more regularly, 10 minutes is really going by a lot quicker. Like I am finding myself kind of getting lost in the time with the Lord, which is really cool.

Alex (23:16.541)

So set a timer, start deaf, please start small and breathe. think that breath becomes another threshold that calms our body, allows us to just...

breathe deeply, feel our muscles relax, bring stillness into our body. So breath is such a huge part of contemplative prayer. And some people like to pair their word or phrase with their breath so that on their exhale, on the inhale, they may be saying a word or phrase and on the exhale, they're saying word of word or phrase. It's another type of contemplative prayer people call, you may hear people talk about breath prayer. So you can pick your word or phrase.

and then pair that with your breath and that becomes a way to both calm your body and your mind.

Brenda (24:06.35)

Yeah.

All right, so he says, start small, breathe deeply, use a word or a phrase along the way to kind of bring you back to the Lord. And then another way is to do a prayer walk or walk a labyrinth. And I love walking. There is something about just the rhythm of walking. It's just, there's tons and tons of studies proven of just how good it is to be outside, how good it is to move your body. And then to couple that with sometimes when I'm walking, there's less distraction for me.

And a lot of times I put my headphones in so I can talk out loud if I need to talk out loud, like if I'm bringing myself back. So again, it doesn't just look like I'm talking to myself out in middle of downtown Chattanooga. But also, putting headphones in can be eliminating some of the distractions around me so that I can just focus on the Lord. But I did walk my first labyrinth. think I've walked labyrinths before, but I've never done it really with prayer.

Alex (24:41.329)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (25:06.063)

Is a prayer.

Brenda (25:08.058)

so I did that. There was a labyrinth at the end at Serenby and so I was able to do that. And I just love that. It was kind of a meandering but with a direction, which I felt, you know, it's like I'm meandering. don't really, like I'm just following this path. I don't know where I'm going, but it's headed somewhere. And it was just really a good reminder to trust the path that God has for me. And then surrendering those many turns that come, right? Because you're just walking back and forth. And I think also maybe because they're

Alex (25:29.661)

Hmm.

Brenda (25:38.04)

I didn't have to think about where I was going. The path was laid out.

but also that I did have to pay some attention. allowed, I don't know, it kind of made me feel more present and free of distractions. And so that was really nice too. And I think you'd be surprised, probably in most every town you could find a labyrinth. A lot of times they're at churches. I know that we've got a church here, one or two in Chattanooga. So, you know, check out if you don't have to go far off, you may have one right at your neighborhood church that they'll let you come and walk in and try it.

Alex (25:59.793)

Yes.

Alex (26:11.291)

Yeah.

The last thing is to be kind to the distractions that come because they will come. They're either going to come outside of you or from inside your own head. And so when you find your mind wandering to things, just return, return back to your breath, return back to your word or phrase. I like this metaphor that it's a lot like learning to float in the water. The more you struggle, the harder it's going to get. But if you can trust and just release it, let go, the water's going to hold

you and it's that same way like if we keep struggling against my mind's wondering again or I'm thinking about this like then we tend to find we have even more distractions and we get more off course but if we can just relax and we can trust we can let the water hold us then the the contemplative prayer gets easier.

Brenda (27:05.73)

Yeah.

I think that's a great illustration. Well, I know one of the kind of almost hang ups maybe for lack of better words for me as I begin to learn about contemplative prayer is this idea of hearing the voice of God outside of the black and white of the scriptures. You know, how do I know? Like I know when I read the scriptures, God is speaking to me, but how am I going to know that God is actually speaking to me when I'm in silence and I'm listening to him? And so let's talk a little bit about that. How can we put some

Alex (27:22.076)

Yeah.

Brenda (27:36.716)

safeguards up to make sure that you know we're not following some other spirit down a trail you know that we don't need to go or even our own own selves so what are some things that you would say are helpful in that regard

Alex (27:43.526)

Hmm? Hmm?

Alex (27:49.949)

Yeah, the first thing I would say just is what we're hearing, read it in scripture. Like God's voice is never going to contradict His word. And so if we're hearing things contradictory to God's word, then we, can reject that automatically. And also that it doesn't just reflect His word, but it reflects His character. So if His voice is condemning, um, instead of convicting, or if it's anxious and shaming instead of peaceful and loving, that that's not the voice of

that's probably our voice in our head that that we're hearing and that we're turning against ourselves. So if God's voice doesn't reflect his character then it's not him.

Brenda (28:30.358)

Yeah, well that kind of just leads us back to that.

prayer really needs to be coming out of our time with God in His Word and Scripture. We're not going to know it's rooted in Scripture if we're not in the Scriptures. We're not going to know the character of God if we're not in the Scriptures. So all of our reading the Word, our meditating on the Word, our devotional life, our Bible study is really equipping us and setting us up to be in a really, I think, a safe place to meet with God in this way and to hear from Him. Another thing we would just say is does it lead to spiritual fruit?

you're hearing is it leading to humility or obedience or freedom or love or is there fear pride and confusion because again it's not going to contradict the Spirit's work in our lives it should be reinforcing the spiritual spiritual fruit and we should be able to see that in what yeah what is what's happening

Alex (29:28.572)

And then the last question we have is, it confirmed by community and counsel? So can we use the community around us, the wise spiritual friend around us to help us test and confirm what we sense or what we hear? And I think that's always a good test in decision-making and in hearing the voice of God.

Brenda (29:48.942)

Yeah, and would just add one more thing and that is sometimes God just confirms it through his providence. And what I mean by that is just the way our life is going. And just like I said, when I began to really feel like the Lord was calling me to stillness, silence and solitude this year, when I wanted to ask the Lord, how do you want to prepare me? Like what steps do I need to take to be prepared for this next and launch into my 60s? Well, everything I was reading, you know, it's like all of a sudden everything I'm opening up, you go to your phone, you hear a message, you talk to a friend.

Alex (29:53.468)

Hmm.

Alex (30:14.148)

Yeah.

Brenda (30:18.976)

you know, all the Bible verses that are coming up in your quiet time have to do with this. And then your coach says, you know, do you know this about you? And I think you really should go this way. And then you talk to a few friends and they're like, yeah, sister, like that would be really good for you to spend some time there. And then even the direction of my current life, stepping away from my current job, those sorts of things are just creating space. Like God, I feel like God is really calling me to this. He is really confirming what he is telling

Alex (30:46.972)

Hmm.

Brenda (30:48.876)

me and so yeah there's going to be confirmation and it is it's in line with the scriptures and the character of God and there's fruit coming from it from the Spirit and confirmed by community and then confirmed by providence as well.

Well, let's talk about some voices we might confuse. We've touched a little bit on this, but what are some of the competing voices that we do need to be aware of as we step into this space?

Alex (31:15.098)

Yeah, I think the biggest one is going to be our own voice. I think we hear our own voice most often, most loudly. We believe it the most because it is what we hear the most. And that's often going to be driven by fear, ego, or desire for control. It's going to be oftentimes what I hear from people is filled with shame and self-contempt. So we hear our own voice the loudest and we can't confuse that with the voice of God.

Brenda (31:41.614)

you

Yeah, I think just also the enemy's voice. You know, we know that we have a real adversary and he comes to condemn us and accuse us and to push us and and also just, you know, the the enemy uses the voice of the world, right? To shape us to it wants to mold us into its image instead of the spirits work to mold us into the image of Christ. So and and you know, there is a point there is a place where spiritual warfare also plays into our time with the Lord.

that there might be seasons where it feels more intense that we're wrestling and it just seems like, wow, this seems even bigger than my own voice. And that might be somehow or another the enemy using other people, the enemies using the mantra of the world, know, the voices that are out there to say things to us that is just clearly not God's voice.

Alex (32:22.203)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (32:36.763)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so let's talk about what God's voice sounds like. Like we said earlier, it sounds like His character and it's gonna sound peaceful, convicting maybe, but not condemning, but rooted in grace and truth. So I think it's good for us. I think it's such a good practice for us to ask ourselves, what is the voice that we're hearing and what is the voice that we're listening to and to be able to, with the help of the Holy Spirit, be able to identify the voice of God.

Brenda (33:08.634)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I think just you know, maybe three questions I would say is am I Understanding God's love for me better. So in other words, does it produce a greater awareness of my belovedness? is it causing me to love God and trust him more and Does it also push me toward loving my neighbor more? So is it making me more like Jesus? I mean, that's kind of the the bottom line Am I walking away and I'm more Christ like as a result of this time?

Alex (33:30.223)

Mm-hmm.

Alex (33:35.514)

Yeah. So we said it would be hard to talk about contemplative prayer, but we found a way to do it. Our final encouragement is just do it, right? Just let go and try it.

Brenda (33:42.318)

Of course.

Alex (33:50.234)

Try it for just a short amount of time and realize that this is not something you are going to master. It's something that you're going to practice. It's like learning a language, deepening your friendship. It's gonna take time. And that what we're trying to do is get rid of the pressure of doing it right. That we're not trying to do something right, we're not trying to say something right, we're not trying to hear.

Brenda (34:08.824)

Yep.

Alex (34:13.383)

hear something right, but we're trying to let go of control and just receive from the Lord and recognize that our gaze is on Him and His gaze is on us.

Brenda (34:27.31)

Well this week, Alex, we don't have a reader for contemplative prayer because it would just be a whole bunch of silence. But we're really hoping that our listeners will try sitting still with God.

Alex (34:36.057)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (34:42.988)

remember that they can just be in this space. I just love starting that off with Psalm 46 10 and starting small, growing in the silence. And I love the idea of just letting the silence speak, right? There is a sense in which silence can speak different and better than sometimes words can, right? And so we just want to discover and we want to invite others to discover that maybe, maybe and probably so, being with God is just

Alex (34:55.482)

Mm-hmm.

Brenda (35:12.973)

enough.