In beginning this journey I have been very skeptical and have had a rather closed mind about mysticism, but it now seems logical to me that there needs to be a significant spiritual aspect to our faith. We are in fact spiritual beings who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. When we think of mysticism we tend to think about eastern religions and having out-of-body experiences and the sort. We thinks about chanting and meditation and burning incense and well, it all seems a little too "new age." But the fact is that mysticism means communing with God and that is something that every Christian should be interested in. I think I get caught up the terminology and the “how-to’s” rather than the purpose and meaning.
The Holy Spirit is most often the member of the Trinity that is forgotten, probably because we have a hard time understanding and relating to this "spirit." For me, having been raised in New England and having worshiped at a Baptist church for a number of years, the Holy Spirit wasn't really emphasized as part of our worship life. We left that to those Pentecostals down the street and dismissed much of it because of the likes of Benny Hinn and the fake healings and claims to be able to raise the dead. I also had a bad experience when I was younger in that some friends who attended a more charistmatic church asserted that my family members were not true believers because we didn't speak in tongues (a 'sign' that we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit). Perhaps you can now understand some of my skepticism.
I mentioned in a recent post that I am not one for deep theological studies on any particular subject, but I have been reading quite a bit to check this out for myself and gain some understanding. After reading a numbers of passages in Acts and a few commentaries on whether or not the Spiritual gifts such as tongues are active today, it was recommended that I read a couple of books that really helped me. "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster and "Into the Depths of God" by Calvin Miller. Both of these books discuss the importance of meditation and contemplative prayer in order to get more in touch with God through the Holy Spirit. Rather than go through all of their explanation, I will recommend you do a bit of reading. Here's my take on it: we need to spend more time listening to God - letting Him speak into our hearts. This is how we gain a deeper knowledge of Him and gain an understanding of His will for our lives. This is accomplished through contemplative prayer and meditation.
Most people don’t spend one hour a week in prayer, let alone setting aside an hour a day to ‘listen’ to God. Too often we fill our prayer time with a list of the wants and needs that we have. God knows them already…but do we spend time to listen to Him? or do we just expect God to do all the listening and answer our prayers? Good relationships are a two-way street. Communication must be flowing both ways. I have recently tried to set myself apart from my routine and pray – and just be still. I have closed the door to my home office, turned off all the lights and music and with just a flashlight I read some scripture and then doing anything possible to block out noise, I just prayed and then sat quietly. It was so refreshing to think of nothing but God through contemplative prayer.
I think people hear instruction on this practice of contemplative prayer and see that one should repeat a word or phrase over and over. Why do this? Well I like to think practically – it helps block out other thoughts and distractions. It keeps us focused on the task and that is to sit and focus on God, to be in His presence. Technology has wired our brains to be active constantly – it’s no wonder there are so many sleep clinics – so this repetition is a way to de-program ourselves and allow our brains to take some rest. It is in this quiet stillness that we can feel God’s presence. I believe God’s presence is always there, but we don’t recognize it or feel it because of everything else we have chosen to “feel.”
We cannot simply put our hands or eyes on every answer that is to be had. Hugging the Bible does not make us closer to God any more than holding a glass of water quenches our thirst. We need to ‘take it in’ – let it become a part of who we are. Does this mean meditation? Yeah. Does this mean contemplative prayer? That’s probably part of it. Is contemplative prayer and meditation some form of eastern mysticism? I now do not believe so.
I have decided that I need a more purposeful quiet time with God and I hope that you too will do some reading on the subject and find that there really is a very good reason to "...be still and know that I am God!" Do you want to love God more and deepen your relationship with Him? Spend more time listening and understand that the Holy Spirit is alive within us.
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