Contemplative Prayer for Pentecostal Discernment in an Age of Confusion

Introduction

We live in what many describe as an "age of confusion"—a season marked by deep fragmentation across cultural, political, and spiritual domains. In societies characterized by polarized ideologies, the erosion of trust in institutions, and the commodification of religion, individuals often struggle to discern what is true, what is good, and what is of God. Within Pentecostal and charismatic circles, this confusion manifests in particularly acute ways: the proliferation of self-styled prophets, viral "words from the Lord" untethered from Scripture or accountability, and leaders who conflate personal ambition with divine direction. The result is a growing number of believers—especially younger Pentecostals— disillusioned by manipulative expressions of spirituality, religious consumerism, and spiritual abuse.

This confusion is not simply external. It penetrates the inner life of many believers, leading to what theologian Henri Nouwen described as a "noisy heart.” Nouwen (1981) wrote, “As soon as we are alone... we start feeling the inner chaos. The chaos can be so disturbing and so confusing that we can hardly wait to get busy again. Entering into silence is entering into the furnace of transformation. In the silence of the heart, God speaks.” What excellent preparation for the chaos and confusion that racks our global present moment. However, John Bottum (2008) says this existential distraction leads to a lack of Biblical discernment in an age of confusion:

As it happens, we often fail to recognize the effect as spiritual, because American history has led us to expect our national spirituality to be explicitly religious, tied to the nation’s churches. These new supernatural entities-or, at least, these new manifestations of the enduring human desire to perceive something supernatural in the world-would have broken away from the theological understandings that would have once helped corral and tame them. We are like a people who dismiss ghosts as archaic, superstitious nonsense, even while we imagine all around us are ectoplasmic projections of the dead, we just not happen to call ghosts. Spirits and demons, angels and demigods, flitter through American public life, ferrying back and forth across our social and political interactions, the burdens of our spiritual anxieties.

Discernment was once central to Pentecostal tradition. Prayer, stillness, waiting on God (tarrying), deep reflection and seeking to steep in the presence of God is a sidelined tradition. The decision by the charismatic leader, the rubric of the latest leadership text determines how we will go from good to great. Existential expediency drives us to decisions lacking spiritual reliance upon the God of the Scriptures and His church to know “this seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”

In such a disoriented context, the Pentecostal Church faces an urgent question: How do we truly recover the capacity to discern the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit? This paper argues that the historic Christian practice of contemplative prayer—a Spirit-led discipline of silence, solitude, attentiveness, and inner stillness before God—offers Pentecostal believers a robust and transformative way to cultivate discernment in this age of confusion. Far from being at odds with Pentecostal spirituality, contemplative prayer resonates deeply with its core values: a lived experience of the Spirit, a hunger for intimacy with God, and an openness to divine revelation. Pentecostals are a people of glossolalia, verbose, physical demonstrations and place the former in the realm of the dynamos of God. Such experiences in the Name of the Holy Spirit in agreement with the Word of God are well and good. However, there are other Scriptural ways and means to groundedness, time absorbed spiritual formation that relishes intimate, deep fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this Divine time space for peace, rest, clarity and wisdom are created in holy communion between the Creator and the imago Dei.

To begin the definition of key terms is important. Contemplative prayer, as used here, refers to a prayer posture of receptive presence to God that transcends words and petitions. It involves practices such as solitude, silence, breath prayer, and inner stillness—forms of prayer in which the believer abides in God's presence, not to "get" something, but to be with God. In the Pentecostal context, this involves an intentional attentiveness to the Spirit's voice, extending beyond emotional expression or dramatic encounters.

Discernment, in this paper, refers not merely to the recognition of good versus evil but to the Spirit-empowered capacity to perceive what is true, wise, and aligned with God's will in each moment or season. This process involves discerning spiritual influences (1 Corinthians 12:10), cultivating moral insight (Romans 12:2), and receiving vocational direction (Acts 13:1–3). True discernment requires a life shaped by intimacy with God, grounded in Scripture, and formed in community.

Finally, confusion describes more than societal complexity; it signals a spiritual fog that impairs clear vision and right action. It is the condition in which believers mistake emotional intensity for divine leading or where ego, fear, or popular opinion are mistaken for the guidance of the Spirit. In Scripture, confusion often results from disobedience, idolatry, or following untested spiritual voices (see Jeremiah 23; 1 John 4:1). In contrast, the Spirit brings clarity, peace, and alignment with God's heart.

This paper seeks to explore how Pentecostals can reclaim contemplative prayer as a foundational practice to counter the disorientation of our age. Rather than being a foreign or passive discipline, contemplative prayer may be one of the most needed correctives to our overactive, distracted, and emotionally reactive spiritual environment. Through biblical reflection, theological engagement, and practical application, this study will demonstrate that contemplative prayer offers Pentecostals a way forward into deeper discernment, spiritual wholeness, and faithful witness in a world hungry for clarity and truth.

Biblical and Theological Foundations

To reclaim contemplative prayer as a viable and vital practice for Pentecostal discernment, it is essential to establish its legitimacy within both Scripture and the broader Christian tradition. Far from being a late innovation or foreign to Pentecostal experience, contemplative spirituality deeply roots itself in biblical patterns of divine-human encounter and the theological heritage of the church, including the Pentecostal movement itself. This section will examine how the Bible affirms discernment as a fruit of spiritual attentiveness and how the Christian tradition, including Pentecostalism, has historically nurtured that attentiveness through contemplative practices.

Biblical Witness to Discernment

The New Testament consistently affirms discernment as a mark of mature Christian spirituality. One of the most formative texts is Romans 12:1–2, in which the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to offer themselves as living sacrifices and to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind." This renewal is not merely intellectual but spiritual enabled by a reoriented heart that discerns "the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." However, discernment just doesn’t happen. There is the “gift of discernment” in 1 Corinthians 12:4- 11. The implication is that by the Holy Spirit a person has the capacity to recognize the true nature of something, whether it’s a person, an event, or a spiritual manifestation. Here God imparts the said gift of discernment. Yet, for other believers’ discernment is not automatic. Knowledge of Scripture is most helpful to discern wisely (Philippians 1:9; Hebrews 5:14 and 1 John 4:1). There is another means to develop discernment. Contemplative Prayer brings the practitioner into intentional space and time, solitude and silence, for surrender, reflection and pure communion with God.

Paul insists that spiritual truths are "spiritually discerned," meaning that rational analysis alone is insufficient to comprehend them. The "natural person" cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit without a Spirit-formed mind. Here again, discernment demonstrates deep relation and dependence on the believer's capacity to "have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2:10–16 highlights the work of the Holy Spirit in revealing God's depths. This passage resonates strongly with contemplative prayer, which cultivates precisely that posture of Spirit-led awareness through silent openness and inner attentiveness.

1 Kings 19:11–13 witnesses to contemplative discernment where the prophet Elijah, after his triumph on Mount Carmel and subsequent flight into the wilderness, encounters God not in the wind, earthquake, or fire—but in a "still small voice" (or "gentle whisper"). The lesson is profound: God often speaks in subtle, quiet ways that can be missed in noise, busyness, or spiritual sensationalism. This passage anticipates a contemplative orientation to God—one that requires silence, solitude, and spiritual attentiveness to perceive the divine.

Contemplation in Christian and Pentecostal Tradition

The biblical witness to discernment through attentiveness and silence mirrors the Christian tradition of contemplation. The Early Church Fathers offer foundational insights. Evagrius Ponticus (4th century), a desert father, taught that pure prayer was "free of images," a silent communion with God. He emphasized the importance of stillness (hesychia) in discerning the thoughts that entered the heart—whether divine, demonic, or self-generated. Likewise, Gregory the Great saw contemplation as the soul's ascent into the mystery of God, where discernment flows from union rather than effort. During the medieval period, Christian mystics such as Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross further developed contemplative theology. For Teresa, the interior castle of the soul could only be accessed through deep prayer and self-surrender. John of the Cross famously described the "dark night of the soul" as a period when God purifies the soul through silence and unknowing, thereby preparing it for a deeper union and clearer spiritual insight. In their writings, discernment arises not from external proofs but from inward communion—a truth Pentecostals would do well to remember.

Interestingly, early Pentecostal prayer practices also bore contemplative elements. The practice of "tarrying" in prayer meetings—waiting in silence and expectation for the Spirit to move—mirrors the contemplative rhythm of receptivity. Early Pentecostals often described receiving visions and words from the Lord, not in emotional frenzy, but in deep stillness. While Pentecostal worship is known for exuberance, its roots include times of silent awe, waiting, and discernment. Silence was not the absence of power but the space where God often spoke.

Thus, the theological foundation for contemplative prayer is not only consistent with Pentecostalism but also integral to its core. As Pentecostals seek clarity in an age of confusion, a return to these biblical and historical practices of contemplative attentiveness will offer a way forward that is both deeply spiritual and theologically grounded. Far from nonbiblical eastern religions as Buddhism which seek to empty the mind to nothingness, contemplative prayer achieves the opposite. Contemplative prayer is a means of communion with God sculpting the disciple of Christ into a carrier for the Holy Spirit’s counsel, direction (discernment), correction and comfort in a shattered world.

Defining Contemplative Prayer

For Pentecostals, Contemplative Prayer is a primary means to commune with God for discernment when so many false voices beckon not only outside the Church, but within the Corpus Christi. Politicians and prophets are secondary means of revelation that large number of Christians place their confidence. Two primary foundational Scripture verses for contemplative prayer are “Be still (cease striving) and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) and “Through return and rest is found salvation and in quietness and trust there is 5 strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15). To further explain contemplative prayer, Tony Jones (2005) quotes M. Basil Pennington:

“Centering (Contemplative) Prayer is an opening, a response, a putting aside of all the debris that stands in the way of us being totally present to the present Lord, so that he can be present to us. It is the laying aside of thoughts, so that the heart can tend immediately to him.” This method neither replaces nor subjugates other forms of prayer, but in fact, enhances them-prayers of praise, petition, intercession, and the like then spring from gratitude, from a deep experience of God’s love.

There is Biblical foundations for such prayer. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 4:18),” So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The Apostle Paul continues, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). The Scriptures are replete with calling to being to know God, His person and work, relationship to the Body and Christ and the world. As we become, we do.

Contemplative prayer is a primary conduit of Biblical and Holy Spirit revelation. However, for many Pentecostals, the concept of "contemplative prayer" is unfamiliar or even suspect—misunderstood as passive, mystical, or disconnected from the vibrant expressions of a Spirit-filled life. To rightly understand its value for Pentecostal discernment, it is essential to define what contemplative prayer is—and what it is not.

What Contemplative Prayer Is and Is Not

Contemplative prayer is often misunderstood as Catholic, a mental and spiritual departure from the world, unchristian eastern meditation, mystical experiences only for cloistered monks. Contemplative prayer is not escapism. It does not exempt individuals from the demands of everyday life or minimize the need for spiritual action and obedience. Rather, it prepares the soul to return to the world with greater clarity, compassion, and spiritual discernment. It is also not an emptying of the mind for its own sake, as some Eastern practices suggest, but a Spirit-filled attentiveness to the living presence of God.

For Pentecostals, who emphasize dynamic encounters with the Holy Spirit, it is crucial to understand that contemplative prayer does not compete with these experiences but complements them. It is not the opposite of exuberant worship or prophetic proclamation; it is the foundation from which those gifts can be discerned, purified, and rightly used. Many who engage in contemplative prayer report a deepened capacity to hear the Spirit, not in louder experiences, but in clearer and more Spirit-led impressions.

At its heart, contemplative prayer is a Spirit-led posture of receptivity. It is the prayer that transcends words, intercession, or mental activity, becoming an act of loving attentiveness 6 to God. The focus is not on speaking but on listening—not on accomplishing something but on abiding in the presence of God. This quiet, interior attentiveness cultivates the conditions in which discernment can flourish. As Elijah discovered in 1 Kings 19, God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire but in the "still small voice." Contemplative prayer creates the interior space where God's person can be perceived.

Practices of Contemplation

Although the term contemplative prayer may seem abstract, there are specific, accessible

practices that help cultivate this posture. These practices are not rigid formulas but guides

that help train the soul in attentiveness and openness to God. Such practices celebrate

Pentecostal spiritual formational practices without theological compromise. The Biblical

orthodoxy and orthopraxy of contemplative prayer enhances the disciple’s life in the Spirit

if regularly practiced.

Contemplative prayer is a significant practice within the Christian contemplative tradition,

systematized in the 20th century by figures such as Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating.

Rooted in ancient Christian spirituality and influenced by the apophatic tradition (nothing

but God in awareness and practice), contemplative prayer involves the intentional

selection of a sacred word—examples include “Jesus,” “peace,” or “Spirit”—which serves

as a symbol of the practitioner’s consent to God’s indwelling presence and action. The

word is not repeated as a mantra but held as a sign of one’s surrender to divine grace.

Thoughts will distract, however, thinking the prayer word chosen brings the practitioner

back to a place of centeredness in Christ. Here the words of Frederick Faber (1852/1861)

become incarnate, “Only to sit and think of God, oh what a joy it is. To think the thought, to

breath the Name. Earth has no higher bliss.” The result is interior silence. Jesus becomes

the center of prayer and holy communion is reestablished. This practice fosters interior

silence and spiritual receptivity, nurturing a posture of contemplative attentiveness.

Theologically, this practice leads to transformation organically, spiritually and relationally.

Contemplative Prayer’s Impact Upon the Practitioner

The synthesis of faith and science in the practice of Contemplative Prayer is remarkable.

Dr. Andrew Newberg, research neurologist at the University of Pennsylvania has done

extensive research into the effects upon the brain when a subject is speaking in tongues

and upon those practicing contemplative prayer. Rob Noll (2014) explains in his book,

What Your Body Knows About God: How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve, and Thrive:

Finally, God has designed our brains with the ability to change, to be transformed.

The apostle Paul exhorts believers to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”

(Rom 12:2). This isn’t just a nice suggestion. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert

Waldman write, “Intense, long-term contemplation of God . . . appears to

permanently change the structure of those parts of the brain that control our

moods, give rise to our conscious notions of self, and shape our sensory

perceptions of the world.” As our brains change—literally with neurons growing,

adapting, knitting themselves together—the brain area that deals with anger

becomes less active, and compassion for others grows.

The benefits of Contemplative prayer continue to experience reinforced affirmation from the likes of neurologist as Dr. Andrew Newberg. Contemplative Prayer, continuously practice five to seven days a week for at least twenty minutes at a time leads to further impact upon consistent participants in holiness and deepening relationship with God and people. Ron Moll (2014) writes:

“Spiritual practices,” says Newberg, “enhance the neural functioning of the brain in ways that improve physical and emotional health.” As we regularly commune with God, we create the neural pathways that strengthen our relationship, eliminating those things that would detract from our growth and reinforcing and developing those habits that lead to our sanctification. This is how God designed us to thrive.

God’s natural law truth confirms the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit through Contemplative Prayer in the life of the disciple of Christ.

Another practice within Contemplative Prayer is breath prayer. This ancient practice integrates the rhythm of breathing with simple phrases of prayer, such as "Come, Holy Spirit" (inhalation) and "Speak, Lord" (exhalation). Breath prayer aligns the body and Spirit in a posture of peace and openness. It serves as a helpful entry point for Pentecostals, who are often more bodily engaged in worship and prayer. Breath prayer grounds the believer in the present moment and anchors the heart in the reality of God's nearness.

A third contemplative practice worth brief mention is Lectio Divina, or "sacred reading." This ancient method of praying Scripture involves four movements: reading (lectio), meditation (meditatio), prayer (oratio), and contemplation (contemplatio). While Pentecostals typically engage Scripture for inspiration, doctrine, or proclamation, Lectio Divina invites believers to receive the Word as a living encounter slowly. The final stage— contemplation—is a silent resting in God's presence, where words fall away and the Spirit forms the heart.

Finally, for Pentecostals, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, in silence if preferred, becomes authentic apophatic communion with God as the Holy Spirit fills the contemplative Pentecostal believer with the Holy Spirit. An experience not initiated by the believer, but solely an act of God in love for those that seek Him. Simon Chan (1998) even uses the words Pentecostal Ascetics to describe Pentecostal spirituality. He explains:

Pentecostals ascetics are no less rigorous than the desert monks in the school of prayer. But unlike their desert counterparts, their solitude is not achieved by physically removing themselves from the human community. Through glossolalia they practice mental solitude. They withdraw to the desert within and enter into a 8 personal intimacy with God. This is how they understand 1 Corinthians 14:2,4 to mean: ‘He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God’ and ‘He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.’

On the same theme, Gordon Fee (2009) explains, “Paul believed in an immediate communing with God by the Spirit that sometimes bypassed the mind.” The ultimate “bypass of the mind” in Fee’s words is the Pentecostal Biblical orthodox belief and practice of “speaking in tongues” or “glossolalia.” The ultimate experience of union with God from the solitude and silence context of Contemplative Prayer is praying by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not by the will of the practitioner, but by the One who fills the disciple of Jesus with the Holy Spirit. This is the peak of the Contemplative Prayer experience. In the text, Embracing Contemplation: Reclaiming a Christian Spiritual Practice (Coe & Strobel, 2019), Simon Chan writes:

The key to understanding Pentecostal spirituality is to be found in the quintessentially Pentecostal teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and it initial evidence of glossolalia... A plausible explanation is that Spirit-baptism bears deep spiritual affinity to contemplative prayer... Glossolalia is a form of nondiscursive, passive prayer, arising from one’s yielding fully to the Spirit (apophatic).

These practices do not replace traditional Pentecostal expressions of prayer; rather, they deepen them. They train the believer not just to speak in tongues or prophesy but to listen, to wait, and to discern the still, clarifying voice of the Spirit. In an age saturated with noise, emotional reaction, and spiritual confusion, such practices offer Pentecostals a rooted and Spirit-filled path to clarity, wisdom, and holy discernment.

Pentecostal Spirituality and the Challenge of Discernment

The Pentecostal tradition, since its inception in the early 20th century, has emphasized direct encounter with the living God through the person and power of the Holy Spirit. This Pentecostal practice includes a strong affirmation of revelation and prophecy as vital to the life of the believer and the church. At the same time, this deep spiritual emphasis brings a real challenge: discerning what genuinely comes from the Spirit of God in a world filled with noise, confusion, spiritual misuse, and self-interest. In such an environment, contemplative prayer isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. It steadies the heart of Pentecostal spirituality, anchoring its openness to God’s voice in habits that shape discernment, foster humility, and nurture lasting spiritual maturity.

Pentecostal Emphasis on Revelation and Prophecy

Central to Pentecostal spirituality is the belief that the Holy Spirit continues to speak to God's people today through supernatural gifts. These include prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, tongues and interpretation, and the discerning of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:7–10). The early Pentecostal revival was fueled by a hunger for an immediate and 9 unmediated experience of God, often expressed through prophetic utterance and spontaneous revelation. Such emphasis is one of Pentecostalism's great strengths—it restores the vitality and expectancy of the early church, encouraging believers to seek personal intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

However, the experiential nature of Pentecostalism can also become a point of vulnerability. Without Biblically grounded, formational practices, spiritual experiences can result in misinterpretation, exaggeration, or even manipulation. In many Pentecostal settings, prophecy and other gifts are often validated based on the authority or charisma of the speaker, the intensity of emotion, or the popularity of the message rather than careful discernment. In such environments, the line between divine revelation and human projection can become dangerously thin.

While the Pentecostal movement has always affirmed the need for discernment— especially the gift of "discerning of spirits"—it often lacks the long-standing practices and spiritual disciplines that help develop this gift in the life of the believer. Discernment is not merely the momentary ability to detect good or evil; it is a cultivated sensitivity to the Spirit formed over time through intimacy with God, engagement with Scripture, and spiritual formation. Contemplative prayer, with its emphasis on interior stillness and receptivity to God, offers Pentecostals a deeper context in which true discernment can flourish. Discernment doesn’t happen in a moment but becomes a way of life in the Word and Spirit.

Discerning God's Voice in a Noisy World

In our media-saturated age, discerning God's voice is increasingly difficult. Pentecostals, like other Christians, live in a digital world shaped by 24/7 information cycles, echo chambers, and performative spirituality. Social media amplifies self-styled prophets and sensational claims. It becomes increasingly easy to confuse the loudest voice with God's voice or to mistake emotional intensity for spiritual authenticity.

False prophecy, ego-driven ministries, and emotionally charged messages often circulate widely and are received uncritically, particularly when they reinforce existing biases or offer a false sense of security or superiority. As a result, many Pentecostal communities find themselves fractured by conflicting revelations, struggling to tell the difference between the true leading of the Spirit and personal or collective desires. In such settings, discernment often shifts away from spiritual wisdom and becomes a matter of choosing sides—whether behind a favored prophet, ministry or a particular political agenda.

This kind of confusion carries real consequences. When discernment is lacking, it leaves room for disillusionment, spiritual harm, theological compromise, and division within the church. Instead of growing through thoughtful formation, congregations often react impulsively, pursuing emotional highs rather than lasting spiritual depth. Without a theologically sound and historically proven practice of quiet attentiveness to God—such 10 as contemplative prayer—Pentecostal spirituality risks becoming shallow, unstable, and prone to confusion.

Contemplative prayer helps create space for deeper discernment by stilling the internal and external noise. It trains the believer to wait, to listen, and to respond to God's voice with humility rather than impulse. When practiced regularly, it begins to clarify motivations, expose ego, and filter out the influence of cultural and emotional manipulation. Such prayer re-centers the believer not on the next prophetic word but on the living Word—Jesus Christ—who speaks through the Spirit in the depths of the soul. Ultimately, Pentecostalism need not abandon its emphasis on revelation and prophecy; rather, it must reclaim the disciplines that ensure the wise practice of these gifts. Contemplative prayer is one such discipline—a Spirit-empowered practice that strengthens Pentecostal discernment in an age that desperately needs it. In cultivating silence, stillness, and surrender, Pentecostals can recover the clarity and courage necessary to discern God's voice amid the chaos and to speak prophetically with both power and purity.

Contemplative Prayer as a Path to Pentecostal Discernment

In a time when distraction, restlessness, and the pursuit of the next big thing shape much of our spiritual environment, Pentecostals are called to return to rhythms that train the heart to listen deeply to the Holy Spirit. One of those rhythms is contemplative prayer. Often perceived in bias and overlooked in Pentecostal circles due to its association with monastic or non-charismatic traditions, contemplative prayer aligns deeply with the Pentecostal desire for intimacy with God and Spirit-empowered discernment. As confusion rises within and beyond the church, contemplation offers a Spirit-formed pathway to discern wisely, live fruitfully, and minister faithfully.

Contemplation Trains Attention

Pentecostals rightly emphasize an openness to the spontaneous movement of the Spirit. However, without a disciplined approach to receiving, interpreting, and responding to spiritual impressions, this openness can lead to reactive spirituality—one that confuses emotion with revelation and impulse with obedience. Contemplative prayer trains believers to move from reactivity to responsiveness. It deepens the believer's capacity to wait, listen, and discern—not merely in moments of crisis but as a way of life. Prayer from the context of contemplation results in, as Brother Lawrence’s (1985) classic, The Practice of the Presence of God states, “I do not pick up a piece of straw from the ground without considering the presence of God.” Brother Lawrence, a favorite author of early Pentecostals (Blumhofer 1989), demonstrates that prayer is not a set time and place, though important for silence and solitude, but is a way of life woven into the daily fabric of life. Simon Chan (1998), in modern context affirms this affirms this truth. Chan quotes Brother Lawrence:

The time of business with me does not differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are calling at the same time are calling for different things I possess God as in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.

Contemplation is not a withdrawal from Pentecostal expression but a rooting of that expression in stillness and clarity.

Through contemplative practices such as centering prayer or breath prayer, the believer gradually develops what theologian Martin Laird (2006) calls a "sustained gaze of the soul." This prayer is not about avoiding action but about being grounded enough to act from a place of peace rather than panic. In the language of Elijah's encounter with God in 1 Kings 19, contemplation cultivates the capacity to hear the "still small voice" amid the earthquakes and fires of modern life. In a world shaped by the constant reaction—whether to media, politics, or internal pressure—contemplation trains the soul to discern Spirit-led responses grounded in presence, not panic.

Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit as Discerning Posture

Discernment isn't just about spotting spirits or making sense of dreams; it's rooted in who we are becoming at the core of our character and life with God. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—not as optional virtues but as essential signs of a Spirit-formed life. In this light, discernment is not only a gift; it is a character quality that grows through intimacy with God.

Contemplative prayer fosters this growth by slowing the soul down long enough to notice the movements within. In the quiet space of contemplation, one begins to see how fear, ambition, or ego may distort what appears to be a "word from the Lord." By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit provides a filter through which discernment must pass. Is the word- loving? Do peace and gentleness mark it? Is it delivered with self-control and humility? These are not soft questions—they are tests of authenticity that contemplative prayer helps bring to the forefront.

As Pentecostals seek to hear God's voice, contemplative prayer cultivates the maturity needed to align one's character with the Spirit before interpreting spiritual impressions. In this way, discernment becomes not just an act but a way of being—a posture shaped by the fruit of the Spirit rather than the fluctuations of the soul.

Stories and Testimonies

While some view contemplative prayer as foreign to Pentecostal spirituality, an increasing number of Pentecostal leaders and movements are rediscovering its value. For example, Rev. Dr. Darryll Wooton (personal communication, October 2024), District Superintendent 12 of the Oklahoma District instituted the “Shhh... Prayer Retreat.” For 24-hours, district leaders, pastors and missionaries are expected to receive teaching on silence and solitude, as well as contemplative prayer. Dr. Wooton desires the pastors he acts as Bishop to cultivate discernment in silence and to carry the practice from the prayer retreat to their contexts of ministry.

Similarly, some contemporary Pentecostal renewal movements—such as the 24-7 Prayer movement influenced by charismatic leaders like Pete Greig—have integrated contemplative practices into their rhythm of life. These ministries have testified that incorporating silence, solitude, and contemplative prayer has led to greater clarity in discerning God's will, especially in times of strategic planning, conflict resolution, or spiritual warfare.

Anecdotes also abound of individual Pentecostal pastors who, through seasons of silent prayer and spiritual retreat, have received deep clarity regarding their vocation, avoided burnout, or discerned that certain prophetic words were not from God. In each case, it was not the loudest voice but the quietest presence—the Spirit encountered in contemplation—that led them to wise, Spirit-aligned decisions.

In conclusion, contemplative prayer is not a retreat from Pentecostal spirituality—it is a refinement of it. It deepens discernment by training attention, forming character, and clarifying the Spirit's voice amid confusion. In an age of competing claims, emotional manipulation, and prophetic overreach, Pentecostals must recover this ancient yet Spirit-breathed path. As the church leans into contemplative prayer, it will not lose its fire—it will find its flame burning with greater purity, peace, and power.

Formational Implications for Pentecostal Leaders

In an era when pastoral burnout is on the rise, prophetic confusion abounds, and church divisions are deepening, Pentecostal leaders face unprecedented challenges. The Spirit- filled tradition that once renewed global Christianity now finds itself in danger of becoming reactive, overstimulated, and spiritually fragmented. To recover the prophetic credibility and moral authority once associated with Pentecostal leadership, there must be a reimagining of spiritually forming leaders. Contemplative prayer—rooted in historic Christian practice and empowered by the Spirit—offers a path forward. Its integration provides spiritual clarity, inner peace, and accountability in community for Pentecostal in ministry, mission and the marketplace to discern and act wisely.

Reimagining Pentecostal Formation

Pentecostal formation has historically emphasized fire over form: revival over rhythm, immediacy over introspection. This passionate focus has yielded an incredible global impact, yet it has often neglected sustainable practices for soul care, discernment, and 13 long-term spiritual growth. Reimagining Pentecostal formation today requires teaching leaders not only how to speak with boldness but also how to listen with stillness. Incorporating practices such as silence, solitude, examen, and spiritual attentiveness into Bible colleges, seminaries, and local church leadership training is essential. The spiritual disciplines championed by saints throughout church history—though often sidelined in Pentecostal contexts—provide time-tested tools for hearing God's voice with clarity and humility. Practices like the Daily Examen (a prayerful review of one's day), guided silence, and even contemplative retreats can be integrated into ministerial training programs to form leaders who do not merely react to crises but discern God's movement in them.

Pentecostal leadership today needs to pause and reflect intentionally, daily. Such practice quiets reactive decisions and discernment. Such prayer creates the margin of pause to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide into truth. The “be still” intentionality allows for the “still small voice” to impress the mind of God. This contemplative formation includes boards, trustees, and all in the Body of Christ seeking to discern, “here is the way, walk in it.” An example of this is Harvest Church (Assemblies of God) in El Paso, Texas. Lead Pastor, Robert Melton provides the pastoral staff and the church board separate retreats to intentionally foster a context of silence and solitude to learn and practice contemplative prayer. In this way, contemplative practice becomes not an individual act of spiritual luxury but a communal rhythm that shapes ecclesial discernment.

Contemplative Communities and Accountability

If contemplative prayer is to form leaders for discernment, it must be grounded in communities of practice and accountability. Pentecostal leaders are often isolated— either by title, expectation, or platform—and can become vulnerable to ego-driven decision-making or misinterpretation of spiritual impressions. Spiritual direction and communal discernment offer necessary safeguards. In spiritual direction, leaders receive guidance from mature, prayerful guides who help them notice and test how God is speaking in their inner life. This sacred companionship slows leaders down, invites them to examine their motivations truthfully, and opens them to the transforming work of the Spirit. Likewise, communal discernment—a practice rooted in Acts 15 and carried on by Christian communities through the centuries—reminds leaders that no one hears from God in isolation. Even Spirit-empowered decisions are subject to the discernment of the body. The early church practiced this when weighing the legitimacy of prophetic words or apostolic teachings. Today, Pentecostal churches must do the same, especially when navigating contested prophecies, divisive decisions, or spiritual manipulation. Key to this communal discernment is the cultivation of humility, slowness, and spiritual testing. First, John 4:1 commands believers, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God." In our age of immediacy and platform-driven ministry, this call to test is more important than ever. Contemplative communities are places where leaders can slow down, practice listening together, and resist the temptation to follow charisma over Christ.

This formation is not only protective but also prophetic. When Pentecostal leaders embody contemplative rhythms, they witness a different kind of authority—one grounded not in volume or visibility but in spiritual depth, peace, and wisdom. They become leaders who are unshaken by the culture's confusion, undistracted by the latest trends, and unmistakably attuned to the Spirit.

In conclusion, contemplative prayer is an essential path to spiritual clarity and credible leadership. By reimagining Pentecostal formation and building communities of contemplative accountability, the movement can recover its prophetic voice—not as noise but as Spirit-wisdom spoke from the stillness of God's presence.

Conclusion and Call to Practice

Richard Foster (1978) wrote, “God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things.” The “deeper things” through contemplative prayer are increasingly caught by Pentecostals.

In a fragmented and noisy age—where spiritual confusion, often fueled by disinformation, performance-based religion, and an over-reliance on charisma—Pentecostals face a renewed challenge: how to discern God's voice clearly, humbly, and faithfully. The answer is not to abandon our rich heritage of Spirit-empowered experience but to deepen it through the recovery of contemplative prayer as a formative spiritual discipline. Averbeck (2008) explains that:

The purpose of practicing solitude and devotion, therefore, is to dedicate some part of our time exclusively to the work of the Holy Spirit in our human spirit. If properly engaged in, this time can and will become some of the most meaningful, spiritually productive, and freeing time of our day, our week, our month, our year, our lifetime.

Throughout this paper, we have explored how contemplative prayer, far from being a passive or monastic detour, is profoundly relevant for Pentecostal discernment. It is a practice that slows the soul, sharpens attention, shapes character, and anchors leaders and communities in the Spirit's wisdom rather than the culture's chaos.

Summary of Key Points

We began by naming the confusion of our cultural moment—marked by fragmentation, spiritual manipulation, and an increasing loss of discernment within the church. In response to this, we argued that contemplative prayer is a necessity for Pentecostal believers seeking spiritual clarity. Rooted in the biblical text, such as Romans 12:1–2 and 1 Kings 19, and affirmed by historic Christian practice, contemplative prayer nurtures stillness, attentiveness, and intimacy with the Holy Spirit. It transforms prayer from a monologue into a relational posture of receptivity steeped in the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Pentecostal spirituality, while rich in prophetic openness and experiential faith, can become vulnerable when divorced from practices of discernment and self-examination. Without grounding in contemplative disciplines, the gifts of the Spirit—especially prophecy, wisdom, and discerning of spirits—can be misused, misinterpreted, or manipulated. Contemplative prayer, by contrast, teaches leaders to wait on God in humility and to test what they hear against the character of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit.

Lastly, we explored the formational implications for Pentecostal leadership: reimagining formation in our schools and churches to include silence, examen, and communal discernment and fostering spiritual direction and accountability as norms rather than exceptions.

Call to Action

It is time for Pentecostal leaders and churches to reclaim the contemplative disciplines that have too often been relegated to other traditions. The Spirit is not only present in revival, fire, and tongues—but also in the silence between the words, the gentle nudging of conscience, and the prayer that listens more than it speaks. E. Glenn Hinson (1999) says, “Jesus did not censure Martha’s work, her ministry. Rather, he faulted her failure in her busyness to make the most of the present moment.” Pentecostal formation must embrace this fuller range of Spirit-empowered spirituality if it is to endure with faithfulness and fruitfulness.

Let us begin to set aside a few minutes of silence each day, not to empty the mind but to open the heart to Christ. Invite the Holy Spirit into that quiet space. Practice attentiveness in leadership meetings, Sunday services, and personal prayer. Encourage students in Bible colleges and seminarians to learn the Examen and Lectio Divina alongside homiletics and pneumatology. Provide students the opportunity to have a Spiritual Director to be with in a monthly rhythm for further spiritual formation. Create spaces in churches where there is a pause for discernment and where the testing of spirits is done in the community, not in isolation. As Eugene Peterson (1989) counsels:

But if I vainly crowd my day with conspicuous activity or let others fill my day with imperious demands, I don’t have time to do my proper work, the work to which I have been called. How can I lead people into the quiet place of still waters if I am in perpetual motion? How can I persuade a person to live by faith and not by works if I have to juggle my schedule constantly to make everything fit into place?

In a world constantly pushing us toward reaction, distraction, and division, contemplative prayer roots us in the deep peace of Christ and tunes our ears to the true Shepherd's voice. Through it, Pentecostals can once again lead prophetically—not with noise, but with nuance, not from fear, but from discernment.

Closing Thought

Chi Alpha leader and spiritual director, Gil Banton recently observed (personal communication March 2025), "The greatest threat to spiritual discernment is not deception, but distraction." This observation is a prophetic word for our time. We are not lacking in voices or visions; we are lacking in stillness. Distraction dulls the ears of the soul and leads us to mistake noise for revelation. Nevertheless, the Spirit has not changed—He still speaks in the still small voice.

May we, as Pentecostal leaders, pastors, and disciples, recover the practice of contemplative prayer so that we may discern wisely, lead faithfully, and reflect the quiet strength of Christ in a world desperate for clarity and peace. Let the noise around us drive us deeper into God's presence, where discernment is born not in striving but in surrender.

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