Creative Prayer

I recently read a book called Creative Prayer by Chris Tiegreen. If you read my blog you may have seen that name before. I have been using devotionals written by Chris Tiegreen over the past two years. His inspirational and convicting writing in his devotionals motivated me to pick up and read Creative Prayer.

The premise of the book is that many of us have an unbalanced relationship with God because we limit our prayer lives to words alone. In my journey to understand more of what it means to truly pray, to communicate intimately with the Creator of heaven and earth this book has made a significant impact in my thinking. As I look at my life I would have to say that my prayer life was pretty much confined to words prior to the new prayer space at Trinity Church. I have engaged in more creative forms of prayer in using that space, but I am not sure that I have fully engaged God beyond words. I know experientially that prayer through song is a powerful expression that can lead to an intimate encounter with God. That is one of the reasons I am such a big advocate for corporate worship based prayer, but what about other creative expressions in prayer?

In Creative Prayer Tiegreen points to the many examples in Scripture where people interact with God beyond simply using words. One of the examples of prayer that goes beyond words is found in Elisha’s interaction with the Shunammite Woman in 2 Kings 4:4-36. Tiegreen makes the argument that Elisha’s prayer was acted out in raising the woman’s son from the dead instead of merely spoken. He says, “It was a tangible prayer, a physical petition for God to repeat the miracle of first life.” So Elisha lay on the boy and breathed into him, the same way God hovered over Adam and breathed life into him.

Tiegreen says that creative prayer is prayer with our whole being – using all the gifts God has given us to express ourselves. The God who has given you the ability to dance, or sing, or draw, or paint, or act, or write, or any other gift God has given to you – is the God who desires for you to use that ability in your relationship with Him. This concept is one of those revolutionary concepts of prayer that I believe will take my prayer life to another level. I look forward to what God will teach me as I engage Him in creative prayer.