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Dec 29, 2019

192 Be Made New in the Attitude of Your Minds A Guided Christian Meditation on Ephesians 4:20-24

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:

Ephesians 4
NIV
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

NABRE
20 That is not how you learned Christ, 21 assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, 22 that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Meditation on Scripture:

Rejoice in newness. Not novelty of possessions or situation in life but something more profound. Many times as we continue our walk with Christ we forget some of the passion that drives us when we first feel forgiven and renewed. It can be extremely important that we rejoice in this awareness even years and decades later. We have been created to be like God. God has already extended to us a pardon for our trust in him. Yet why is it important that Paul reminds these people of their conversion? Why does he need to tell them of their original and strong testimony of transformation? Was it not enough? What it not genuine? Was your conversion enough? This question is of course meant to be rhetorical.

The answer to this question is much less important than what we experience by asking it. The answer is of course no and of course yes. If it was enough we could keel over and die the moment we profess faith in Jesus Christ. Yet we don’t. We could also have perfect visions of the outline of the rest of our lives, but interestingly very few people could claim such a gift. We are left in our faith, in other words we are left to spend the rest of our lives attempting to walk in God’s spirit and continually receive this transformation.

As we begin the new year and you ponder what aspects of your life you could improve upon consider this, Christ can continue to transform you. Your change is not reliant solely upon your own willpower. Trust that God can help you make progress toward your worthwhile goals. Give up your corrupted desires. Refresh in your mind the truth of Jesus you have learned and trust and allow that this truth can guide your life toward continual improvement. This improvement does not need to be through force of white knuckled will but it can be the calm assurance that a loving God will continue to work in those who believe and trust him and continually try to follow.

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: Do you live your life purposefully with Jesus as your King?

Final Thought: I deeply hope that during this season that you will find deeper devotion to the relationships that are most important. My greatest hope for you is that you draw nearer to God both in good times and in bad. Both in busy times and lonely ones. In times of mourning and times of celebration. In times of light and while walking through the dark. Remember that Jesus is your king. He understands your needs better than you do. As the passage of time washes away the confusion and absolutist assumptions that we wrongly hold at times I truly believe that this life will be the greatest school house for Grace that we could have imagined. As we attempt to walk with God we may not feel Him by our side the whole time, but when it is all done and we are kneeling before Him we will finally come to understand what Grace truly means as we see how His plan has saved us and purified us.

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