Prayer of the Heart

The Concept

“It is the heart that prays, it is to the voice of the heart that God listens and it is the heart that he answers.”
- Jean-Nicholas Grou

Early Christian writers spoke of three stages of prayer:

• prayer of the lips (purgative)
• prayer of the mind (illuminative), and
• prayer of the heart (unitative).

When our hearts pray, we have entered a realm where the Holy Spirit is the initiator, the Holy Spirit creates the prayer, and the Holy Spirit sustains it. When words fall short of our prayers, the Holy Spirit prays deep within our hearts for us (Rom. 8:26). The Prayer of the Heart calls us to an intimacy that words will fail.

The way this prayer expresses itself within you is unique and individual, though there are some classic ways the Spirit speaks through the heart. There is the quickening of the spirit--an impression about a scripture we are reading or a word we are hearing. There is speaking in tongues--a release of our spirit into the Spirit of God where words go beyond the rational into the inexpressible heavenlies. There is an inexplicable peace--a rest of the spirit where the shalom of God settles upon you. There is a subtle warming of the spirit toward the things of God; there is an ecstatic overwhelming feeling of being in love with God. No matter how it is experienced, this type of prayer is less about expression and more about reception, more about being acted upon and less about conscious participation.

Prayer of the Heart is not by our own initiation, so there are no techniques to experience the prayer; rather there are patterns of living that bring us closer to God. When we have the pattern of a familiar personal history with the Father, when we are listening to the response of hearts to his overwhelming goodness, then we are in a position of openness to the Spirit moving within us.

As a beginning, simply ask God to kindle a fire of love within you, especially if you have a tendency to over-intellectualize. Foster writes: “The love of the Father is like a sudden rain shower that will pour forth when you least expect it, catching you up in to wonder and praise and unspeakable speech. When this happens, do not put up an umbrella to protect yourself but rather stand in the drenching rain of the Father.”

The Experience

Once again, this prayer topic was timely in my life, reminding me of God's sweet and faithful pursuit of my whole heart.

I was reading a secular novel, and when the protagonists finally admitted their love, my heart leaped within me. It reminded me how my heart raced while I was dating my husband. And, I had never put it together before, but that leap of my heart is the same feeling I get when I hear the Lord speak to me directly. I realized his language is love, and such a greater more constant love than I could read about in a book or even feel for another human being. This seemingly trivial understanding connected what could have easily become a cerebral exercise for me to an inexplicable and authentic physical reaction that can't be conjured or replicated.

See, I am ruled by my desire to understand. I cannot accept things I haven't yet proven to myself. But this is not how faith works; this is not how love works. So, step by step, the Lord is breaking me of my dependence on my mind, of my need for intellectual control, of my pride in my own understanding. But even in this, I am acknowledging what is needed, but until I surrender completely even to that understanding, I will not move beyond the "prayer of the mind" to the "prayer of the heart."

This past week, first at a conference and then at church, there have been teachings on the Holy Spirit and the power he wants to release within his people. While usually closed off to this kind of teaching, this prayer study has me open with a desire to set my heart on fire. So I heard with ears that hear. I am being asked to surrender to the abundant life I am promised, to surrender to true intimacy with the Father. I am being asked to pursue God-directed action, to allow awkward moments to stay on course with pure obedience and without fear.

I have never before pursued speaking in tongues, even avoided thinking about it, but now I desire a prayer language, a vehicle to escape my insistence on correct words and let my heart pour out without the assistance of my brain.

So for me, this Prayer of the Heart is a beginning. It is me willing to subdue my head, to sacrifice my will and my expectations, to plead with the Lord of my heart to kindle a flame that I cannot contain within me.