Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
Week 6: Chapter 5 — Prayer and Our Hearts
Read Chapter 5 of Prayer by Timothy Keller. Primary Scripture: Psalm 62:8; Lamentations 3:41.
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This chapter addresses the heart as the true location of prayer—and forces us to reckon with how often our prayers stay on the surface while our deepest fears, desires, and idols remain unexamined. Read this chapter ready to be gently unsettled.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller argues that self-knowledge and knowledge of God are deeply intertwined—that honest prayer is one of the primary means by which we come to know ourselves truly. Do you experience prayer as self-revealing? When have you discovered something about yourself through praying (or through avoiding prayer)?
2.Keller revisits the idea of 'idols of the heart'—the things we trust for significance, security, and satisfaction more than God. He argues that our prayer lives often reveal our idols: we pray anxiously about what we treasure most and barely at all about everything else. What do your prayers (or your prayer anxieties) reveal about what you actually treasure?
3.Keller describes 'reflective prayer'—praying in a way that turns the searchlight of the gospel on our interior life, examining our fears, desires, and responses in light of who God is. How is this different from mere introspection or psychological self-analysis? What makes it genuinely prayer rather than just journaling?
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