Ascending the Mountain Within: Experiencing God Through Contemplative Prayer

Ascending the Mountain Within is a journey of exploring, discovering and experiencing contemplative prayer. If prayer, for you as seems more mechanical than conversational; more dutiful than intimate; more formulaic than heart felt, then this book invites you to Ascend the  Mountain Within and discover a whole, other way of praying that is anchored in Scripture, modeled by the Desert Fathers, practiced by the Saints of old, but nearly forgotten and ignored in our modern times. 

In our fast, hurried and busy world, we have lost our way to experiencing God by assuming prayer to be transactional--something we must do to get something from God. Prayer is more than asking God to do something. Prayer, as the Smith's describe it, is experiencing God within.  Ascending the Mountain is easy to ready; easy to comprehend and easy to remember guideline to experiencing prayer that is contemplative. This is not a book of tips and techniques. Rather, it is a confessional witness to how two seasoned veterans learned to pray. This is intended to be a prayer book, something you will want to carry with you and take with you, often referring to it as a clarion call to pray with the soul in mind.

Stephen and Gwen Smith set out to offer a practical, simple, readable and “easy-to-get” primer on contemplative prayer. Ascending the Mountain is the Smiths first book to write together.  The Smiths are the Co-Founders of Potter’s Inn, a Christian ministry devoted to the care of the souls of leaders in the marketplace and ministry.  They are frequent speakers, consultants, spiritual directors and interested in the global impact of the soul care mandate.

This book is a guide to help the reader use time and time again as we unlearn some of what we thought prayer was and practice prayer in a meaningful and impactful way.  Various Scriptures are placed throughout the book to inspire and engage the reader to mediate on some of the deeper truths offered us about consenting to the presence of God as we ascend the mountain within.

Ascending the Mountain is available in Kindle and Paperback through Amazon.