Some Christians are afraid of meditation because it is confused with Eastern religious practices of “emptying the mind.” Christian meditation is focusing all our thoughts toward a topic or idea. But this is more than just “focus” as it is in fact opening our mind to a single thought or idea until it actually fills us and becomes a part of us. It is a process of letting God and his Word sink deep within us.
Here’s a personal example. I once spent several weeks just meditating (focusing on) the words of Jesus – “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You would think that a day or two would be sufficient, but after a week I began to discover new truths and deep concepts “hidden” in those simple words. It was life changing. I was drawn closer to God through the process. I began to see things that I relied on and that were “substitute” bread replacing my need for God.
Kinds of Meditation:
- Meditation on a passage of scripture (the most common form)
- Meditation on a word or phrase of scripture
- Meditation on a quality of God
- Meditation on an aspect of creation
- Meditation on an event, an experience of personal awareness, etc.
See chapter 2 of Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline for more help on how to meditate.
This is also called contemplative prayer. This is a prayer form that dominated the first 1600 years of Christianity. This is prayer without words. It is resting quietly (but not asleep!) with Jesus. In silence we let go of our words and our doing and thus our agenda. We seek to experience the presence of God. Imagine the joy of just sitting next to the one you deeply love – no words, no projects but just enjoying each other’s presence. This is an excellent way to quiet your heart and enter into God’s presence both before and after reading God’s word. Here’s some practical help. While this kind of prayer is extremely hard for action-driven, active Americans, it can be extremely rewarding.
- Idea #1 – After you’ve read some scripture from the Bible, focus on one word from the text. While this is close to meditation the focus here isn’t deep understanding, but help in focusing to think about God in context of what you’ve just read.
- Idea #2 – Choose a word from our rich Christian worldview like love, grace, forgiveness, holiness, goodness, any of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22, etc. Focus on that word in terms of God and connect with that part of God’s character.
- Idea #3 – After you’ve practiced this and learned not to be too distracted and can truly be “quiet” with God, you’ll learn to look for, become aware of and most of all just enjoy the presence of God.
Our most natural way of praying is first to ask God for things and second, to thank him for things. There is nothing wrong with these two kinds of prayer. It is just that we often don’t go beyond these. In fact the focus of these kinds of prayer can actually be very consumer oriented – I need this and thank you for that. While we should pray these prayers, real conversational prayer is different.
Conversational prayer treats God as a friend (John 15:13, 14) not the Wal-Mart consumer God in the sky (providing all we ask or want). We would never let 90% of our conversations with a real friend to be asking and thanking for things. Rather, we share our lives with our friends – our concerns, our fears, wonderful news, things on our hearts and minds, our plans and desires, hurts and disappointments, etc.
Conversational prayer is talking to Jesus as a friend. Imagine yourself sitting around a camp fire near the lake in Galilee eating fried fish and having a whole evening sitting with Jesus and conversing. This can be the most incredible kind of prayer every experienced.
Not only do you begin to experience God in a very real and personal way, but you’ll also be surprised to hear yourself say things you hadn’t realized were on your heart.
And the days of prayerful conversation when you can just dump, unload and even be angry with God are some of the most honest and real kinds of prayer anyone ever experiences.
“Re-collection” or centering prayer is a kind of prayer practiced by the Quakers using the palms of one’s hands. This starts with open palms down symbolic of letting go of and giving up of your concerns, worry, and sin to God. Then you put your palms up and open symbolic of receiving God’s grace and forgiveness and presence.
