The Lectio CourseExemplo

Pray: Responding to God in Prayer and Prophecy

After exploring Christian meditation yesterday, today we’re taking the next step: turning our inward meditation upon God’s Word upward in conversation with God himself and outward in declaration of God’s Word to the world. In other words, we’re exploring prayer and prophecy.

One of the great things we’ve been learning through Lectio Divina is that the Bible is meant to be prayed and lived, not just studied and understood. Every single page is God’s way of initiating a conversation.

Since the Bible consists of many different types of literature, it can lead us into many different types of prayer. The trick is very simply to take whatever you’re reading and turn it into conversation. A Psalm might move me very naturally into worship. A promise might provoke me to pray for its fulfilment in my life. Some bits might make me pray, "Lord, help me make sense of this!"

But praying the scriptures is not just a helpful prompt conversationally; it can also be a powerful detonator spiritually because we are in effect praying God’s own words back to him. Jesus says ‘“ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it”’ (John 14:14). So, how do we work out what is and isn’t in his name? Well, God’s character and purpose is pre-eminently revealed in his Word! So, praying the Bible is particularly powerful.

When you hear stories of prayers being answered by miracles, you may be thinking, "I could never pray and prophesy like that," but the apostle Paul urges us in 1 Corinthians 14:1 to "eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy." And then a little later in verse 3, he explains that ‘"he one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort." In other words, prophecy is a gift we’re all expected to desire because it's such a powerful way of encouraging others.

What’s this got to do with Lectio Divina? Well, it’s my strong conviction that, as we meditate upon God’s Word in this way, his desire is not just to speak to us but also increasingly to speak through us into the lives of others because "the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword." (Hebrews 4:12). Lectio is not just a blessing for us in our own personal spiritual formation. It’s also a powerful tool for changing the world!

I’m aware that while some people are comfortable with prophecy, others will have questions and some may be downright terrified! One of the most common questions people ask is: "How do I know if a thought or a dream or a picture I’ve had is from God?" And a simple, memorable answer is "A-B-C."

First, you ask whether the thought you’ve had is:

• Affirming–does it fulfil the criteria of 1 Corinthians 14 by being strengthening, encouraging, comforting, edifying, and upbuilding?

Second, you consider whether your thought is:

• Biblical–by which I don’t mean "Can I find an obscure verse to back this up?" but is it consistent with the broad teaching and witness of scripture?

Third, and most importantly, you ask whether your thought is:

• Christlike–does it sound like the kind of thing Jesus would have said and feel like the kind of person he was?

Today, we’ve explored different ways of praying the Bible by responding to God’s Word, first and foremost as an invitation to conversation, and second by applying it to the lives of others through the gift of prophecy using the A-B-C principle. Tomorrow, having thought about reading the text, meditating upon the text, and praying the text, we’re going to bring all these threads together as we explore the most exciting and surprising aspect of Lectio Divina: contemplation.