2012-03-04: Spiritual Disciplines – Contemplative Prayer

Sermon: Spiritual Disciplines – Contemplative Prayer
Speaker: Pastor Val Watkins
Scripture Text: Psalm 27
Duration: 32:33
Size: 14.9 MB

Spiritual Disciplines
Contemplative Prayer

Psalm 27

Most of us realize that we cannot grow the fruit of the Spirit, or weed out the sins of our lives by sheer will power alone.

How do we develop a relationship with our maker?

PRAYER!

Often times our prayers are the same way, we are running around in our lives and we stop for a second and say, “Oh, God, I need you.”

We must pray not just to speak to God, but also, to hear from Him what we are to speak.

Real prayer is something we learn.

Begin With Scripture
Meditate on Scripture before you pray.

Listen Before You Speak
Spend time in silence before God, wait to see what he says.

As we learn to listen to each other, we can apply that skill to God in our prayers.

Imagination
God may not speak to you in words audible or inaudible. He may speak to you in pictures, images, feelings, sensations, dreams, and visions.

Speak
Prayer is about relationship, and although we should not make it one-sided by doing all the talking, we should also not make it one-sided by doing all the listening!

Having a spiritual friend or soul-friend is like having a training buddy.

Pray
We need to dig the well deeper, so that it won’t go dry during the hard times, and we need to develop our relationship with God so that we can enjoy the good times with Him.