Mindfulness and meditation

[Stanley Yang]

I've recently started to consistently practice daily mindfulness and meditation on God's word. In Joshua 1:8 (NIV), it says: "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

I've started to find myself way more at peace in stressful situations, and have much greater enjoyment of my journey. God is on my side, and realizing that and meditating on His word daily puts me at complete peace.

Here is some material for context: What is Christian Meditation? | Testimonio

Does anyone else practice daily mindfulness on God's word? What are some tips and tricks you guys use?

 

[St_Worm2]

Hello @Stanley Yang, I normally memorize my Scripture meditation verses and passages now. Memorizing God's word helps me with Christian mediation because I find that it's easier to stay focused when you know His word that well, and meditation, in turn, helps me deepen both my memory of and my understanding of the verses and passages that I've memorized (or am in the process of memorizing). IOW, I've found that the two work together very nicely

Having perfectly memorized verses and passages also allows me to meditate on God's word more often than I would be able to do otherwise because I can quickly and easily begin and end whenever/wherever I choose to (Dv).

On a bit of a different note, I've always liked the example or comparison of a cow chewing the cud with Christian meditation. We digest Scripture (in a sense) like a cow digests its food. We chew on it, savor it, then we swallow it. Then, like a cow, we bring it back up later, chew on it again for awhile, swallow it, and then start the whole process over again.

--David
p.s. - if you are interested in Scripture memorization, I use the Navigators' Topical Memory System. The Navigators have used this system for nearly 100 years now to prepare/train their missionaries for the field, so it is a proven system (though there are many others, of course). The Topical Memory System is finally available as an app as well (both Apple and Android), and I highly recommend getting the app if you decide to use their system to memorize Scripture.

 

[Stanley Yang]

This is great! Thank you this tip -- I've always wanted to improve my Scriptural memory bank. I'll definitely check this out. I love your analogy about the cow chewing on cud. Good stuff

 

[jahel]

Hello @Stanley Yang, I normally memorize my Scripture meditation verses and passages now. Memorizing God's word helps me with Christian mediation because I find that it's easier to stay focused when you know His word that well, and meditation, in turn, helps me deepen both my memory of and my understanding of the verses and passages that I've memorized (or am in the process of memorizing). IOW, I've found that the two work together very nicely

Having perfectly memorized verses and passages also allows me to meditate on God's word more often than I would be able to do otherwise because I can quickly and easily begin and end whenever/wherever I choose to (Dv).

On a bit of a different note, I've always liked the example or comparison of a cow chewing the cud with Christian meditation. We digest Scripture (in a sense) like a cow digests its food. We chew on it, savor it, then we swallow it. Then, like a cow, we bring it back up later, chew on it again for awhile, swallow it, and then start the whole process over again.

--David
p.s. - if you are interested in Scripture memorization, I use the Navigators' Topical Memory System. The Navigators have used this system for nearly 100 years now to prepare/train their missionaries for the field, so it is a proven system (though there are many others, of course). The Topical Memory System is finally available as an app as well (both Apple and Android), and I highly recommend getting the app if you decide to use their system to memorize Scripture.

An interesting add to that from Program Overview
Institute in Basic Life Principles

Put Spirit Over Mind
The secret of effective meditation is quoting Scripture back to God with the spirit rather than the mind. This means that rather than trying to intellectually understand God's truth, we discern it by His Spirit speaking to our spirit because “the things of the Spirit of God ... are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

If we evaluate Scripture with the mind we tend to become proud, because "knowledge puffeth up," but if Scripture "evaluates" the heart, we become humble because it exposes our secret sins.

By coming to Scripture with our spirit, we cry out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalms 139:23-24).

Your spirit has direct access to God's Spirit, because “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Spirit of God has direct access to the conscience and is able to activate it with the spiritual understanding of what is right and what is wrong as we meditate upon His truth. It is this intimate fellowship of Spirit-to-spirit communication that constitutes true meditation and results in daily success.

Scripture is "the wisdom of God" and is given to us "in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world." God determined that this wisdom would be "unto our glory." However, it is revealed to us only “by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things: yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7-10).

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).

Our natural inclination is to simply quote Scripture back to God as a mental or intellectual exercise. This will rob us of the riches of God's wisdom and the joy of His fellowship. Therefore, we must bring the mind under the control of God's Spirit with a definite act of the will.

Thus, it would be wise to pray, "Heavenly Father, right now I do place my mind under the control of Your Holy Spirit and the authority of Your Word." With this prayer, you have just taken a giant step toward daily success.

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

 

[Tigger45]

I occasionally (I should make a daily habit of it) practice mindfulness meditation which has its emotional & social healing effects. I do try to attend a weekly gathering at church when work permits and on Saturday afternoons they have a contemplative Eucharist service. The liturgy is the same only the sermon is replaced by a lecto divina pratice of reading one to the days scripture readings.

 

[jahel]

I occasionally (I should make a daily habit of it) practice mindfulness meditation which has its emotional & social healing effects. I do try to attend a weekly gathering at church when work permits and on Saturday afternoons they have a contemplative Eucharist service. The liturgy is the same only the sermon is replaced by a lecto divina pratice of reading one to the days scripture readings.

Hi Tigger. God’s word has so much emotional healing that doctrine just has no way of reaching. Hopefully that would bring about social healing. When emotions from the word are enormous I tend to fall sleep or just megetate in books, because it takes that much to digest it. I haven’t gotten to the working it out on the communal level yet. I suspect that would have it’s own challenges.

 

[jahel]

An interesting add to that from Program Overview
Institute in Basic Life Principles

Put Spirit Over Mind
The secret of effective meditation is quoting Scripture back to God with the spirit rather than the mind. This means that rather than trying to intellectually understand God's truth, we discern it by His Spirit speaking to our spirit because “the things of the Spirit of God ... are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

If we evaluate Scripture with the mind we tend to become proud, because "knowledge puffeth up," but if Scripture "evaluates" the heart, we become humble because it exposes our secret sins.

By coming to Scripture with our spirit, we cry out, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalms 139:23-24).

Your spirit has direct access to God's Spirit, because “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Spirit of God has direct access to the conscience and is able to activate it with the spiritual understanding of what is right and what is wrong as we meditate upon His truth. It is this intimate fellowship of Spirit-to-spirit communication that constitutes true meditation and results in daily success.

Scripture is "the wisdom of God" and is given to us "in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world." God determined that this wisdom would be "unto our glory." However, it is revealed to us only “by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things: yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7-10).

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23).

Our natural inclination is to simply quote Scripture back to God as a mental or intellectual exercise. This will rob us of the riches of God's wisdom and the joy of His fellowship. Therefore, we must bring the mind under the control of God's Spirit with a definite act of the will.

Thus, it would be wise to pray, "Heavenly Father, right now I do place my mind under the control of Your Holy Spirit and the authority of Your Word." With this prayer, you have just taken a giant step toward daily success.

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

This is today’s e-message from the above free course It covers the 49 commands of Jesus.

Follow Very Closely!
The crowds followed Jesus, but only those closest to Him heard the rich teaching He gave along the way. There were others who followed Him from afar. (See John 19:38.) John followed Jesus as closely as he could. As a result, John heard rich truths, which he shares in his writings.

Closeness is determined by how well we can hear Jesus speak to us, and this ability is determined by how much we meditate on His Word day and night.

John was one of the three who were in Jesus' "inner circle." He was with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and on the mount of Calvary. He sat right next to Jesus at the Last Supper and wanted to sit next to Him in His kingdom. Because of this very close relationship, John shared truths from Jesus that are found in no other gospel or epistle.

For example, John recorded the secret of intimate fellowship and effective discipleship through meditation on the commands of Christ. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). John further emphasized the importance of meditation when he wrote, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).

Secrets bind the spirits of people together. Jesus wants to share His secrets with us, but we must follow closely to hear them.

Does your walk with Jesus allow Him to whisper secrets to you, or does He have to shout to get your attention? The more you meditate on Christ's words, the closer your walk with Him will be!

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).