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David Powlison writes about verbal prayer asking: Should we really call it a “quiet” time?

So the standard practice for both public and private prayer is to speak so as to be heard by the Person with whom you are talking. Prayer is verbal because it is relational.

…I’ve known many people whose relationship with God was significantly transformed as they started to speak up with their Father. Previously, “prayer” fizzled out in the internal buzz of self-talk and distractions, worries and responsibilities. Previously, what they thought of as prayer involved certain religious feelings, or a set of seemingly spiritual thoughts, or a vague sense of comfort, awe, and dependency on a higher power. Prayer meandered, and was virtually indistinguishable from thoughts, sometimes indistinguishable from anxieties and obsessions. But as they began to talk aloud to the God who is there, who is not silent, who listens, and who acts, they began to deal with him person-to-person.

Powlinson surveys Biblical examples of prayer and concludes that contemplative practices like “listening prayer” or “centering prayer” are never taught in the Bible. (“Never” is a bit strong, as he also admits. e.g. Ps. 46:10.)

The main thrust of the article is that “God is profoundly and essentially verbal” because (I would add) God is profoundly and essentially relational. God is not triune to sit in silence with himself. Nor does he speak his Word to us so that we never utter a word to him.

With that being said, silence, reflection and contemplation point us toward prayer. “The true God quiets us so we notice him” (Powlinson, ibid.). Quietness creates a reverent space for us to personally offer to God our heart, building a relationship that he so graciously initiated with us through his first words to us.

Have you ever been in a spiritual revival? The word “revival” comes burdened with great expectations and unclear notions of what it actually is. J.I. Packer writes:

“I have witnessed remarkable evangelical advances, not only academic but also pastoral, with churches growing spectacularly through the gospel on both sides of the Atlantic and believers maturing in the life of repentance as well as in the life of joy. Have I seen revival? I think not — but would I know?” [1]

When it comes to “Revival,” some of us expect too little when it comes to God transforming hearts. Perhaps this is due to a lack of faith or the comfort of low expectations. On the other hand, some expect too much drama (for lack of a better word) from God when we speak of revival. Because of such great expectations, we are shy to claim we have experienced revival. Packer continues:

“Touches of reviving, I suspect, surround us, and we are not always aware of them… What is certain, however, is this: God calls us, and wisdom directs us, to seek for ourselves the full reality of religion as [Jonathan] Edwards describes it, and to pray for the further reviving of religion, by God’s grace and for God’s glory, that all our communities have need of at this time.”

To clarify expectations of what is meant by the word “revival,” J.I. Packer summarizes elements of revival as laid out by Jonathan Edwards. I suggest we pray for and aim for these in our ministry:

1. God comes down (Isa 64:1)
2. God’s Word pierces (1 Thes 2:13)
3. Man’s sin is seen (Acts 2:37)
4. Christ’s cross is valued (1 Cor 1:23-24)
5. Change goes deep (Acts 19:18-19)
6. Love breaks out (Acts 2:44-45)
7. Joy fills hearts (1 Pet 1:8)
8. Each church becomes itself (1 Cor 12:4-5; 14:24-25)
9. The lost are found (Acts 2:41, 47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7)
10. Satan keeps pace (Eph 6:10-20)

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[1] Jonathan Edward’s list of elements of spiritual revival is from J.I. Packer, “The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion: A Study in the Mind of Jonathan Edwards” in A God-Entranced Vision of All Things, Crossway 2004)