Walking with God in Prayer: Lectio Divina
On Sunday, we began our Walking with God series. As I (Adrian) have been saying, my overriding desire is to help people walk with God, and as it happens, God’s intent from the very beginning has been to walk with His people. Every part of the storyline we read in the Bible shows us what God has done to restore the relationship between Him and humanity, culminating in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

One of the great experiences of walking with God is being able to hear His voice. Jesus, in John 10, identifies two people we can follow in life. There is the Shepherd and the stranger. Whoever we choose to follow is the one we will become more familiar with and the one whose voice we will recognise. So, the question for us is:

To help us hear the voice of the Shepherd (Jesus), we will be engaging in three ancient spiritual practices that Christians have used for centuries. The first one we will practice is called Lectio Divina (Latin for Devine Reading), and it is all about hearing the voice of God by praying the scriptures. What is important in all these practices is slowing down and unplugging from the busy pace of life. Speaking of Shepherds, Psalm 23 tells us, “The Lord is my Shepherd…He makes me lie down in green pastures”. If you want to begin hearing the voice of God, you will need to be prepared to walk at His pace and get used to slowing down. For this reason, Lectio Divina works best when we make time to stop and give God our undivided attention.

Here is how to practice Lectio Divina.
Read – read a passage of Scripture repetitively and slowly.
Meditate – reread one phrase that got your attention repetitively and slowly.
Speak – respond honestly with only the words you feel prompted to say.
Listen – take a moment to just sit quietly and rest in the presence of God.
Then go back to any one of these steps as you feel led.

One person said Lectio Divina is like a lozenge dissolving slowly in your mouth. As you take the time to let the Scriptures dissolve slowly into your heart, you will begin to hear and recognise what God is saying in your life.

Something to remember in all of this is that it is not the practices themselves that change us or force God to speak, “They simply put us in a place where we can begin to notice God and respond to his word in us” (Adele Calhoun).

Below is Sunday’s message on YouTube.