Do you find it hard to just stop thinking? If you don’t, you are an exception and truly blessed. In fact, if your mind isn’t constantly wandering, I would bet to say that you practice some technique on a regular basis that helps you to quiet your thoughts.
Unfortunately for the majority of the population and that includes Christians, have a difficult time turning off the flow of minutia in your brains. Even when we want to stop thinking and embrace the peace and quiet we can’t. I believe that our thoughts can literally drive us crazy sometimes, especially when they interfere with our sleep, create worry, and steal our peace of mind.
There is really only one way to quiet our minds and that is through meditation. But as Christians, we have been taught that meditation is something evil and to be avoided. Yet if you looked up meditation in the dictionary you would find that it means to ponder, to pray, to contemplate, and to muse over.
In addition, if you did an internet search on Christian meditation you would find that Christians have been meditating for centuries. In fact, Jesus is our greatest example of why we need to meditate. The scriptures tell us that it was Jesus’ daily custom to find a solitary place and spend time with the Father. Also, when Jesus was in the desert those 40 days and night, what do you think he was doing? He was communing with God.
It is in the stillness and quietness that we truly come to know God. Psalms 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Therefore, as believers, we don’t have to believe the lie that all meditation is bad. It’s just a matter of what you are meditating on. If your meditations are on loving God, proclaiming is goodness, and abiding in his presence, how can that be a bad thing? Joshua 1:8 admonishes us to meditate on God day and night if we want success in life.
Christians that have not learned to abide in God’s presence and be still with Him spend most of their time doing for God.
They go to church and attend many meetings and Bible studies but that is not where intimacy with God is created. You can get that from going to church. It comes only from spending time with the Father. Jesus said they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth for these are the types of worshipers the Father desires.
Through Christian meditation not only will our relationship with God grow, but our peace of mind and joy also increases as well. That is because practicing Biblical meditation we learn how to live for the moment and leave everything else in God’s hands. Through learning to quiet our minds and abide in God’s presence we also begin to lose our attachment to things or beings and God takes a more preeminent role in our life.
Meditating on God can be as simple as sitting in a quiet area just focusing on the Lord. It can encompass meditating on a sacred word (part of scripture) or your breathing to anchor your mind and keep it from wandering, or it can be simply listening to a guided Christian meditation that takes you through a progressive relaxation and scriptural narrative.
The truth is that once you spend time just abiding in God’s presence you won’t want to stop. Dwelling in the sweet presence of God will draw you like bees to honey. We can’t be in God’s presence and not be changed. We can’t meditate on God and not feel is love. We must learn to be still and quiet our thoughts so we can truly hear from God, embrace His Word and be transformed into his likeness.
Rhonda Jones is the author of a series of Christian meditation and relaxation CDs that encourages listeners to relax, spend more quality time with God, and learn to live more consciously and in the present. Please visit her website at https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.thechristianmeditator.com for additional information.
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