Jun 10, 2018
Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation,
Visualization
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Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted
for 20 minutes. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to
close your eyes.
Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:Consider what is written on
the tablet of your heart.
Bible verse for meditation:
Proverbs 3:3-6
ESV3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck; write them on the
tablet of your heart.4 So you will find favor and good
success in the sight of God and man.5 Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding.6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and
he will make straight your paths.
NABREDo not let love and fidelity forsake you; bind
them around your neck; write them on the tablet of
your heart.4 Then will you win favor and esteem before
God and human beings.5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
on your own intelligence do not rely;6 In all your ways be
mindful of him, and he will make straight your
paths.
Notice the similarities and differences in the translations
presented.
What does this scripture mean to you?Has it had a different effect
this reading as compared to times past?How does this scripture make
you feel?
Continue breathing deeply as you ponder this meaning.
Meditation on scripture / bible verse meditation:
This scripture was suggested By one of my Patreon supporters named
Sandy. Thank you for that. The proverbs are often known for
having isolated snippets of wisdom. Many times we isolate sections
but I really like how these verses go together. Let not love and
faithfulness forsake you. This is something many people strive for
most of their lives. Many times we feel lonely, and full of fear.
This scripture answers a question of how to not let love forsake
us. The way we do that is in the verses that follow. We are to bind
love around our neck and to write it on the tablets of our hearts.
It is not enough to simply want others to love us or to want a
certain feeling. We need to imagine that, if we have hearts of
stone, that God will replace them with hearts of flesh as it talks
about in Ezekiel 32:26. In 2 Corinthians 3:3 where paul talks about
us as believers be the letter of Christ that is written on the
fleshy tables of our hearts. When we do this, we find favor with
God and everyone else. This represents what it says in luke about
Jesus’ years growing up, that he found favor with God and
man.
This seems like a great direction to go in but sometimes we don’t
know how to do it. The next verse provides an insight in how to do
that. This scripture prescribes trusting in the Lord. It is
impossible to truly follow Him if we do not trust him. If we are
lukewarm followers, we won’t demonstrate the faith we will need.
Many times we can get distracted by our own doubts or thoughts.
Human intelligence in inherently limited. Having formally studied
logic as an undergraduate math major, I have walked along the edges
of the powers of human logic. There are things we definitely will
never be able to prove or understand. Godel’s incompleteness
theorem shows us that.
So what should we do then? Not overly commit to the religion of
self importance. When we make intellect more important than
anything else it becomes an idol for us to worship and we stop
worshiping at the feet of the Almighty God. I hope you receive my
intended meaning that logic is valuable and has its place. It's
just that we are limited and unable to know everything.
One way we can challenge this is as it says: In everything we do we
can be mindful of Him and Acknowledge him. In many meditations we
can be distracted to think about nothing or the universe or our own
importance. Forms of mindfulness seem to suggest that all we need
to do to find peace is to learn a certain skill of focus on
ourselves. Ultimately this can help us but scripture teaches that
we must be mindful of God at all times and then we will make our
paths straight. When we learn to trust him and are mindful and
focus on Him, then we will build the faith necessary to follow that
path that he has laid out for us.
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.
Meditate and Visualize Positive Change in Your Life:Implement the
kind of change you want to see in your life. Length,
Intensity, Modality, Freshness, Conclusion:Each week.
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Question: what joy has God brought you as you have approached him
in meditation?
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contact. Patreon.com/Christianmeditationpodcast
Final Question: Whose perspective would you stand the most to
gain from understanding and how can you do that?
Final thought - I invite you to spend the rest of today and
tomorrow pondering how to write love on the tables of the your
heart and to take this message fully into your life. Learning to
trust God goes hand in hand with learning to love. You cannot do
one without the other. As we learn both, he will direct our
paths.