Aug 4, 2019

150 Let the Peace of God Rule Your Heart A Guided Christian Meditation on Colossians 3:15-17

I’m Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be changed by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina:

Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization.

Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes.

Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:

Breathe and direct your thoughts to contacting God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate.

Bible verses for Meditation:

Collosians 3:15-17

KJV
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

ESV
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him

Meditation on Scripture:

What rules in your heart right now? How does that change throughout the day? Throughout the weeks, months and years?

This scripture directly continues from the previous verses about forgiveness and about having compassion guild our lives. As we forgive, as we grow compassion in us, we lean let the peace of God rule our hearts. But it is more than this. I think there is a reason why we are asked to let this happen. The word choice certainly indicates choice and decision which is the greek root translated as “let”. Here Paul is inviting the people to let God rule their hearts. Paul is trying to teach the people something that God wants for us. It seems God wants to transform us into a being that chooses what He would choose. The multiple times when he told his Apostles, and us by proxy, to follow Him was an invitation for us to change.

Are you willing to change? Will you let him rule your heart right now?

Through this meditation and all the others my goal has been to allow God’s word to speak directly to you through an experience of peace, allowing us all to be more sensitive to God’s word. Here we are being asked to allow this word to dwell in us. As we learn to live more with God’s word dwelling in our heart, we will act and speak more like Jesus. We have our very nature transformed. God’s decision to give us this ability to chose him as ruler is not a sign of strength but of supreme power and confidence that we could and would chose him, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

As we live this way then we will truly do what we do in his name. It is hard to imagine how we can make intentionally bad choices in His name. It seems wrong to consider that we cut someone off in traffic in the name of Jesus or are envious of someone in His name. Although redemption those also can point to His name.

This scripture includes gratitude as a guiding principle. I believe it is because gratitude is intimately connected to Christ ruling in our heart.

Meditation of Prayer:

Pray as directed by the Spirit.

Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him.

Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm:
I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own faults and trials.

Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life:

This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast

Updates:

Final Question:
Who can you forgive to experience more purely the love of God?

Final Thought:
I pray that you have found encouragement not chastisement in this message. If you have been deeply hurt by someone then I hope you do not feel guilt for bearing that in your heart. The message that I am hoping and praying that you walk away with is this. Because you are chosen and forgiven of God beyond what you deserve, you can forgive and love beyond your ability. Our lives will expand and be more full of peace as we learn to truly live this way. We all struggle with it. The more we are able to reject the unholy desires of our heart and we learn to forgive, the more we will understand God.

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