My One Biggest Distraction From Prayer & Meditation

22 July 2021 Leave a comment

It’s the mobile phone. So accessible. So fast. So handy. A computer in a pocket-sized gadget. And one that your body, mind and soul can get so attached to that you automatically pick it up whenever its nearby, and your fingers find their homes and favourite tap dance patterns.

So much is in the handphone. My ESV Bible and YouVersion apps are inside. My Blue Letter Bible app with its inter-linear is inside. My worship and contemplative music is inside. And so are my Samsung notes and pen. I use all these often. But my Instagram, blogpastor.net, home church website, access to local and international news, and football news are there too, together with WhatsApp and Carousell and Lazada. 

I may start with a Bible app and end up with BBC world news and Arsenal transfer news and answering WhatsApp messages. Time flies and before I know it half an hour has passed. 

I tried shutting off all sound notifications and vibrations. It still distracts. The sight of it, the thought of it makes you want to reach out. 

That is why the phone is a major distraction (and maybe addiction) for me and I suppose for some others too. What then is the best thing to do with such a formidable distraction. You have to try different ways and be honest about their efficacy and settle on a method that works for you personally.

For me I switch off the phone or put it in another room. Either one works for me.

This is a great aid to prayer. Discover and hold fast to a way to preempt the temptation and distraction of mobile devices – whether handphone, tablet or laptop.

If you are laughing at all this, you are blessed one indeed! Maybe your distraction is something else. Tell us readers about your particular distraction and how you overcome it, or let some other reader suggest to you how he or she overcomes that same distraction you described in the comment box. Go to the blogpost title and tap on “Leave a Comment”.  I look forward to hearing from you.

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Sacred Reading or “Lectio Divina”

16 July 2021 Leave a comment

The “lectio divina”(Latin) or “sacred reading” is the bread and butter of my time with the Lord. It is the method I use the most. Maybe it is because of its familiarity. Most Christians who are familiar with the Quiet Time would see its resemblance to the four movements of lectio divina. In the past, I have used the Daily Bread notes of Scripture Union with its similar READ, MEDITATE, APPLY, PRAY.

While READ, MEDITATE, and PRAY seems similar, the lectio divina is to be done in a different spirit. Maybe I did my Quiet Time wrongly, but I used to breeze through the suggested scripture readings, read the writer’s commentary, and pray a bit so I could say to myself that I have done my daily Quiet Time. The aim of lectio divina is not to gain Bible knowledge and information, or to consume spiritual growth vitamins, but to personally meet and commune with God and be loved and formed by Him. 

The pace, attention, and intention are different. We read a passage of scripture slowly, unhurriedly, perhaps aloud, with pauses, and repeat the reading if necessary. We give attention to words, phrases, images that strike or impresses us. We attend to our responses to the scripture: the insights, feelings, memories, and strong reactions that arose. We ponder over what the Lord is stirring or inviting us to. We pray about what he is conveying to us. We pray about how to respond to him. It is more experiential than cerebral. It is more a communion with Christ then an analysis of scripture. At the end of it we feel like we have been with the Lord. 

This practice can be seen as four movements or an intentional progressive process. We usually do all four “steps” in one session but we could also return to the same passage and focus on one of the separate “steps”.

LECTIO – READ

We begin with acknowledging our need of God’s presence with us. Then we read the scripture passage slower than usual, like reading a love letter, gently dancing with the words, noticing what resonates with us, holds our attention, or awakens our needs. We read it over and over. We notice the desert bush that burns, inviting us to draw closer.

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed (Isaiah 50:4b).

For a start, choose one of the gospels to meditate on. Do not bite off more than you can chew. The length should be in proportion to the time we have. In some Bibles, the passages are clearly divided with sub-headings like “The baptism of Jesus” or “The temptation of Jesus”.

MEDITATIO – MEDITATE

We zero in and ruminate over what resonates for us in the passage. We mutter the phrase or words pondering over what they mean for us. What is the Lord teaching or saying? Is he giving us input about what we are facing in life now? We let the Spirit impart his wisdom, love, peace and whatever graces we need. 

We avoid analysing the text. We leave aside puzzling verses and maybe go to them after the meditation. For the purpose of lectio divina, research may lead us away from what we want.

Perhaps we record the verse, insight, direction or comfort we have received. (More about journaling in a future blogpost.)

ORATIO – PRAY

We converse with the Lord about our response to his word. We share our honest feelings about those matters that arose from our meditation. We wait in silence for his response since prayer is two-way. His response may come through our thoughts, or shifting of our desires and feelings about a matter, or an increase of faith, hope or love.

Sometimes prayer seem so effortless and other times so difficult and dry. We tell God how we feel even if we are feeling empty and faithless. We pray as a friend would converse with a friend.

CONTEMPLATIO – CONTEMPLATE

We rest in the quiet of his presence and let him love us. Like a little child, we simply lean and rest upon his shoulders and let him embrace us in silence.  We soak in the healing love, peace and contentment that his presence brings. 

End the time with a simple sincere prayer of thanks, or pray or sing “The Lord’s Prayer”.

(This method can also be used in a group setting, like my home church does in the Board of Elders meeting or in cell meetings. In these settings, the individuals share about what resonated with each of them, and end with prayer for one another or one person will conclude the session in prayer).

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Prayerful Reflection of the Day

8 July 2021 Leave a comment

During one of my retreats at the Seven Fountains retreat centre at Chiangmai, Fr David Townsend taught me a method of prayer and reflection. I have found this prayer exercise helpful and useful in making me more aware of God’s presence, gifts and activity in daily life. I used an acronym A.G.E.N.T. so it was easily remembered and I could go through the steps without referring to notes. It was mechanical at first but with regular use of this acronym, I hardly notice nowadays. Try out these steps:

A. IS FOR ASKING GOD TO HELP YOU REVIEW THE DAY

Begin the reflection with a simple prayer: Lord, as I review all the happenings, meetings and conversations with people, and action and reactions, and the feelings and images that floated by or hovered over the day, help me to see where YOU were present and active.

G. IS FOR GRATITUDE FOR GOD’S GIFTS THROUGH THE DAY

There are many things to be thankful for every day. Just this morning my wife and daughter and I went for a walk at the Lower Pierce Reservoir. It was cool even at 10am I was surprised I have never been here before. After the short walk we sat at a concrete bench and had some cut mango. It was a beautiful moment, something to be grateful to God for, a gift from a loving Father, but this was not in my thoughts. I only noticed this as I now reflect about the morning. I recall the feeling of joy of being together with loved ones, the taste of smooth succulent mango after the walk. Lord, thank you a beautiful day and for shared moments such as these. 

I also recall how we talked about the prophecies given to Elaine over her teenage years to today. We could see how different prophecies sang the same song, and how those prophecies came to pass in her life. Lord, thank you. You are watching over her and guiding her life, and she is doing the good works that God has prepared for her beforehand.  

Even as look for things we are thankful for, the unpleasant moments also pop up. One was the Thai dish I ordered at a Thai restaurant for lunch. I ordered Khao Soi.  I was looking for a noodle dish I had in the Seven Fountains. I thought this was it but it wasn’t. I felt punctured. It felt like I had Chiangmai’s version of laksa. Lord this was so disappointing. I don’t want to try looking for it again. Maybe I will get to taste it one day in the retreat centre in future.

At the reservoir enjoying a lovely morning walk

E. IS TO LOOK FOR THE MAIN EMOTIONS OF THE DAY

It was one of joy for me today. A most enjoyable and restful day. 

N. IS FOR TAKING NOTICE OF SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN THEN TURN INTO A CONVERSATION WITH THE LORD.

Notice an event, insight, meeting, conversation, image, emotion that stands out or calls for further conversation with the Lord. In this situation, I would pray for Elaine, and ask that the Lord will continue to watch over His word to fulfill it in her life and for her to live for the glory of God, and to be kept safe as she returns to the United States to work. 

T. IS FOR PRAYING ABOUT TODAY/TOMORROW

If I was reflecting at the beginning of the day, I would pray about the day ahead. Who am I meeting, what will I be doing, what am I anxious about, what help do I need from the Lord. If I was reflecting at the end of the day, I would do the same for tomorrow’s meetings. 

Try this over a week on a daily basis. Write some notes of significant feelings, images or meetings or conversations. At the end of the week, take a look at the whole week and have a conversation with the Lord about the week. 

If you find this reflection and prayer exercise life-giving, continue with it, and drop a note in the comment box to share what your experiences were. 

The above was my modification of the prayer steps that was taught by St Ignatius almost 400 years ago. The original looked like THIS. St Ignatius original method had been modified for contemporary use and one version of it was shared with me HERE. This version was written by Fr David Townsend, a spiritual director at Seven Fountains. If the method gets stale, and you want to explore a variety of prayerful reflection, you will want to download this app from Google Play called REIMAGINING THE EXAMEN.

This is what the app looks like in google play
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“Pray” and “Preach”

5 July 2021 Leave a comment

I awoke one morning with some inspired thoughts. Over the years I have learned to pay attention to these. Sometimes they are suggestions to do something. When I had to preach more often, there had been sermon ideas or outline alignments or fresh perspectives. This time it was to improve the menu at the top header of my blog. It is to make more resources more visible and available to readers.

One is a section of links to blogposts I will write about prayer helps. Most of us struggle with prayer, as I have. Over the years I have tried many things to freshen and deepen my fellowship with the Lord. Some helped a lot. Some didn’t. I want to write about these practical suggestions so that those who want can try them too. If the suggestion leads to life, continue in it. If it does not, stop and move on.

The other section is about preaching. I have read an average of at least two books on preaching per year. It was something I loved doing. I would invariably be excited by some insight I gained or some method or skill I would try out. So I have decided to revisit some of these books I have read, and reflect on what can be gleaned, and reproduce some useful extracts from them. I hope pastors, both experienced and newbies, will be blessed and inspired to freshen their preaching as they read the blogposts. Hopefully, they will go on to buy and read the whole book too.

Do have a look at them by clicking on the relevant buttons in the header banner.

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Writing Down and Colouring Verses to Slow Down

2 July 2021 Leave a comment

Memorising verses was something I did as a spiritual discipline in the early years of my spiritual growth. I was influenced by the Navigators in the late 1970s and 1980s when the Lord raised this ministry to add a solidity to the growth of the Singapore church during that period.

MEMORISING SCRIPTURES

I recall attending Navigator conferences that packed large halls and practical workshops that motivated us and gave us practical instructions that helped us to grow spiritually. One of these workshops was on memorising scriptures. It fuelled me to buy memory packs and make my own personal store of memory verses. I memorised over a hundred verses.

I read somewhere that Jesus often quoted verses in his preaching and teaching ministry. If I recall correctly there are about 150 different verses that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, and this is only what had been recorded by the writers of the gospels. What if the unrecorded were included. I figured that if the sinless Son of God needed to keep so much of God’s word in his heart I dare not conceive of living with less.

That season lasted for a few years and continued into my National Service days when I met with two other Navigator trained Christians in the NS Christian Fellowship at Mindef. As iron sharpens iron, so we sharpened each other.

TO SLOW DOWN AND GIVE ATTENTION

Recently, I found the Lord inviting me gently into this spiritual exercise. It started with a difficulty in concentration during my daily scripture reading. The words passed over my mind like birds that swiftly flew by. So I simply began to write down and coloured the verse that caught my attention. I did it deliberately to slow my mind down, to give attention to each word, to allow God to give insights. I found it helpful because it prevented me from merely going through the motion of “having done my quiet time” for the day.

I was going through Psalms after I retired. When I reached Psalm 103 I found that every verse were so meaningful that I decided to slow down and try to memorise and meditate on a verse a day. Then this was followed by Psalms 112. I was surprised at the grace given to me to do this. Prior to this the only psalm I have memorised was Psalms 23. Having done these two psalms, I felt drawn to memorising passages in the epistles that are packed with teaching about Christ’s finished work and new covenant blessings. So now I am “in Christ” and in “heavenly places” in Ephesisan 1.

I do not know how much longer I will continue with this spiritual exercise. As long as it gives me life, I will continue with it. However, the Spirit blows where it wills, and I want to follow where my faithful friend drops markers of nourishment and life.

Maybe reading this stirs in you a prompting or desire to try this. To write down and colour verses to help you slow down when reading scriptures. Or to go further and memorise and meditate and pray scriptures. Whatever you choose to do, let me know in the comment box how it turned out.

The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him.

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