Prayer and Silence

crossnote said:

I don't think that is the same as it presupposes that there is a God and that what we see is His handiwork and it turns our 'thoughts' towards admiring that fact as you elegantly expressed with 'words'.
Try emptying your mind of all thought, that is the ultimate goal of Christian Mysticism...which is supposed to draw you closer to God. That is the dangerous practice I'm referring to and the direction Contemplative Prayer can take a person. I was there before becoming a Christian.

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That's really oversimplifying what it's about.

I heard a sermon by Pr. Richard Wurmbrand once, preaching about the "sacrament of nothing", and in some ways, I think that's one way to understand what we are talking about here. It's about learning to appreciate Being as a gift, without any expectations or conditions placed upon it.

crossnote said:

Try emptying your mind of all thought, that is the ultimate goal of Christian Mysticism...which is supposed to draw you closer to God. That is the dangerous practice I'm referring to and the direction Contemplative Prayer can take a person. I was there before becoming a Christian.

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It is not what we get our own selves to do.

"Therefore submit to God." (in James 4:7)

While we are submissive to God, we discover what He has us doing in sharing with Him in His peace (Colossians 3:15). He does have us thinking things, planning, discovering. And He has us examining ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5), with Him . . . like how we can go to a doctor in order to examine ourselves. But we do our examining in sharing with and submission to the doctor.

And during our prayer, we can discover which thinking is of God in His peace, and which is not God's. And then stay the way He has us becoming during prayer, so we are prayerful all the time to test what is God's way and what is not, in us. So, prayer can include standardizing ourselves to be how God wants, so we can stay this way and grow as we go.

So, what we need to stop is ourself > Luke 9:23 > deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus. He will direct the paths of our character correction, feelings, thinking, desires, how we relate with others, while sharing in ourselves with God.

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5)

So, yes a child of God has the Holy Spirit sharing God's own love with us, "in our hearts" > this is in every child of God. And included in prayer is becoming able to tell the difference in ourselves, between what is in God's love, versus whatever else there is trying to get our attention. So, prayer includes the process of telling the difference. So, we do not become totally without any thoughts or words or feelings, but we become able to with God tell the difference. We grow in our "senses" (Hebrews 5:14) for discerning what is His Holy Spirit, versus what is of "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (in Ephesians 2:2).

And there is how God leads and guides us, personally, deeper than words, but He speaks in us and has us thinking what He pleases, in His love which is gentle and humble >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, in case we take it on our own selves to shut out any and all thoughts and words, we could be giving God the silent treatment. Plus, whose thoughts told us to do this??

FireDragon76 said:

That's really oversimplifying what it's about.

I heard a sermon by Pr. Richard Wurmbrand once, preaching about the "sacrament of nothing", and in some ways, I think that's one way to understand what we are talking about here. It's about learning to appreciate Being as a gift, without any expectations or conditions placed upon it.

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That's why Sometimes during prayer time I like to simply worship giving thanks and adoration, ...(with words though) expecting nothing.

BTW, I had the privilege of meeting Richard Wurmbrand and his wife Sabrina, at our Church they had visited back in around 1982. Having already read two of his books, I felt like about 2inches tall 'spiritually' speaking, groping for words to say lol.

FireDragon76 said:

That's really oversimplifying what it's about.

I heard a sermon by Pr. Richard Wurmbrand once, preaching about the "sacrament of nothing", and in some ways, I think that's one way to understand what we are talking about here. It's about learning to appreciate Being as a gift, without any expectations or conditions placed upon it.

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That is exactly what I was trying to articulate. "It's not about you." Not in a pantheistic one with the universe kind of way, but rather having a deep sense of value and appreciation of everything that is.

To be fair Crossnote, I appreciate you concern about seeking emptiness. That is to say, clearing your mind so you can go places or see things. That can be a "dangerous" practice. I'm not convinced that's what the OP was referencing, but if someone goes down that road, he/she better be sure all the ducks are in a row.