How to find a prayer style for your personality

Identify your personality type.

Before you can identify the type of prayer that suits you, you need to know what sort of personality you are.  One excellent way of doing this is to take the Myers-Briggs indicator test such as this one available online http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp. 

Following the test you will be given a breakdown of your personality with four letters; for example ENFJ.  The middle two letters of your personality type are the ones that matter for the identification of your preferred prayer form.

NT are iNtuitive - Thinking

NF are iNtuitive - Feeling

SJ are Sensing - Judging

SP are Sensing - Perceiving 

Identify the type of prayer which suits your personality from the four types outlined below:

NT personalities prefer Thomistic Prayer

Thomistic prayer was designed by St Thomas Aquinas, a son of St Dominic.  The prayer appeals to the intuitive-thinking temperament with its interest and search for truth and competency; and will be most hard for the sensing-perceiving temperament.  However everyone needs a certain amount of this prayer.

This type of prayer was popular with the intellectual leaders of Roman Catholicism and with the protestant leaders of the enlightenment.  However does to it’s intellectual complexities the common people used to find it difficult.

The focus of the prayer is on the orderly progression of thought from cause to effect using rational thinking.  You take a virtue or fault or theological truth and "walk around it" studying it from every possible angle using the seven auxilliary questions: what, why, how, who, where, when, with what. 

Care is needed because this type of prayer can tend to become a prayer in the form of scientific analysis but it needs the use of the heart to get in touch with feelings if it is not going to become a "head trip". 

It is recommended that a scriptural phrase or saying is meditated on in the morning and then carried around throughout the day so that a change in behaviour is identified and achieved.

NF personalities prefer Augustinian Prayer

Augustinian prayer was developed by St Augustine as part of the Rule of Life for his religious community.  It uses the transposition of the words of God into daily prayer with personal reflection on the presence of God in His Word. 

Augustinian prayer uses all functions, but places special emphasis on Intuition and Feeling, intuitive-feeling personalities have the greatest drive for self development and spiritual growth. This type of prayer can be useful for all temperaments.  The intuitive-feeling personality needs to find meaning in everything; they want to know that they make a difference; experiencing a personal relationship with God is essential.  They look to the future, they are visionaries, and they want to see new possibilities for their future.  They like symbols in their prayer life, as used in liturgy and most prayer forms, they are well cared for spiritually.  Prayer and quiet meditation is an essential element of this personality’s day and they enjoy journaling.

Augustinian prayer transposes the words of the bible to our situation today. The word of God comes alive and applicable for the world today. 

SJ personalities prefer Ignatian Prayer

Ignation prayer was developed by St Ignatius who became the teacher for this way of praying for Christians.  He had a 30 day experience of prayer that profoundly influenced the rest of his life.  He developed this into The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignasius which give an outline to follow to commemorate the life of Jesus Christ.

Ignation prayer was used by the Israelites a 1000 years before Christ; it is the remembrance of an event of salvation history.  It is similar to Augustinian prayer in some ways but it projects the prayer as a participant into the different scenes and experiences of the life of Jesus and history of salvation. 

The purpose is to try and make the Gospels and Scripture come alive and real to us so that a personal application of the teaching and message can be obtained.  It is by imagining yourself into the events of Jesus' life you get to experience the emotions that He felt. 

The Ignatian spiritual exercises are most easily understood by the sensing-judging temperament but the intuitive-thinking and intuitive-feeling temperaments also find this method quiet profitable.  The sensing-perceiving temperament often has problems with it.  The liturgy of Holy Week is a good example of igantian prayer, those who participate are taken back 2000 years and become a part of the events.  From the participation some practical fruit for their present relationship with God and neighbour is drawn.

SP personalities prefer Franciscan Prayer

Franciscan prayer was developed by St Francis of Assisi.  It was a new way of prayer that was spirituality driven and totally open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It’s key is its simplicity and directness that could be understood easily even by the uneducated. 

Many are charmed with the spirit of abandon, humour and magnetism revealed in the human interest anecdotes which have been heard and read about St Francis.  However there is more to Franciscan spirituality that the poetry of a free spirit who rejoices in the beauties and glories of God in nature, he made a deliberate decision to give away all his worldly possessions and depend on the charity of others. 

The basic temperament that this appeals to is sensing-perceiving since it requires an attitude of openness and willingness to go in any direction that the spirit calls.  Since these people can see the beauty of God in the whole of creation, they can meditate on the beauty of a flower or a lake; they will be more interested in the events in Jesus' life rather than his teachings.  Sensing-perceiving people tend not to need a set period of prayer but will pray throughout the day, perhaps with the Jesus prayer, being in God's presence; however they should try to hold a set time for prayer.