Christian Meditation

[Prodigal7]

Thanks Kindlychung for your post,

I guess it makes sense if Peter can go back after denying Jesus three times, then we should be able to go back to the Lord after falling short. I had a pastor who talked about the disciples, people who saw the miracles with their own eyes, falling short. If they fell short we shouldn't be overly hard on ourselves when we fall short.

Another good example is the Isrealites in the desert with Moses. They were literally seeing one miracle after another and they still fell into sin. God even called them a "stiff necked people".

Sometimes I feel stiffnecked. That's what my contemplation of scripture is all about. It is nothing tricky or fancy. I'm just trying to get the word of God into my head to arm myself. I'm the type who can't afford to read the scriptures like the newspaper. When I read the scriptures like that my retention is very low.

Today I had a verse jump of the page at me. Sometimes I read the New Living Translation. It seems overly simple sometimes but I have a simple mind.

Romans 8:6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind there is life and peace.

My old ways lead to death. My old thoughts and ideas lead to death. There is no peace in my old way of life.

Luke 1:78-79 Because of God's tender mercy, the light of heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.

God is merciful. Even though I am often in the darkness he gives me a guide to the path of peace.

Luke 6:40 A student is not greater than the teacher. But the student who works hard will become like the teacher.

I have no chance to be perfect. It's not in the cards for me. If I work hard though I can move in the right direction. To me, work means making an effort. Work does not have to be drudgery. I need to make an effort to seek God. I know for a fact that doing nothing, for me, leads to very little.

I liked bramages point about how once we"realize the love of Jesus, we no longer think of issues as work and discipline.."

I think I'm still at the discipline stage. I believe in the love of Jesus but sometimes I forget about it. I get wrapped up in what I am or am not doing. When I get wrapped up in myself I think less of God.

I'm not a spiritual infant but I'm not fully grown either.

 

[TieDye]

I wonder if perhaps as our worldview expanded and we started learning more about eastern religious traditions, Christians may have shied away from meditation because they associated it with religions that were not their own? I've seen Christians speak out against "meditiation" in general, saying that it's not a Christian thing to do because it encourages something or other . . . when meditation DOES exist in our faith.

So perhaps it's just this false idea that Christian meditation doesn't exist because the practice is elsewhere? Those religions do it differently, and I don't think that should hold any bearing on whether we do or not.

I haven't done it in a while, but it is such a relaxing feeling to just quiet yourself and put everything on hold - not a rushed prayer before bed or one on the highway when a truck veers towards you - but shutting out everything else and having true one-on-one time with God, without any other outside influences getting in the way.

 

[kindlychung]

but shutting out everything else and having true one-on-one time with God, without any other outside influences getting in the way.

TieDye, I totally agree with you.
I think if one take meditation as means of salvation, it can't be right.
If it's for calming down your heart, in order to concentrate on the communication wih God, it is right.
I think meditation should be a way to sort out our thoughts and feelings before God, and most importantly, it should be guided by him. AT least this kind of meditation is beneficial to me, it helped me to get closer to God, so that I am able to find out my spiritual short comings and the solutions to them.
Bless you all.

 

[Prodigal7]

Matthew 10:34
Do Not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the Earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Was Jesus talking past or future tense here? Was he talking about a future clash of civilizations between Christianity and Islam?? Was he talking about the tension between believers and unbelievers? Was he foretelling a high tech civilization which would systematically try to dismantle the Christian under pinnings of civilization? Did he foresee the insanity of politically correct school textbooks which talk about gay marriage and yet cannot speak of the ten commandments?

Hebrews 12:4
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

In the United States we take our freedom of religion for granted. We assume it will always be this way. We ignore the headlines. Whether it be a false Jesus tomb today or some other thing tomorrow, believers are besieged.

In the event that we were to lose our religious freedom are we prepared to do more than talk?? We talk of peace and endless pacifism, yet what Christian isn't grateful that the Muslims were turned back in Europe in the middle ages?

Nehemiah 4:14
Remember our Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.

One philosopher speculated that a civilization is in decline when nothing is worth dying for. Government leaders dare not offer a stern program to the masses. Civilizational decline means the same thing to an individual as it does to a people: unfruitfulness, lack of will power, lack of ability to believe in or follow great aims, lack of inner discipline, and finally - a desire for a life of ease and pleasure.

Hebrews 11:36-39
They were stoned, they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.

This is why they were called Saints. They put their lives and skins on the line for the faith.

To many modern thinkers: the longer life is best. A short and heroic life is sad, not inspiring. Heroism is generally thought of as foolish since a prolonged life is the aim of "progress".

Ephesians 5:13-14
But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

"Wake up, O Sleeper
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."

Some people speculate that Western Civlization is asleep because it has gotten so far away from it's Christian roots. This sounds harsh but is it?? Every country in Europe has a declining birthrate. In Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West the author speculates about the loss of the spirtual or sacred.

In the United States we have porous borders because they say we have no workers and yet we abort 40 million of the unborn over the last 30 years.

We have a little too much X-Box and Nintendo and far too little Protestant work ethic. Having a good time all the time isn't what made this country great.

Isaiah 7:9
If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

Peace is great. Tolerance is good. Avoiding conflict is admirable. At what point do we push these to an extreme? Is endless tolerance a desireable thing? Has a civilization ever survived with an ever expanding definition of tolerance?

Galatians 6:14 New Living Translation
As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead.

One philosopher said, "The atomizing of the soul of the West is not the 20th century idea. The abandonment of culture and the decline of population are the illnesses of the West, not its future, its crisis, not its health."

I read a book that said God scoffs at the empires of man. I believe that.

Peace and goodnight

 

[JPPT1974]

Only thing we need to boast about is
Our belief in Christ Jesus and nothing more

 

[Prodigal7]

That last post was a little dark. I go through moodswings in my walk with God.

At least even when I'm unspiritual my faith seems to be there now. I think I'm progressing.

 

[kindlychung]

I think I'm progressing.

Prodigal, that's also what I think.

 

[Prodigal7]

John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Interesting that this passage followed a statement by the Samaritan woman pondering where to worship.

In spirit - does that mean our hearts must be right??

 

[JPPT1974]

John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Interesting that this passage followed a statement by the Samaritan woman pondering where to worship.

In spirit - does that mean our hearts must be right??

We are to worship in spirit and in truth
God through Jesus Christ knowing that
Having followers of Christ is what
Our Lord and Savior wants out of us.

 

[cubanito]

I am "neutral" in regards to meditation. I have read and studied very little about it as practiced by Christians and the Bible speaks of it only tangentially. Some Biblical passages seem to support it's use, others seem against it, such as Jesus' admonishion not to be repetitive in our prayers. Please note the qualitatives of "seem", I have done no serious study of this either in the Bible or outside it.

Some forms of meditation are harmful. I again stress this is NOT a general indictment of meditation, only certain forms of it. The one of which I know most in terms of negative effects is transcendental meditation. There is a clear link of this meditative practice preceeding various forms of mental illness, and the resolution after the practice is stopped.

JR

 

[J4Jesus]

The only way a Christian should meditate in to think on what His Word says and the greatness of his character; that is, his love, grace, mercy, holiness, etc.

 

[favoritetoyisjoy]

Prodigal,

Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, for he trusteth in Thee."

I've enjoyed your posts. I have found that the more I devote my mind to God, thinking about Him and talking to Him, the closer I feel to Him, the more He blesses me with His magnificent Presence, and the more I am blessed. If you haven't already read it, I recommend that you read Frank Laubach's short testimony on Christian meditation. Just "google" his name.

We are promised that if we draw close to God He will draw close to us. It's true. God bless!

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Christian meditations, the process thru which beginnings of understanding find their full realization and as being different from revelations.
I think that God gives us revelations as a concept suddenly in our minds, like new seeds, of thoughts we've never thought before, where before that the existence of the term didn't at all exist. And thru meditation and deep contemplation on the subject we're able to master the topic. I love the thought process of the meditations of some of the posts in this thread to bring that realization of the topic about. Meditation is also an appropriation of the word, where we not only eat the word but digest it and also eliminate false teachings on the subject. Graphic but neverless true." Praying on the word till your hot, reading till your hot and meditating till your hot to get all you can from the word" in the words of an old friend, in some such order!?!

 

[J4Jesus]

I think the more time we take to meditate on His Word, the more revelation the Spirit of God gives us.

............ Praying on the word till your hot, reading till your hot and meditating till your hot to get all you can from the word" .......

Sounds good to me!

 

[JPPT1974]

His love, peace, joy, greace, mercy, kindness
We should meditate on because He is all of that!

 

[Prodigal7]

Great posts everyone.
I was surprised to see this thread still active.

Luke 24:45
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.

I originally found the word meditation in the Bible using a Strong's Concordance. If you don't have one I highly recommend it. It's like surfing the Bible.

John 6:15
Jesus, knowing that they intended to make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

According to Strong the word "meditation" or "meditate" appears in the King James Version 20 times. In the back of the Strongs Concordance he defines it as the "quiet contemplation of spiritual truths". Out of the 20 mentions 15 occur in Psalms. To me that's not surprising.

John 6:63
The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

What I like about Psalms is you can feel both the joy and the anguish of the writer's soul. They were flesh and blood just like you and me. When they hurt they hurt down to the core. When they felt fear it gripped them. The human experience hasn't changed. Our technologies and gadgets have changed but the paradox of our existence hasn't.

I have a feeling James Strong was a pretty spiritual guy. It says he spent 35 years putting the concordance together without the aid of computers or modern devices. The guy was a spiritual warrior. I couldn't do that.

Psalms 119:99
Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.

 

[Simon_Templar]

John 4:23-24
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Interesting that this passage followed a statement by the Samaritan woman pondering where to worship.

In spirit - does that mean our hearts must be right??

yes it does mean that your heart must be right, in a sense. However, going to God is the best way to get your heart right. It begins with the decision to submit your unright attitude and worship despite it.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

I believe that we can only worship when we have the infilling of the Holy Spirit and persue truth in this life. W/o His infilling then the Father can recognize nothing in us of His and w/o persueing truth we can't see Him clearly. Jesus also said to the Samaritan woman that they worship what they do not know and the Jews worshipped what they do know. ihth

 

[Prodigal7]

Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)
Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Peace through adversity.

Obviously it is easier said than done. There have been a few fleeting moments where I've been able to achieve it. Hopefully as I continue in my walk with Christ this will be something I am able to do more often.

I used to scoff at the New Living Translation. It has a straight flow that sometiomes cuts like a knife. I think there is something to this concept of a thought for thought translation versus the word for word translation. I respect the King James only people but that's their path - not mine. I'm not british and I'm not living in the 1600's.

1 Corinthians 4:3 (NIV)
I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself.

Yesterday I went to a Lent meeting at our church and one of the guys was talking about being bold in your faith. Too often I have been timid. I am getting better. He also talked about how sometimes the best witness you can give is to love the other person.

 

[Prodigal7]

This is a good spot for verses that hit like a hammer. Here's a couple I stumbled across over the last couple of days.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NLT)
This should be your ambition: To live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before.

I get wrapped up in work, bills, this and that....

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (AMP)
Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]

You mean don't just think about the Lord once in a while??

John 6:47 (AMP)
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, relies on, and has faith in Me] has (now possesses) eternal life.

I like that "now possesses". You mean right now, sitting here at the computer with all my flaws??

John 6:47-48 (NIV)
I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.

Colossians 2:3 (NLT)
In him (Christ) lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

It's cool to look good in church or sound clever on the board. What really counts is the relationship with Christ and learning to live in the spirit. I'm just an infant at this.

Like many, I've probably overlooked the Holy Spirit.