Wise Ones Series on Spiritual Disciplines: Meditation
Spiritual disciplines help us to grow in understanding of our faith and our relationship with Jesus Christ. The discipline of spirit-led meditation helps us focus our thoughts on God and his word, so that we can enjoy his presence and hear from him.
To meditate means to focus one’s thoughts on; reflect or ponder on; to engage in contemplation. In teaching about Christian meditation, we make a distinction between this spiritual discipline and general mediation as associated with transcendentalism or other religious practices. In general mediation, the goal is often to empty one’s mind. In contrast, Christian meditation is an exercise to fill and focus the mind on a specific attribute of God, word, phrase, scripture, etc.
Meditation engages the mind, but it can also engage other parts of the body. We can close our eyes to help block out distractions and focus. We can speak aloud the word, phrase, or thought on which we meditate. Mediation is best achieved while being still, but it can be done while engaged in simple activities, provided the activity is not something that prevents focused thought on the meditative word or idea. Examples would be walking, sitting in or gently swinging in a swing, or watching nature. Meditation involves the Holy Spirit; we invite God into this inner conversation, allowing the Spirit to help guide our thoughts and understanding. It is through meditation that God can teach us new things and help us grow to be stronger in him.
Ways, or purposes, for meditating.
Meditate to focus. In a world full of distractions, meditation is a discipline that helps us keep a clear focus on God, his ways, and what he desires of us.
Meditate to understand. During meditation, we spend time with God. It’s a time to enjoy his presence, to get to know him better, and invite the Spirit to speak to us and help us understand God’s word.
Mediate to remember. Through meditation, we can memorize scripture and hide God’s word in our heart. It also provides opportunity to remember and reflect on all God has done and is doing in our life and in the world.
Meditate to worship. Often in meditation, our thoughts become directed toward the wonder and majesty of God. Worship should be a natural response.
Meditate to be transformed (more like Jesus). Through meditation, as we understand more about God and his ways, we are challenged to allow the Spirit to change us so we can become more faithful Christians.
Simple steps to aid in meditation.
Get into a comfortable position. However, avoid lying down or being so comfortable that you could fall asleep.
Close your eyes. As an alternative, use an image or a piece of paper with the word or phrase of your meditation written on it, as an object to focus on during the meditation.
Take some slow, deep breaths, and release them slowly. Relax. Say a prayer, inviting the Holy Spirit to help you mediate well and follow his guiding.
Silently or in a gentle whisper, repeat the word, phrase, or scripture of your meditation. Say it over and over. Go slowly. It may be helpful to engage the imagination, such as picture the word or phrase in your head, or imagine a picture associated with the word.
Listen for what the Spirit is saying to you. You might get an idea about this word or phrase, what it reveals to you about God, or something new you didn’t understand before. It may reveal something in your life that needs to change. Talk with God about this; about how you feel, how you need his help to make the change he’s asking of you, or how you want to worship him.
Don’t worry if other thoughts try to distract you. Let them come, but then push them away gently. Keep asking the Spirit to help you focus as you repeat and think on the word or phrase of mediation. You can imagine putting your word or phrase inside a box in your mind, and focus only on that box, watching the distracting thoughts float away from it.
When you feel your focus on this word or phrase is slipping, you can focus to another word or phrase. However, you shouldn’t meditate on too many ideas during one session. A single words a phrase, or scripture (or portion of one, if it is long) can be more than enough.
A good tip for children: meditation should last about 1 minute for each year of the child’s age. Soft, meditation music playing in the background may also be helpful.
Suggestions for meditative ideas.
In the Fly Kids Worship lesson on mediation, we’ll engage in a mediation exercise in which the children will be encouraged to choose one or more from this list for their focus:
- God is good.
- God is holy.
- God loves me.
- God made me.
- Jesus saves me.
- Psalm 119:12 – Lord, I praise you. Teach me your commands.
This is a list you could consider using as well, or as a way to kick off a family discussion about what your child learned in Kids Worship about this spiritual discipline. At the conclusion of this lesson, children will be challenged to mediate sometime during the coming week on Psalm 119:10-11.
Seek the Holy Spirit’s direction when considering meditation ideas. However, a good rule to follow is to limit your mediation to one of these areas: an attribute or characteristic of God, an action or promise of God, or a specific scripture verse or phrase.
In cooperation with the Family Devotion on Psalm 119 that accompanies this Kids Worship Series on spiritual disciplines, you could consider choosing a verse from this chapter that captures your interest, and engage with it as a meditative exercise some point during the week.
If you would like to find scripture on a particular idea or theme, a concordance is a helpful tool for searching scriptures that include that word. For example, if you wanted to see what Bible verses include the word love, you could do a concordance search for that and find a listing of all scripture that mentions it in some way. Several online concordance search engines are available; you can do a Google search for “concordance” and go from there.