4 Keys Abridged Edition - Session 1

Summary

Mark Virkler shares a Christian prayer practice for seeking guidance and experiencing a closer relationship with God. He says that sustained, focused practice helped him learn to recognize what he understood as God’s communication.

Key Strategies and Practices

• Apply focused effort: Rather than dabbling, Virkler recommends studying one area in depth over time. He describes devoting a year to reading, prayer, and experimentation focused on hearing God.
• Use four keys during prayer:
  1. Stillness: Quiet your thoughts and settle into prayer.
  2. Vision: Use the “eyes of your heart” to picture Jesus or a biblical scene as you pray.
  3. Spontaneity: Pay attention to thoughts, images, or feelings that arise spontaneously. Virkler describes these as possible ways God communicates.
  4. Journaling: Write down the thoughts and pictures that come during prayer without interrupting the process to judge each one.
• Review and discern afterward: Virkler advises checking what was written against Scripture and sharing it with trusted spiritual friends for feedback.
• Try a two-way “love letter” exercise: Write a paragraph expressing one reason you love God. Then spend time in quiet prayer, picture Jesus in a comfortable setting, and write what comes to mind in response. Virkler suggests sharing the response with someone else if it feels appropriate.
• Approach the practice gently: Virkler encourages a relaxed, childlike attitude rather than forcing or straining for an experience. He also leads a prayer renouncing fear that quieting the mind could invite harmful spiritual influence.

These are presented as spiritual practices and beliefs by the speaker, not as clinical wellness guidance.

Presenter and Sources

• Presenter: Mark Virkler
• Sources cited: The Bible, including Habakkuk 2:1–2; Deuteronomy 17:18; Psalm 46:10; Ephesians 1:17–18; Hebrews 12:1–2; Acts 2:25; John 5:19–20; and John 7:37–39.