Flee Be Silent Pray

What if prayer could be simple rather than strenuous? Anxious, results-driven Christians can never pray enough, serve enough, or study enough. But what if God is calling us not to frenzied activity but to a simple spiritual encounter? What if we must merely receive what God has already given us? In Flee, Be Silent, Pray, writer and contemplative retreat leader Ed Cyzewski guides readers out of the anxiety factory of contemporary Christianity and toward a God whose love astounds those quiet long enough to receive it. With helpful guidance into solitude, contemplative prayer, and practices such as lectio divina and the Examen, Cyzewski guides readers toward the Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light. Ready to shed the fear of the false self and the exhaustion of a duty-driven faith? Flee. Be silent. Pray.

For hard-working, anxious evangelicals striving to find God or experiencing a crisis of faith, Flee, Be Silent, Pray shares how Ed Cyzewski, a Protestant formerly devoted to dismantling Catholicism found peace with God through the contemplative prayer tradition of the church, embodied in the words: Flee, Be Silent, Pray.Resting in God's loving presence is counterintuitive for most evangelicals, but it may be the only hope for many hard-working followers of Jesus who have never experienced the scripture: "Be still and know that I am God."

When daily prayer and Bible study leaves a Christian anxious, doubtful, and frustrated, is there any hope for finding peace with God?Ed Cyzewski grew up in a restrictive Catholic Church, immersed himself in the hard-working world of evangelical Christianity as the path to knowing God, and then graduated uncertain about praying or finding God. The Christian prayer tradition known as contemplation, primarily preserved in monasteries through practices such as centering prayer, was the answer he didn't want to find. If his Protestant faith was going to survive, he needed to move beyond his past grudges in order to learn Christian meditation and contemplative prayer from Catholic teachers.Contemplative prayer goes beyond the limits of Bible study and experiences the loving presence of God described in the scriptures. While scripture and spiritual disciplines have their place, Cyzewski learned that the unstoppable love of God forms the foundation of all Christian spirituality, and that daily contemplative prayer helps us rest in God's loving presence.Using Henr� Nouwen's The Way of the Heart to highlight the three movements into contemplation with the words flee, be silent, pray, Cyzewski found what it means to quiet his religious anxiety by resting in the love of God. Anxious evangelicals and Christians on the brink of losing their faith will find an accessible path toward using this simple, proven approach to daily prayer.

In this classic text, Thomas Merton offers valuable guidance for prayer. He brings together a wealth of meditative and mystical influences–from John of the Cross to Eastern desert monasticism–to create a spiritual path for today. Most important, he shows how the peace contacted through meditation should not be sought in order to evade the problems of contemporary life, but can instead be directed back out into the world to affect positive change. Contemplative Prayer is one of the most well-known works of spirituality of the last one hundred years, and it is a must-read for all seeking to live a life of purpose in today’s world. In a moving and profound introduction, Thich Nhat Hanh offers his personal recollections of Merton and compares the contemplative traditions of East and West.

He Speaks in the Silence is about Diane Comer’s search for the kind of intimacy with God every woman longs for. It is a story of trying to be a good girl, of following the rules, of longing for a satisfaction that eludes us. Disappointed with all Diane had been told was supposed to fulfill her, she begged God in desperation to give her more. And He did. But first He took her through a trial so debilitating it almost destroyed what little faith she had. He let her go deaf. Using vivid parallels between her deafness and every woman’s struggle to hear God, this book shows women not only how Diane, as a deaf woman, hears in everyday life, but also how she can learn to listen to God in the midst of her own loud life, finding intimacy with God and the deep soul satisfaction she longs for.

The wisdom of Henri J.M. Nouwen: SOLITUDE "In solitude we become compassionate people, deeply aware of our solidarity in brokenness with all of humanity and ready to reach out to anyone in need . . ." SILENCE "Silence first makes us pilgrims. Secondly, silence guards the fire within. Thirdly, silence teaches us how to speak . . ." PRAYER "Prayer, when we are faithful to it and practice it at regular times, slowly leads us to an experience of rest and opens us to God's active presence . . ."

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

An honest, soul-searching pursuit of biblical answers to one of Christianity's most challenging questions: What do you do when God meets your prayers with silence? Many of us have struggled with prayers that seem to go unanswered, and Pete Greig has been down that difficult road of doubt. This book is both intensely personal and deeply theological—a book born out of his wife Sammy's fight for her life after a horrifying diagnosis. The acclaimed author of Red Moon Rising wrestles with the hard side of prayer, how to respond when there seem to be no answers, and how to cope with those who seek to interpret our experience for us. For those struggling with prayer, God on Mute brings a message of hope and comfort, but also a better understanding of how we communicate with our Creator. Using the timeline of Holy Week (from Maundy Thursday through Easter Sunday) as a template, Greig explores four main questions about prayer from all angles: How am I going to get through this? Why aren't my prayers being answered? Where is God when he seems silent? When every prayer is answered...what does that mean? Silence in response to our most heart-felt prayers is the hardest thing for a person of faith to wrestle with. The world collapses. Then all goes quiet. Words can't explain what we're going through. People avoid you and don't know what to say. So you turn to Him and you pray. You need Him more than ever before. But somehow even God Himself seems on mute. And this sinks into us with a sense of futility... But even in this crushing silence, there is a way forward. Here is a story of faith, hope, and love beyond all understanding. Includes guide for group discussion.