Uses

Biblical Meditation Uses Imagination!

Christian Meditation , , ,

Article by Mark Virkler

I received a question the other day from a pastor. He has been teaching about how to hear the voice of God, which includes using one’s imagination to visualize. However, he had received questions from several in his congregation asking where in the Bible we are told to ‘picture’ or visualize Jesus. After all, there are verses in the New Testament which say that we don’t see Jesus (2 Cor 5:6-7, 1 Peter 1:7-8). I know a lot of people who have read about how to hear the voice of God have this same question. So, where does the Bible tell us to visualize Jesus?

Seeing Inwardly Versus Seeing Outwardly

As you read the context of 2 Corinthians 5:6-7 and 1 Peter 1:7-8, you will note they are both talking about PHYSICALLY SEEING. When it comes to seeing with the eyes of our hearts, Paul tells us to look and see the glory of the Lord in the “unseen” world (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:18) and Hebrews 12:2 tells us we are to be fixing our eyes on Jesus. And seeing with our hearts is what we are really talking about when we speak about visualization.

Paul tells us that we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). One chapter later, Paul confirms that this transformation occurs “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen (2 Cor. 4:18).”

So, what (or who) is it in the unseen realm that we are to look at and, that by beholding, will transform us into the same image? The answer is that as I look with the eyes of my heart to see what Jesus is doing in the situation, and I take on His actions by saying, “Yes, Lord.” and do what I see Jesus doing, the result is that I am transformed from a person who does something out of self, to a person who is doing what I see Jesus doing in the situation. Notice we are seeing what Jesus IS doing, not what Jesus WOULD do. It is the present tense action of Jesus.

Abiding in Christ Involves Seeing Jesus

This is the way Christians are to live all the time. It is called “abiding in Christ” (Jn. 15) and it involves hearing, feeling, sensing and seeing Jesus in action, the One Who is walking with us down the road of life. It is simple. It must be simple enough for a child to do (Lk. 18:17), so don’t make it difficult. It is asking the Holy Spirit to show you what Jesus is doing, and then looking with the eyes of your heart into the unseen world, and honoring and accepting and believing the pictures that light upon your mind while you are in that poise. You have asked for them to come from the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ promise is that indeed they do (Jn. 7;37-39; Lk. 11:13).

What is the Precise Definition of Meditate?

Let’s look at the meaning of the Hebrew verb hagah “meditate, imagine, visualize,” in Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2. As we will see in the paragraphs that follow, the standard Hebrew lexicon, Brown, Driver, Briggs, and Spanish Old Testament & Hebrew scholar, Dr. Jesus Arambarri, have proven the meanings “imagine” and “visualize” for this verb in the Hebrew Bible.

The other passages in the Hebrew Bible that demonstrate the “imagine”/”visualize” meaning are discussed in detail on pages 7-13 of “How to Release God’s Healing Power Through Prayer” by Greig, Virkler and Gaydos.

Visualizing is not a New Age idea: it’s a godly, heavenly idea that satan stole and counterfeited!! And the Hebrew hagah in Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:2 (and all the other passages in the Hebrew Bible where it is used) prove it!

Conclusion:

This is why we conclude that practicing biblical meditation means visually pondering and picturing what God says is true in Scripture, while we keep the words of Scripture in our mouths, memorizing key passages.

About the Author

Mark Virkler is with Christian Leadership University, an online Bible college/university which has several online Christian colleges of study, offering degrees including counseling degrees and Master’s of Divinity. https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.cluonline.com

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Meditation and Abundance, Part I – The Uses and Limits of Mindfulness Approaches

Meditation Basics , , , , , ,

Article by Richard M. Frost

It might seem odd to associate meditation with materialistic concerns about wealth and abundance. Isn’t meditation supposed to be a spiritual pursuit that takes us above such worldly matters? While it certainly can be purely spiritual, meditation has become linked to abundance in the New Age movement because it addresses control over our minds, and what we do with our minds is believed to affect what happens in our lives. The extent to which one believes in the power of the mind dictates the type of meditative practice one will employ. In this first article in a three-part series, we look at the approach taken by those who can’t quite bring themselves to fully accept this power.

The Minimalist Approach – Applied Mindfulness

Mindfulness practices aim to cultivate present-moment awareness, with the ultimate goal of teaching us that we have a choice over the contents of our own minds and, consequently, the way that we feel as we ride the ups and downs that life throws at us. The Buddha taught that suffering is inevitable, but the way we react to it is not.

From a New Age perspective, the problem with Buddhist mindfulness is its failure to tell us that we create our realities with our thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness techniques are wonderful ways to reduce stress, and have been shown to boost immune function and positive attitudes, but they do little to empower you. They can change the way you feel, but they do not take the next step and explain how feelings have creative power outside the self.

Thus, the kinds of exercises that are sometimes prescribed by mindfulness practitioners, like Dr. Rick Hanson, are all about making you feel more abundant, but not about making you have more abundance. We are told to feel grateful for all the things we have right now, and to notice and appreciate simple everyday things that we typically take completely for granted, like the air we breathe and the food we eat. Dr. Hanson’s approach, combining evolutionary neuroscience with Buddhism, tries to satisfy primitive structures within the brain that are almost permanently afraid of not having enough to survive.

The Limits of Mindfulness Methods

There is much to be said for this approach, but it can be seen as simply managing the symptoms of the disease rather than curing it – a kind of palliative care for the impoverished soul. And, rather ironically, by ignoring the very real creative power of emotions, mindfulness practitioners are actually selling themselves short. It is possible to generate significant feelings of plenty from these simple exercises, and those feelings can work magic in your outer reality. But none of that is acknowledged because most of these practitioners aren’t willing to join that segment of the New Age movement which believes in a much greater power of the mind.

In the next article, we will remedy that defect and take a step toward fully embracing the true power of our minds over our lives. But before moving on, I want to emphasize that mindfulness practices should not be ignored. In fact, because they are so simple and can be used to generate feelings of abundance even when the chips are down (we always have air to breathe!), they should be seen as a basic weapon in our never-ending battle against poverty-consciousness. Moreover, mindfulness is an essential quality for anyone seeking to understand the connection between inner and outer reality, for without awareness you have absolutely no chance of ever being able to control your mind well enough to control your life.

About the Author

Click on the following links for more on the limits of mindfulness and how to manifest abundance.