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Oct 25, 2020

274 Without God, Who Can Find Enjoyment, A Guided Christian Meditation on Ecclesiastes 2:22-28 with the Recenter With Christ app

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:

Ecclesiastes 2:22-28

NIV
22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

NLT
22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety?
23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?
26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Meditation on Scripture:

Reading through Ecclesiastes is depressing in a way if we don’t realize what the underlying point is. King solomon the wise was lamenting a life devoid of meaning. He stopped giving gratitude to God, and living in God and it left him feeling empty. We have an opportunity to give glory to God, and that is what gives meaning to our action. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him.

I want to invite you to a practice

It is a practice of learning how to feel more happiness and gratitude. When you experience something genuinely good, no matter how small. Apply this tactic. It may be viewing a pleasant sunset, finding a good parking spot when you are running late, or even something more prodounced like experiencing the love of family or joy in worship possibly even this meditation.

When you feel that experience, allow it to simmer in your awareness. Allow yourself to just have that positive feeling stay in your heart. Enhance it in your mind without forcing it to stay longer than is genuine.

Then take a moment to absorb it into your heart. This is kind of an abstract idea but allow it to sink in and realize it as a part of your life.

This strategy is a scientifically proven method for changing happy feelings into a personality trait. It comes from the book “hardwiring happiness” by doctor Rick hansen. It is also the basis for how I do the visualize step of the meditation. So without even realizing it, we have been applying this method.

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: How do you treat the needs of others?

Final Thought: HEAL

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