The Pursuit of God

Resources for Application

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reflection, so we can never leave Scripture behind when the Spirit leads us in contemplation. 4 Those familiar with the spiritual discipline of lectio divina will recognize “contemplation” as the fourth step of a prayerful and medi tative engagement with Scripture. Christian contemplative prayer always remains rooted and grounded in biblical meditation. Second, the concept of “contemplation” or “contemplative prayer” is used in many ways apart from this traditional Christian grounding. In a helpful essay contrasting Christian contemplation with versions found in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and secularism, Glen Scorgie notes that “the phenomenon of contemplation can actually be subdivided into about twenty different types. These types are carefully distinguished according to the practices they advocate, the goals to which they aspire, and the experiences they evoke.” 5 Those who practice it are wise to recognize that the contemplative prayer which strengthened Tozer’s soul is not the same kind found in many contemporary discussions of spirituality. 6 Third, recognize that contemplative prayer is only one of the diverse ways Christians pray. Many Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer daily. Following Jesus’s example, we 4 See further examples of the importance of Scripture in contemplation in Kyle Strobel, “Contemplation by Son and Spirit: Reforming the Ascent of the Soul to God,” in Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice , ed. John Coe and Kyle Strobel (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019), 166–84. 5 Scorgie, “A Distinctively Christian Contemplation,” 265. 6 The volume on contemplation by Coe and Strobel has already been referenced several times. Evangelicals interested in learning more about the practice are encouraged to engage the essays found there. See John Coe and Kyle Strobel, eds., Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019).