Meditation #3

In one of the groups when we tried mediatation, someone brought a tape which we listened to which took us through various steps in meditating. Although the tape was off-putting, what was said was really helpful to me, and conjured up certain images that I would like to think about more.

This is a mixture of the stuff from the tape, and the images in my mind. I hope it will help you too.

The purpose of relaxing into prayer is to enter a state of inner tranquility and there to meet with God, face to face.

God is found when we are silent and at peace, if we are tense or disquieted this inhibits God revealing himself to us.

First of all, bring your body to rest, sit back in your chair, close your eyes, take a few slow gentle and deep breaths.
Next allow your body to rest, start with relaxing your face which gets tense with worry and stress.

Then drop your shoulders if they are hunched, let all the muscles in your body relax, consciously relax each one from your neck down to your toes.

Let the chair take all your weight.

Feel the peace from being totally relaxed.

As you are physically rested, next quieten your mind. Put aside all problems, difficulties and anxieties.

To help to do this, imagine a picture that speaks peace to you, such as sitting by a pool of calm water, or an image of Jesus, or any other picture that helps you.

Is often more difficult to bring our minds to rest than our bodies, so don't get discouraged if it is hard to do at first.

Now your body and mind are at rest, remain in that peace for a short time.

The next step is to become aware of God.

As Christians we believe the living God is within us: Jesus said Abide in me, and I in you. and also if anyone loves me and obeys me I and Father will come and live with him.

We know we have the Holy Spirit living within us.

Turn your attention to God. To stop your thoughts wandering gently repeat "Lord", "Jesus" , "Father" or "God" as you focus your attention.

Hold your attention as you meet God face to face and are in His presence.

Enjoy being with your Lord. Love and adore Him in your heart. Let Him love you.

If your thoughts wander, gently bring them back to God.

(I could imagine God enjoying walking in the garden with Adam, or a couple sat on a bench together watching the sun go down)

Now move to the next step, which is to allow Him to enter into your whole being, and there to do His work within you.

God knows you, knows all about you, nothing is hidden from Him and he loves you just as you are with his perfect love.

He accepts you totally, imperfect as you are, he will work to change you to be more like Him

Now let God into all your life, starting with your thoughts.

Open your thought life to God. Give Him freedom to enter it all. He knows your thoughts; good bad, and useless so let him have freedom to enter into them all ands to work within them.

(This made me think of Jesus sat in front of an old trunk full of scrolls. He was sorting through them all. Some he smoothed out and put away again. Some he wrote something different onto them. Some he gently erased what was written)

Next give him your relationships. The good ones, the indifferent ones, the disturbing ones. He knows them, give him freedom to move into these attitudes to other people.

(As I pictured the faces of different people, I just felt a gentle nudge wether Jesus was sad about the attitude I had to that person)

Next take him into your emotions. Your good and healthy ones, your unhealthy ones, your damaging ones. Let him come into them all. And into your fears, don't run away from them, face them with Jesus and they will lose their power.

Now take him into our sin. the sin we are aware of and the ones we are blind to. He knows them all so don't try to keep him out. Remember you are not condemmed (did not come to judge the world but to save the world). Let Him come into eveything that is sin in you, to cleanse it with the blood, to bring you into more freedom from sins power.

(This made me think of Jesus walking down into the cellar of a house. It was dark and there were cobwebs and dark corners, but as he walked through it was the light he carried that made everything clean. There was no need to poke into the corners to dig stuff out, the radiance of Jesus made everything bright and clean again. It was like a flourescent strip had been used to light up the place and instead of being dingy it was bright white and clean)

Now let him into your inner life, into all your past life, all that has ever happened to you, right back to your conception. Jesus knows about everything that has ever happened to you, so give him freedom to enter into everythign , especially pains, hurts, humilations, rejections that have some to you from the past.

He may have had to stand outside until now so let him in to share and to heal the things of the past.

(I found I did not need to remember specific things. It was like Jesus had a photo album, and some things he was gently removing from it)

Finally take Jesus into your body, into every part, into every cell, especially any parts that need healing.

(I could picture a biology film I once saw of all our blood cells moving through our body, and I imagined the Holy Spirit moving along our blood vessels in the same way, being pumped by our heart and getting into every cell.)

It is what God does in prayer that matters most. Stay resting in Him. Let him speak to cleanse, heal, comfort, encourage or strenghten you.

Try to pray this way regularly and make it a personal way to meet with God.

Meditation #2

This is a set of meditations we did for a cell group.
Try reading one exercise at a time and doing it before you read the next bit.
You might want a kitchen timer or similar so don't get distracted by looking at your watch.

1) Sit in silence for 1 minute.
Don't pray, just sit still and be aware of the presence of God.

2) For 1 minute pray quietly in tongues
(we had to pray in our heads so not to distract the others in the group, but if you are on your own you can pray quietly aloud)

3) For 1 minute meditate on the phrase "God is good"

Before you go onto the next exercises, consider how easy you found it to just be quiet. Was it easier to speak in tongues?
How much did you get from the third exercise?
Were you able to stop thinking about worries and other distractions.
Were you surprised by how much you could get out of 1 minute?
Or by how hard you found it to concentrate for 1 minute?

4) Read the Psalm below.
Pick just 1 line to meditate on for just 5 minutes.
Jot down any thought/comments in the margin

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord is God!
It is he that made us, and we are the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

When you have done this, stop to consider how you got on.
Did you find it easier being able to write things down?

5) Pick 1 of these Celtic prayers and meditate on it for 10 minutes.
Again jot down notes in the margin that inspire you.

I give my work to you, Lord.
I give my work to you.

I give my plans to you, Lord.
I give my plans to you.

I give my hopes to you, Lord.
I give my hopes to you.

I give my dreams to you, Lord.
I give my dreams to you.

I give my life to you, Lord.
I give my life to you.

I give my love to you, Lord.
I give my love to you.

Keep me true to you, Lord.
Keep me true to you.

In all I say and do, Lord.
In all I say and do.

Help me to serve you, Lord.
Help me to serve you.

O Lord God, Creator of all
Open my eyes to beauty
Open mymind to wonder
Open my ears to others
Open my heart to you

In the quiet of the morning,
In the new day that is dawning,
Thy Kingdom come.

In my waking and my dressing,
in my life and it's progressing,
Thy Kingdom come.

In this moment for the taking,
Un the things that I am making,
Thy Kingdom come.

In the people I am meeting,
In each one I shall be greeting,
Thy Kingdom come.

In my tasks and my employment,
In my leisure and enjoyment,
Thy Kingdome come

All day, until its very ending,
Praise to You I shall be sending,
Thy Kingdom come.

Once you have done these meditations you might like to print off these Celtic prayers, or similar short Psalms or prayers to pin on your wall where you will see them often.
Then you can easily pray and ponder as you go through the day, and so train your mind to gain holier thought tracks!

I really enjoyed doing these meditations with a group so we could share what we found and what we got from the different exercises as we went through them.

Meditation #1

The word "meditation" can be off-putting to a lot of Christians because we tend to think of Buddists or Hindus or New Age type meditation. We tend to shy away from the whole thing out of desire to avoid what could be unhelpful or demonic.

Meditation is actually something that can be very helpful.

This is the dictionary definition:
meditation noun 1 the act or process of meditating. 2 deep thought; contemplation, especially on a spiritual or religious theme. 3 a meditative discourse or literary or musical piece.


For a Christian I would say it is good to think deeply on the things of God.
It is not about letting our minds go blank, but about learning to focus our thoughts on God and to train our thoughts and minds not to run away with us

In the Bible we are told to think on the things of God
We are encourage to be familier with and meditate on God's word
We are told to take every thought captive and so destroy mental strongholds
We are told to love God with our mind as well as with our heart
These are only a few times that the mind is mentioned in the Bible


The Psalms of Ascents are a kind of meditation.
They were sung every year by the Jews as they travelled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms were familiar and were learned off by heart. They reminded the Jews of God's faithfulness over the years. They were a way of teaching children by tradition. They were a way of drawing near to God in worship as they travelled towards the temple.


The Celtic way of life included a lot of meditation. There was a rythmn of prayer incorporated into daily life, and these prayers were often based on the cycle of the seasons or the rythmn of life. The prayers were often short and repeated and helped to find God's presence at all times. Some of the worship at Taize is in a similar style.



Recently we have used meditation exercises a few times in small groups, and it was really good to learn how to stil our thoughts and concentrate on God. It showed us how chaotic our thoughts are, and how simple it actually is to slow down and think on God.