Prayer Posture - listening to God
Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 45:18
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· 18 viewsLearning to sift through all the “voices” in our world and to discern how God is speaking to us is a key task of discipleship. Prayer teaches us how to silence all the other noise in our world so that we can listen to God.
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what do I need to believe in order to be a Christian?
what do I need to do in order to be a Christian?
If we were to make a list of everything that you might identify as absolutely necessary in order to be a Christian, what might we put on that list? Hopefully we immediately jump to essentials such as faith in Jesus. I would also pretty quickly steer towards the statements of the Apostle’s Creed as essential beliefs for the Christian faith. There is also a scene in the gospels in which a devout Jewish person asks Jesus what must be done in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus affirms the answer that the man gives: to love the LORD with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. It’s one thing to ask, what do I need to BELIEVE in order to be a Christian? But we tend to get a little uncomfortable if we phrase the question differently: what do I need to DO in order to be a Christian? After all, we talk all the time in our doctrines about the grace of God as the one and only basis for our salvation. We don’t do anything; Christ has done it all. This is absolutely true. We are justified before God only on the basis of Christ taking our sins to the cross and giving to us his righteousness.
what do I need to do in order to be a Christian?
what do I need to do because I am a Christian?
Justification, however, has an essential result. Because we have been justified in Christ alone by grace through faith, we are now set on a path of sanctification by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Here is where I think it is fair to ask a question about doing. But the question is significantly changed. We should not ask, what do I need to do IN ORDER TO BE a Christian? We should ask, what do I need to do BECAUSE I AM a Christian? What do people who are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit do? There are some common patterns and activities shared by all people of faith who are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit as a result of being justified by Christ. What among these patterns and activities are essential for sanctification to happen? One of those essential activities would be reading scripture. How else can we even know the gospel message without scripture? It is essential for people of faith to be in the Word of God as a necessary pattern and activity of sanctification.
What else? Are there any other patterns and activities that we might consider essential and absolutely necessary in order for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit to take effect in our lives? We are working for several weeks this summer through the faith practice of prayer. Our Reformed Confessions do not talk about prayer as though it is an optional suggestion for a Christian life. Rather, the Heidelberg Catechism talks about prayer as a necessary activity for sanctification. Here is how that is stated in Catechism Q&A 116
116 Q. Why do Christians need to pray?
A. Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us. And also because God gives his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and groan inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thanking God for them.
“The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” —Julian of Norwich
Practice — talking to God
Pattern — talking with God
posture — listening to God
presence — being with God
I have been pointing us every week in this series towards the words of Julian of Norwich which were written in the 14th century. “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” Prayer is communion with God. The piece I am pressing us towards today is to consider the ways in which this communion with God which we enter into through prayer results in our sanctification—prayer that nurtures and grows our own faith. The quick recap of this series brings us through four movements of prayer. Practice, pattern, posture, and presence. Prayer practice is about talking to God. We already went over this one. It is utilizing scripted form prayers that are already written. Prayer pattern is about talking with God. We already went over this one as well. Here, we reviewed the framework of how it is we bring ourselves conversationally towards God by expressing the needs and desires of our hearts in prayer. Prayer posture is about listening to God. This is prayer in which God is the one speaking and we are the ones receiving. And finally there is prayer presence. This is prayer that centers and focuses on simply entering into and being in the presence of God.
Psalm 46 is a prayer of listening for God’s response to the previous four Psalms
Today we talk about prayer that is listening to God. Maybe this now begins to push us into some new or unfamiliar territories of prayer. We may all be familiar enough with the kind of prayer that involves us speaking to God. But what does listening prayer even look like? This is an entirely different way of praying altogether. Once again this week I would like to take us into the Psalms as a basis for studying and understanding prayer. Our last message on prayer come from Psalms 42-43. These are Psalms that show us an expression of the Psalmist’s heart towards God in prayer. It is a series of prayers in the book of Psalms that begins at Psalm 42 and carries all the way through Psalm 45. All four of those Psalms are prayers written as direct addresses to God himself. Psalm 46 is different. It is a response to the previous four Psalms that have all been prayers directly addressing God. Psalm 46 comes, instead, as a prayer of presence. This Psalm gives an example of prayer in which God is speaking and the psalmist is listening.
Psalm 46 (NIV)
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Compared to the four previous Psalms in this section of scripture, Psalm 46 is remarkably different. It is still a prayer, but it is a prayer that is neither talking to God nor with God. It is a prayer that is listening to God. Let’s spend a little time today considering east that means and what that kind of prayer looks like. As it is suggested in the title for this message, listening to God is all about posture. Sometimes we use the term posture in reference to physical position. Some people may consider things like folding your hands and closing your eyes as physical postures of prayer. Kneeling is also considered a physical posture of prayer. There are examples in scripture of being prostrate in prayer—lying facedown as a posture of prayer.
posture = physical positioning of our bodies — also mental, emotional, spiritual positioning of our attitudes
Posture has a more broad meaning than just the physical positioning of our bodies. It also refers to the mental and emotional positioning of our attitudes. For example, if you were trying to speak with me and the whole time you are talking I sit there scrolling on my phone and never once making eye contact or giving a response of any kind, that posture tells you something. It tells you I am not really paying attention or listening to you at all. I may be able to hear your voice; but I am not really listening. However, if I adjusted my posture such that I put down the phone, sit directly in front of you, make eye contact, respond with questions or inquiries to further understand; now it feels completely different. I am no longer just hearing the words you speak; I am listening to what it is you are communicating. Posture makes a difference. In fact, posture makes all the difference.
prayer that listens to God = posture that mentally, emotionally, spiritually, (and even physically) is alert, attentive, and focused on God
Prayer that listens to God, then, is all about posture. It is about framing our attitudes and focus in such a way that we are giving full and complete attention to God. And, yes, sometimes this should also include our physical posture—folding hands so that we are not busy doing other things; closing eyes so that we are not distracted by other things. Prayer that listens to God is about a posture that mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically is alert, attentive, and focused on God.
three stanzas (each three verses) + repeated refrain (vs 7 & 11)
Turn to the passage and look at the way this prayer in Psalm 46 does exactly this. Let me help you recognize some structure with this Psalm. By now you know that the first thing I always look for in a passage of scripture is the center point. Often I draw attention to that in a sermon. Psalm 46 is an example in which there is no clear center point. Instead the prayer has another kind of clear poetic division. There are three stanzas each made up of three verses, and a refrain that is repeated after stanzas two and three. This means verses 1-3 are stanza one, verses 4-6 are stanza two, verse 7 is a refrain, verses 8-10 are stanza three, and verse 11 is a repeat of the refrain.
stanzas all point towards a focus upon God according to his attributes — psalmist is positioning himself to be an attentive observer of God
These three stanzas all point towards a focus upon God according to his attributes. They are descriptions of God provided by an observation of what God either has done or will do do or is capable of doing. It is a prayer in which the psalmist praying this prayer is to the very best of his ability positioning himself to be an attentive observer of God, listening to God by paying close attention to all that he can possibly see within God’s activity revealed about him.
This posture of listening to God in this way allows the psalmist to arrive at a conclusion. We see it in the repeated refrain.
Psalm 46:7 (NIV)
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
it is because the psalmist listens to God that the psalmist can declare the refrain
It is more than simply the psalmist’s declaration about God. It is a statement that shows the psalmist is listening. It is as though the psalmist has been reminded by listening to God that God Almighty is with him; that God is his fortress. The attentive awareness of the psalmist listening to God has led him to “hear” this message from God given to him. This is what God “spoke” to him through this prayer exercise of listening. God says, “I am with you; I am your fortress.” Nowhere in this Psalm do we get the sense that God audibly spoke these words out loud to him, that his physical ears picked up actual sound waves converted by his brain into an actual out-loud voice that was spoken. Rather, in this sense we see that listening to God comes in the form of dedicated focus and attention upon noticing and recognizing God at work within and among his people, within and among his world, within and among his revealed word in scripture. God “speaks” through these things. It is an act of prayer to be listening for this “voice” of God.
Verse 10 summarizes all the the psalmist is hearing from God as placed into actual words from God.
Psalm 46:10 (NIV)
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
Hebrew raphah “be still” = let go, stop, cease — also be alert, pay attention
The Hebrew word raphah which is translated into English as “be still” in this verse is an interesting Hebrew word which carries several meaning based on context. Its base meaning is to let go, stop, or cease. This same word is also used in a military context as a call to attention. Given the other military references in this Psalm (he makes wars cease, he is a fortress, he breaks the bow, he shatters the spears, he burns the shields) I tend to favor this understanding of raphah in verse 10. Imagine it like a referee’s whistle in a football or basketball game. Whatever else is going on in the game, when the ref blows a whistle, all action stops and all attention turns towards the ref who blew the whistle to receive the message or instruction of what happened or what comes next. This is what the psalmist is saying in verse 10. There needs to be moments in which all play is stopped in our lives so that we can focus our attention only upon God.
Lectio Divina — slowly read & re-read scripture with intent to listen to God
What does this look like? Let me wrap up with just a few suggestions for where you could begin with prayer that listens to God. One is a pattern we encountered when looking at the faith practice of scripture. It is a way of reading scripture known as lectio divina. This form of scripture reading takes a passage of scripture and repeatedly reads through it slowly with an intent focus on hearing God in those words of scripture. It is not a Bible study method because it is not a reading of scripture for the sake of knowledge and understanding. Rather, it is a reading of scripture for the sake of awareness and focus.
Ignation Examen — reflection upon the day with intent to listen to God
The second resource I invite you to investigate is something called the daily Ignation Examen. It is a reflective prayer which comes from St Ignatius of Loyola and is still practiced in the Jesuit tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. This is a prayer which comes towards the end of the day and looks back over all the activities of the day by seeking God’s response. Traditionally, the Examen has five parts. 1. Place yourself in God’s presence. Give thanks for God’s great love for you. 2. Pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in your life. 3. Review your day — recall specific moments and your feelings at the time. 4. Reflect on what you did, said, or thought in those instances. Were you drawing closer to God, or further away? 5. Look toward tomorrow — think of how you might collaborate more effectively with God’s plan. Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer.
These prayer forms of lectio divina and the Igantian Examen press our prayers towards moments of attentive focus. They are practices that teach us how to quiet and still our souls long enough to hear and understand how God responds to his people. It is prayer which helps us listen to God.