Archive | April, 2015

Strong Feelings on Lectio Divina

As a blog author, I am intrigued by what posts strike a nerve and what posts do not. Apparently, (some) people have strong feelings (to use a phrase from my children’s preschool) about Lectio Divina. The concerns I’ve heard are that it opens the door to Satan, it results in a subjective understanding of the Word, it leads to New Age spirituality, and so forth.

Some people are very concerned about Bible reading and prayer that involves a time of quiet meditation. As I read their concerns, my perception is that when reading the Bible, in their opinion you should only be reading or speaking prayer, but not sitting or waiting in Scripture quietly. Stopping to sit in Scripture and pausing in prayer to hear from God through the Word are viewed with great suspicion as a time that opens us to deception by Satan. I find that entire concept foreign, and I think it is because of my own theological convictions that I do so.

I’ve been thinking today through doctrines from the Word that give me a framework for sitting with God in prayer and Bible reading with a desire to hear from Him. Here are some theological points to consider:

1. Perseverance of the saints. I believe with the Apostle Paul that He who began the good work in me will continue it (Phil. 1:6). My conviction is that God keeps me, and I am not afraid that Satan will pluck me out of God’s hand (John 10:28). I am definitely not afraid that Satan will pluck me away from God through my own personal Bible reading.  God says He’s not going to lose me, and He’s left the Holy Spirit within me as the deposit to ensure that outcome (Eph. 1:14).

2. The value of memorization and meditation on the Word. God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, the psalmist says. The psalmist then commits to hide God’s Word in his heart (Psalm 119:105). How do we hide God’s Word in our hearts? We memorize it by repeating it to ourselves. Repetition of God’s Word is a normative, healthy Christian practice! Now some are concerned with repetition of small portions, like a word or phrase, of Scripture. I don’t see that as the thrust of listening prayer and Bible reading. The particular instructions I suggested and have used for myself focus on a passage around 12 verses, reading through the entire passage repeatedly. While one may zoom in on a particular word or phrase, it is in the context of its place in a larger reading of Scripture.

In short, if you are concerned with someone repeating a single word from Scripture in an eastern type trance, fine. But don’t project that onto my post in particular. And in general, I don’t think that’s a fair concern for most modern evangelical discussion around listening Bible reading and prayer. That seems a straw man that is irrelevant to what is actually being discussed — slowing down in Scripture reading to let God speak to us through His Word.

3. An inflated understanding of Satan. Critics seem more worried about Satan than they are confident in the Holy Spirit. I keep thinking of I John 4:4, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” We are certainly instructed to be cautious of Satan (for instance Paul’s instructions in Ephesians and Peter’s of Satan walking about as a lion seeking to devour). But those warnings have Satan on the outside, not talking to us from the inside. That’s pretty important!  If you are in Christ, you have been SEALED by the Spirit (Eph. 1:13 and 2 Cor. 1:22).  Now people debate what exactly it means to be sealed by the Spirit, but it means something. My conviction is that it means that we are safe in the Spirit — He is the guarantee of Phil. 1:6, that God will not default on His promises to us, and Jesus loses none of those God gives Him. God took both sides of the covenant with Abraham, and He has taken both sides with us. We are safe in Him because HE will not default on His promises to us.

Furthermore, it is the SPIRIT not Satan that lives within me. While Satan can and does taunt me from the outside, the Bible never talks of him as indwelling us or speaking to us from the inside.  Again, the phrasing of being sealed by the Spirit is helpful.  A seal locks the letter with the stamp of the king.  Seals remove openings that allow contaminants to flow into an object or that allow seepage out of the object.  We are sealed in the Spirit.  Exposit that and then think of the implications!

Consider also that when Satan approached Eve and later when he approached Jesus, while he did use God’s Words against them, he did it externally. He did not come internally into their psyche, and I would argue strongly that he is unable to do that to any who are in Christ Jesus, sealed by the Spirit. Satan can possess unbelievers from the inside. And he can oppress believers from the outside. But I see no Scripture that warns of a Satan that can speak inside of us once we are in Christ and sealed by the Spirit.  The Bible presents a dangerous Satan, but not an omnipresent and omniscient one. That’s God, not Satan.

If you are in Christ, you do not have Satan and the Spirit inside of you dueling it out. THAT is a bad teaching, and those knowledgeable in theology should know better than to entertain that idea.

I am a big proponent of expositional Bible preaching and teaching.  I employ it even right now as I think about why an expositional understanding of Scripture protects us from fear of a Satanic voice that can lead us astray from Scripture from the inside.  Satan may attempt to use someone outside of me misusing Scripture to deceive me, and in that event it is important to understand Scripture objectively to ward off such bad teaching.   But if we are in Christ and sealed by the Spirit, the Spirit within us is greater than our opponent outside of us.  It is in that framework that I can come to God in my Bible reading and confidently listen for Him to speak through His written Word to me.

I hope something there is helpful to you as you think of how to approach your own personal Bible reading and prayer.

Directed Devotions

Growing up in Christian youth group and then attending Bible college, I heard much instruction and emphasis on daily devotions. But it has probably been a good twenty years since I’ve sat under teaching on the value of devotions or how to do them. Even the term devotions sounds hokey to me now, a throw back to the naïve enthusiasm of youth ministers and the teenagers they led. I read my Bible and pray regularly, but I don’t think of it as devotions, at least not the way it was used in my youth.

Our church is in the middle of a four week adult study during our Christian Formation hour (formerly known as Sunday School), and the topic of devotions has come up. But it’s the grownup, reformed, educated version.

And it has powerfully affected me for good.

We call it Lectio Divina or Listening Prayer. In one sense, it is basically the type of devotional time emphasized in my youth group, time reading the Bible and praying to God. However, I recognize now that much of my previous understanding of devotionals, particularly in my youth, centered on reading someone else’s words on the Bible rather than reading the Bible itself. And maybe that’s the central difference in Listening Prayer and a more mainstream view of devotions and devotionals.

The second difference in Lectio Divina and my youthful understanding of devotions is the listening part. It’s not so much studying the Bible as it is hearing from the Bible. When practicing youth group type devotions, I read the Bible for ten minutes (or someone else’s devotional about the Bible) and prayed my prayer requests for the next twenty or so. Lectio Divina entertwines prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for God to speak to us through it. It is the listening part that I am not used to. I am used to reading the Bible to hear God speak to me and praying my requests to Him. But I am not used to stopping as I read and pray to listen for the still small voice of the Spirit speaking to me through it all. 

Oh, what I have been missing.

In these first weeks of practicing listening prayer for myself, a practice used throughout the history of the Church, the Spirit has been speaking to me clearly through the Word. He’s emphasizing parts of His Word to me, drawing my eyes to truths He knows I need. It makes me think of the sweetness of the word devotion in its purest sense. For too long that word was used as a plural noun in reference to my Christian walk with God. Devotions were something I did. But adding the s messed up the word for believers, in my opinion. I don’t need devotions, but I do need devotion.

If you google devotion, you will see it defined as love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause. I am loyal to God, but more importantly, He is loyal to, committed to, and loving of me. It’s devotion, not devotions — a covenant keeping relationship with another, not a thing I do to fulfill a religious obligation. Slowing down in my Bible reading and prayer has made me better understand my devotion to God and His to me. It has helped me settle into a communicative relationship with God where He reveals Himself (and myself) to me.

If you are interested in experiencing deeper interactions with God through His Word, Lectio Divina, or listening in prayer and contemplating God’s Word to you in a way practiced throughout the history of the Church, can be a help. Here are suggested methods adapted from the book God Still Comes by Charles Shields and Cinthia Ferrell.

1. Begin with prayer; invite God to speak to you in whatever way God knows you need. “Open the eyes of my heart,” the psalmist prayed.

2. Read a passage (choose one not over a dozen verses) slowly and thoughtfully twice— once for familiarization and once just to “listen.” During the second reading, watch out for the word or phrase that reaches out to you, that grabs you, that shimmers in your mind’s eye. Hold on to the word in your memory. Don’t analyze why you happened to choose it. Merely observe the word or phrase.

3. After the 2nd reading, be still and listen for at least 2 minutes. If your mind wanders, draw it back to scripture.

4. Following your time of silent listening, write in your journal the word or phrase that grabbed you. At this point, no other comment is necessary.

5. Read the passage slowly again. Watch for your word or phrase. (On occasion, your word/phrase may change. If a different word or phrase grabs you, listen to it. Let the Spirit of God lead you in the process.) Sit silently again for a minimum of two minutes. As you ponder your word or phrase, observe what emotion it creates in you. Observe how the word/phrase connects into your life. How does it hook you? At the end of your time of quiet, write in your journal just two things: your word phrase and the emotion it created in you.

6. Read your passage a final time slowly and thoughtfully. Return to your word or phrase, unless you are drawn in a different direction. (Remember, you are not alone in this process. You have invited God to work with you.) Sit silently for a longer period of time—at least double the previous periods of silence. As you reflect on your word/phrase and feel the emotions it generates, ask yourself, “If this is God’s word to me now, what is God calling me to be or do?” Stick with that question until you get some response. At the end of your time of silence, write in your journal all that you have observed and experienced.

7. Conclude by thanking God for whatever you received. There may be instances when nothing insightful comes to mind. Thank God for the quiet time.

Our Christian Formation teacher encouraged us that though this time might likely come with conviction of sin, it would not come with a voice of condemnation. If we are in Christ and hear condemnation or shame, that is not the voice of God (Romans 8:1).

If you have struggled to feel close to God through Bible reading and prayer, I encourage you to engage with God through the Word this way. I am currently setting aside time on the mornings I don’t have early obligations (two days a week for me) to sit in the Word this way, and it has blessed me greatly during a hard season in my life.

Hebrews 4:12 The word of God is alive and active …

* Not long after posting this, some pointed out to me criticism of Lectio Divina.  I understand the concerns of opening Scripture up to “private interpretations,” and listening Bible reading does not replace the need for expositional preaching and teaching.  But I separate criticism of contemplative prayer from criticism of listening Bible reading.  Contemplative prayer apart from Scripture is of course wide open to error.  But meditative, listening prayer within the confines of Scripture reading seems very different, and I strongly support listening to God through His Word.