The Lost Art of Christian

Meditation
By Rhonda Jones

Recently on the Oprah show, Dr. Oz, frequent

guest and author of “You on a Diet,” gave the
audience six “must dos” for optimal health;
number 3 was to meditate. The word meditate
means to ponder, reflect upon, think about,
muse over or to ruminate. When we’re
meditating on something, we’re singly focused
and giving it our full attention. We block out
everything else around us both mental and
physically. We allow no other thought or activity
to steal us away from that moment. We’re 100%
present and fully conscious of whatever we’re
doing. That’s meditating.

Whether we realize or not, we all meditate to

one degree or another. We may meditate on our
careers, our love relationships, our goals in life,
or becoming successful. People also meditate
on things that are harmful or destructive to
them or others. We become what we
repetitively think about.(Proverbs 23) What we
meditate on will steer the direction of our lives.

In Joshua 1:8, God declared, “Do not let this

Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
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.”

We all want to be successful, happy, fulfilled,

loved, and whole. These are basic human
needs; and we’re all on a quest to obtain them.
We believe if only we have the right job, the
right spouse, more money, a nicer home,
children, better parents, own a home, or have
more vacation time, we would be complete.
These things can provide joy in our lives, but if
we believe they are the source of our
fulfillment, we’re setting ourselves up for
failure. Those who don’t have these things are
on a constant mission to get them. Those who
have obtained them and realized their failure to
produce, often become hopeless and
despondent.

Many Christians possess beliefs and behaviors

similar to the secular world. We’re being
dragged along like a herd and subdued by the
world’s philosophies. The weekly sermons or
bible studies, though they give us the ideal,
often fail to help us embrace God’s truth and
put it into practice.

Richard Peace in his book Spiritual

Journaling: Recording Your Journey
Towards God stated that “widespread church
studies indicates that there is no distinguishable
lifestyle characteristics by which to discern
between those who attend church and those
who do not.” It appears that the teachings of
Jesus haven’t sunk deeply into his followers,
stated the author.

Yet, God in his wisdom and absolute truth gives

us a fail proof method of gaining everything we
want-- to meditate on Him and his word,
always. That doesn’t mean we will receive
everything on our prayer list of wants. Instead,
through the transformative power of meditating
on God and his word, we will find a peace and
contentment in knowing that God is the source
of our success, period. We can stop seeking, we
can be still, and we can enter into a deeper
relationship of knowing God that will sustain us
through the elusions, trials, and inadequacies of
life.

So how do we mediate on the Lord? This

question may produce images of sitting lotus
style in a meadow or Buddhist monks chanting
in some far away land. Unfortunately for
Christians, the practice of meditation has been
misunderstood and as a result we have forfeited
and shun a practice that is not only encouraged
by God for our success, but that will also create
deeper intimacy with Christ, improve our mental
and physical health, help us maintain our
priorities and balance, and live with more peace
and joy. If we, through ignorance and deception,
relinquished this prized possession, we need it
back, and now! Stress, worry, misplaced
priorities, depression, restlessness, negative
thinking, addictions, and many other harmful
behaviors plague the Christian community more
than ever before. We’ve lost the art of
meditating on the Lord. God said in Joshua 1:8
that the way to spiritual prosperity and success
which will ultimately lead to physical success is
to mediate on His word continually.

Many Christians think they are meditating on

God when they read their Bibles. We have made
a daily practice to read a chapter or two at the
beginning of our day. We can even quote a
variety of scriptures, but reading the word is
different than meditating upon the word.
Reading doesn’t always penetrate our heart.
Often after listening to an inspiring sermon, we
have a difficult time summarizing or
remembering much of what was said. “All I
know is that it was really a good message
today!” we proclaim. Likewise, we can read a
whole passage of scripture only to forget the
content before even reaching the end of the
page. College students frequently have that
problem. They read and read but may absorb
very little. Reading, without contemplation,
may only be skin deep thus limiting our ability
take owner of God’s word and measure our life
by its standards.
James 1:23 says that we can be hearers of but
not doers of the word. Just as we look at
ourselves in a mirror and then walk away is just
how fleeting God’s word can be. (James 1:23)

In the parable of the sower, (Mark 4) Jesus said

that the seed is sown (the word of God) and
then “immediately” the enemy comes to steal
the word out of our heart. To further illustrate,
it says, he (the enemy) steals the word by
getting us to doubt God, by burdening us with
many cares and life stresses, and by deceiving
us into believing that superficial things will fulfill
our heart’s desire. And he does it constantly,
day by day, and minute by minute. It’s built into
the fabric of our society. We’re going against
the grain when we try to live for Jesus.

With all this working against us, it is of great

necessity that we put into practice tools that
will help us combat the pull to live a less
authentic life in Christ.

Although meditating means to ponder, reflect,

or think about, the art of meditating on God can
take many forms. I would like to elaborate on
four ways to meditate on God that will help to
fuse the word of God and his life changing
principles not only in your head, but in your
heart.

Let’s begin by looking at several scriptural

passages that focus on the principles of
meditation. In Exodus, we are told that for 40
days Moses abided with God on Mount Sinai.
While on the mountain, Moses communed with
God and received the 10 commandments. When
he came down from the mountain, it is said that
Mose’s countenance was so bright and intense
that the children of Israel could not look at him.
In fact, they made Moses put a cloth over his
head. We can’t spend time with God and not be
affected because God character just spills over
and saturates us.

The same thing happened when Jesus visited

Zaccheaus. (Luke 19) In the middle of their
encounter Zaccheaus voluntarily told Jesus that
if he had cheated anyone he’d pay them back
double. When Mary and Martha had invited
Jesus over for dinner and Martha became upset
because Mary wasn’t helping with the
preparations, Jesus gently scolded Martha and
told her that abiding with him, as Mary had
chosen, was the better choice. Scriptures tell
us that when we abide with Christ, he abides
with us, and without his living and guiding spirit,
we can do nothing. (St. John 15) One form of
meditating on the Lord is to abide with him; to
sit at his feet and to wait in his presence, just
like the child who sits in his mother or father’s
lap to be comforted.

This can be accomplished by carving out time

each day to just sit quietly before the Lord
where you are free from distractions. The
ocean or secluded areas of nature are great
places to meditate, but a quiet area in your
home works just as well. Initially, meditating
on the Lord by abiding may be difficult because
our mind tends to be restless and wanders
profusely; but with consistency you’ll gain more
and more control over your thoughts. Many
meditators select a scriptural passage or word
to focus on and anchor their attention, often
called a mantra. Your mantra or scriptural
phrase can be “the Lord is my Sheperd,” “I walk
by faith,” “the joy of the Lord is my strength”, “I
cast my cares upon the Lord,” or “Peace be
Still.” The late John Main, one of the most
influential spiritual teachers in the Christian
meditation tradition encourages believers to
use the mantra, “Maranatha” that means,
“Come Lord Jesus.” This mantra is suggested
because of its relevance in scriptures and its
lack of an emotional or mental references,
which inhibits our minds from creating a mental
attachment to the word.

You can also select a whole scripture or just one

word, like “Jesus” or “Jehovah” to meditate on.
Meditate in silence or record music to play in
the background. It’s best to time the music or
use a timer so that you’re not worried about
being late for work or missing an appointment.
As you meditate, become fully present by
paying attention to your breathing and your
mantra. You can silently repeat your mantra in
alignment with your breathing or anytime your
mind begins to wander off. You can also create
a mental picture in your mind to focus on. As
you practice being still and calming your
thoughts, you’ll sense a greater feeling of God’s
presence and a greater sensitivity to hearing his
voice.

You’ll begin to sense the yearnings of the Holy

Spirit as he drops words or impressions on your
heart. One time during a meditation I had a
vision of me and all my family members
standing in a circle and sharing our desires for
the coming year. Several days later I shared my
vision and we set aside a time to dedicated the
New Year to the Lord and touch and agree on
our heart’s desires in prayer. As you practice
this form of meditation, you’ll find old weights
and worries seem to disappear. No evil thing
can stand in God’s presence. I created two
guided- meditation titled, Abiding with Christ
and Mantra Meditation, which guide believers
through these steps.

Guided meditations are another method that

can help you to meditate on Christ. Guided-
meditations are usually on a CD or cassette.
Guided Christian meditations are great for
beginning meditators and are a good transition
to learning to meditating by abiding or with a
mantra. Some people need the added stability
and structure of being guided through their
meditation experience. Most guided meditation
CDs begin with a relaxation exercises followed
by a scriptural narrative. Some are filled with
biblical stories; others are more visual or
interactive like taking you on a walk through
nature or nailing your cares to the cross.
Guided Christian meditations can also cover a
wide variety of topics that help you trust God
for healing, to control negative thoughts, or to
release painful memories of the past. I even
have meditations on nurturing your vision,
attracting love, overcoming anger, and
releasing toxic emotions. Christ-centered guided
meditations work well when you want to focus
on a specific aspect of your Christian walk. The
relaxation exercises prepare your mind to
absorb God’s word and His principles for the
greatest effectiveness. The benefits are that
you learn to relax and quiet your thoughts while
being submerged with the scriptures. The
talking throughout the meditation helps you to
stay present and focused and diminishes
wandering thoughts.

Another popular and more historical way of

meditating is what the Christian monks called
contemplative prayer. This form of meditating
involved selecting a short scripture or biblical
passage and then reflecting on it for the entire
day. During their reflections, the monks would
think about how these particular scriptures were
relevant to their lives. They took ownership of
the scriptures by making them their own. They
measured their behavior by them and
contemplated what changes they needed to
make so that their life personally reflected the
passages. You can add this form of meditating
to your daily devotion, by selecting and writing
down a particular passage and then ask God to
make this passage real to you. Interestingly,
the passage will seem to take on a life of its
own. Scripture says that God’s word is like a
two edge sword, it is alive and it quickens us.
(Hebrews 4:12) We are changed by the word;
but the word has to get into our heart and our
spirit and not just our minds. Many years ago
as I began to study the word to write my
manuscript, “Don’t Go Back to Egypt,” I was
amazed to see the meanings in scriptures that
eluded me before. Meditating on the word by
taking small bites and then chewy them slowly
is transformative and much more effective than
just reading whole chapters of scriptures.

Lastly, consider joining a Christian Meditation

Group. Through the World Community for
Christian Meditation Website (WCCM)
(www.wccm.org ) you may be able to locate a
group in your area. If no groups are available,
consider starting your own. The organization
provides resources on how to start and maintain
a Christian Meditation Group. By joining a group
you can receive instruction on meditating as
well as benefit from the knowledge of some
veteran meditators. Just like corporate church
worship can be uplifting, energizing, and
unifying, meditating on God collectively also
ushers in the sweet spirit and presence of God.
Groups usually meet once or twice a week and
are free of charge. During the meeting, a short
teaching relating to meditation or spiritual
growth is shared by the facilitator. This is
followed by a time of meditation which last for
about 20 minutes. Afterwards, there may be a
shared discussion or believers may be asked to
leave quietly as to not disturb those still waiting
on the Lord. Laurence Freeman, Director of the
WCCM writes, “the meditation group is the most
contemporary expression of and answer to the
tremendous spiritual hunger that so
characterizes our time.”

To conclude, meditating is a spiritual practice

that can enhance our relationship with God. It
can help us to take on his character by
spending time in God’s presence. Meditating on
a scriptural passage or mantra teaches us to
calm our restless thoughts and creates a
greater sensitivity to hearing God’s voice. And
meditating on God’s word in the form of
contemplative prayer is a way to reflect upon
the scripture and ponder its relevancy in our
personal life. Joining a Christian meditation
group can offer guidance, experience, and a
place to share the art of meditation
collectively. All four forms of meditation can
change us and make our life more fulfilling,
Christ-centered, and balanced.

Rhonda Jones is the author of a series of Christ-

centered meditation and affirmation CDs. Visit
her website at
http://www.thechristianmeditator.com.

Breath and the

Subconscious Mind

by Nymph Kellerman

Countless studies have been done on

the medicinal effects of meditation,
specifically in reducing stress-related
ailments and psychosomatic diseases.
Harvard psychologist Dr. Herbert
Benson, claims that 60-90% of visits to
the doctor's office are stress related.
He believes that the neuro-chemical
effects of meditation oppose the
“fight-or-flight” mechanism, due to the
effects meditation has on the
autonomic nervous system. He calls
this effect that meditation and prayer
have on the brain, the “relaxation
response”. The amygdala that is part
of the limbic system, controls this
response. This is also the part of the
brain that is associated with religious
faith.

The psychological effects of deep

relaxation strengthen the effect that
mind and body have upon each other.
It also supports a theory that we have
set-points and feedback loops in
moods and mental states. Drug
addiction centers have been using
various relaxation techniques to
mediate in confronting the acute
attachment to drugs or alcohol and to
assist the addict in recognizing the
ability of mindfulness in countering his
cravings.

THE TWO MINDS

We have two minds. The conscious
mind and the subconscious mind,
sometimes also called the unconscious
mind. The conscious mind is the
“awake-mind” - which is only used
when we are awake. The subconscious
mind goes on working 24 hours of
every day. It is not a physical entity,
and thus not located anywhere in the
physical body. It cannot be seen with
the naked eye. It cannot be measured,
it cannot be weighed and it cannot be
taken apart for scientific research and
study. Gilbert Ryle, the author of “The
concept of mind”, talks about the
human body as an engine that is
governed by another engine inside it.
IT IS PART OF YOUR IMMORTAL BODY,
as considered in chapter two.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and

author of many books, says when he
begins to work with a new patient, he
frequently draws a large circle and at
the circumference he draws a small
niche. Then he points to the inside of
the niche and says to the new patient:
“That presents your conscious mind.
All the rest of the circle, 95 percent or
more, represents your unconscious. If
you work long enough and hard
enough to understand yourself, you
will come to discover that this vast
part of your mind, of which you now
have little awareness, contains riches
beyond imagination”.

A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE

SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
It operates like a modern day
computer, but has a storage capacity
and memory system that outdistances
ordinary computers in general. The
subconscious mind is a personal
computer, and the authentic-you is the
computer-operator. It records
everything that happens in the
personal, sensory and intellectual
world – from the day of conception
until the day of death.It takes
directions from the conscious mind
and follows these directions implicitly.
It is called the world's most obedient
servant. It can only say “yes”.It has no
limitations, only individuals have. This
will be discussed under visualization.

Every thought becomes part of the

never-failing memory system of the
subconscious mind. EACH INIVIDUAL IS
WHAT HE THINKS. We ought to be
careful and selective with our choice
of thoughts. We alone chooses our
thoughts and our thoughts create and
shape our world.

The subconscious mind does not know

the difference between reality and a
day-dream. If a person imagines
himself driving the car of his dreams
down the road, the subconscious mind
accepts it as reality and not merely as
a day-dream. For this reason,
visualization is as effective and
successful as it is.
It has no past and no future, it only
has a present tense. When we do
visualizations and affirmations, we do
it only in the present tense and we
only see the end result, as though
something has already happened. It is
the possessor of extraordinary
knowledge. Dr. Scott Peck , based on
Carl Jung, uses the analogy of the
subconscious mind as a rhizome, an
incredibly deep and hidden root
system that nourishes the tiny plant,
the conscious mind, sprouting visibly
from it.The subconscious mind can be
reprogrammed positively, by using
two remarkably powerful and potent
methods: visualization and affirmation.

FROM: “THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS” –

Nymph Kellerman

ABOUT the author:

Nymph completed her L.T.C.L. in music and
drama, and obtained a B.A. Psychology and
Philosophy a few years later. She trained as
formal singer under various renowned vocal
advisers and performed in numerous concerts,
recitals, and oratorios. After a car accident that
lead to a few neuro surgeries, she began
investigating the benefits of deep relaxation
and wrote a few books and numerous articles
on the subject.

Contact info:
e-mail: nymphkellerman@spiralbookshop.com
or nymphkellerman@telkomsa.net
websites: www.sazone.biz/bookshop
http://www.spiralbookshop.com
http://www.spiralstaircasebookshop.blogspot.co
m

Subscription to “The Spiral news” is free and

our contact information is
spiralnews@spiralbookshop.com
Searching for Silence in a
Noisy World

by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur

When was the last time you were surrounded by

silence? It seems that background noise is an
ever-present reality of our world. The T.V. and
radio are our constant companions. Our children
play with electronic toys that beep and wail at the
push of a button. Our streets are full of roaring
engines, tooting horns, and the pounding of
construction. At night, we may run a fan or have
an air conditioner humming in the background. We
do not even sleep in silence. The sounds of nature
and indeed the sounds of our own mind are
drowned out by the constant din.

What is it about silence that makes us so

uncomfortable? While we have little control over
many of the noises of our world, what about the
ones we can control? How often do we make the
conscious choice to turn off the background noise,
to pay attention to that which is within us? What is
it that we are afraid we will find? It is in those all
too rare moments of silence that we can truly
come to know ourselves.

Only two people who have known each other a

great deal can sit comfortably in silence. Among
new acquaintances, we force ourselves to keep the
conversation going. Silence feels forced and
awkward. In the intimacy of an old friendship or
within a marriage, however, the silence can be
comforting. We do not feel the need to always
come up with something to talk about. There is no
pressure to perform. Nothing is forced. We are
free to just be in the presence of the other.

So should it be in our relationship with God. In our

prayer, our conversation with God, do we always
feel the need to be talking? Do we ever stop to
listen? God, who loves us and knows us more
intimately than any human ever could, exists
within us and invites us to just be in the presence
of the divine. Obviously, conversation with God
and being with God is different from our human
relationships. In our interpersonal encounters, we
can see the person with whom we are conversing,
we can hear their voice on the telephone, or read
an email from a friend. With God, we need to trust
that He is always there with us, whether we sense
Him or not. It is up to us to open ourselves to the
possibility of experiencing God. In silence, we can
more fully allow ourselves to be open to that
possibility.

So, how can we make silence a habit in our lives?

Admittedly, it is a challenge. Debra Farrington in
"Hearing with the Heart: A Gentle Guide to
Discerning God's Will for your Life" (Jossey-Bass,
2003) suggests beginning with just five minutes a
day. Perhaps either before or after a time of formal
prayer, we can carve out a place for silence. If the
background noise of your home is prohibitive,
perhaps a walk outside or retreating to the
bathroom will provide the needed relief from
noise. In that time, Harrington recommends not
only attempting to distance ourselves from the
sounds of the world, but also from the noise inside
our minds. Try not to focus on the problems of the
day or the to-do list of chores that need to be
done. Try to just be in the presence of God. In
time, we should be as comfortable in silence with
God as we are with our intimate friends, and we
should begin to hear God's voice a little louder in
our lives.

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of the

"Spiritual Woman Newsletter"
(http://www.spiritualwoman.net) and author of
"Letters to Mary from a Young Mother" (iUniverse,
2004)
"In quietness and confidence shall be
your peace."

"In quietness and confidence shall be

your peace."