Is Your Mind Sabotaging Your Relationship with God?
Think about it! How often you just stop thinking? Try it for one minute. Even when we’re trying to spend time with God, we’re thinking about what we need to do next. These thoughts cause us to rush through our devotional time or scripture reading. Our mind has us convinced that we’re going to miss out on something if we don’t hurry it up. But just like we need to take time to relax our bodies, if we are to have continued mental health and well-being we need to spend time relaxing (and renewing) our minds as well.
According to many scriptures in the Bible, God speaks to his children with a still, small voice. God isn’t going to scream at you or cause lightening to strike to make you listen to Him. No, instead, he’s going to wait until you become still and quiet. Psalms 46:10 tells us to “Be still and know God.” It’s implying that it’s through our stillness that our relationship with God becomes more intimate. Isn’t Bible Study or Church Enough?
How many times have you heard an excellent sermon or message that inspired you to make some changes in your life, but within a matter of weeks you were back to your old habits and routine? Kind of like those New Year’s Resolutions!
Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha? In Luke 10, Jesus was invited to Martha’s home for dinner. Martha had chosen to serve Jesus by busily preparing her home for his comfort, yet, her sister Mary sat as Jesus feet to learn from him. The text goes on to say that Martha got upset because Mary wasn’t helping her and she wanted Jesus to scold her. However, Jesus reprimand Martha and said “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Most of us tend to be more like Martha than Mary. Marthas spend most of their time doing for Jesus (having meetings, attending services, singing in the choir, heading committees, making a living, etc) and not enough time just abiding (dwelling) in his presence, meditating, being still enough to listen, and being filled up by his words.
Jesus said it is only through abiding that we bear much fruit. Christian Meditation is a useful tool to assist believers in getting still before God so that they can build a relationship not based on doing, but on abiding. Abiding promotes intimacy. Intimacy involves time. It involves not only listening but getting to know the person for whom we have affections. Saint John 15:4 declares, “abide in me and I will abide in you.” Verse 7 says, “if you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” That means we must integrate dwelling with Christ with embracing his word. The abiding builds relationship and the Word of God brings transformation. It also brings blessings our way
Just imagine the effect on the world if Christians actually took the time to linger in God’s presence!
The Bible says, you can’t put new wine into old wine bottles or you’ll ruin the new wine! If you have corrupted thinking, you’ve got to get rid of it before you can embrace new truth. Here is another example. Remember the parable of the sower? Your mind is like the soil in a garden. Imagine a garden plot filled with weeds, worms, snails, and the like. You take a perfectly healthy plant and place it in the middle of that garden plot. What’s going to happen to it? Is it going to continue to grow and thrive? Absolutely not! Before long the weeds and insects are going to devour it and suck out all it’s nutrients. That is the same thing that happens when we try and plant new truth, God’s truth, in a mind that is tainted with faulty mindsets, past conditioning, and falsehoods. Eventually the weeds are going to take over again.
Therefore, before we can truly embrace God’s truth we need to identify and get rid of the weeds planted in our minds: the negative thoughts and debilitating mind sets that we’ve accepted as truth. They are choking out the word of God and causing our Christian walk to be unfruitful.
If you don’t do anything about your mental garden, your mind and spirit will continue to war against each other. This is usually an unconscious pattern. For example, God’s word will tell you to give to receive, but your mind constantly tells you to hold on to everything you’ve got. Your mind tells you to always get the last word, but God says to turn the other cheek and a soft answer calms the situation. Again, your mind tells you to work hard and strive for success, yet the Bible says, seek God’s kingdom first and everything you need will be added unto you.
If you don’t address the false thinking that contradicts God’s word, you’ll continue to be what the Bible calls “double-minded” and because we continue to waver in our desires and beliefs, we can’t receive anything from God.
How to Win the Battle Over Your Mind
It was practicing meditation integrated with the scriptures that helped me to overcome years of depression. Christ-centered meditation helped me to become still enough so that I could observe what was really going on in my mind. Until then, my mind was controlling my thoughts and ultimately my behavior. It took me being still to even realize it. But once I recognized the thoughts I was thinking I was able to challenge, alter, or eliminate them altogether. Ongoing and consistent meditation taught me how to control my thoughts instead of allow them to control me. We can’t change what we don’t see or acknowledge. I call it unconscious living. It’s when we continue to live on autopilot, doing the same things, the same ways without really considering whether these behaviors are working for us anymore.Our greatest inspirations and truths come during times of quietness, stillness, openness, and reflection- all components of meditation.
Ten benefits of Biblical meditation:
Relax and Quiet your Mind
Turn off Compulsive Thinking
Understand the Scriptures More Fully
Live with More Balance in your Life Hear the Voice of God More Clearly
Live in the Present Moment
Abide in God’s Presence
Create a Greater Intimacy with God
Reduce or Eliminate Toxic Emotions like Stress, Anger, and Worry.
Observe the Thoughts You Think So You Can Challenge and Eliminate Them
Rhonda Jones, MA is the author of 23 Biblical meditation and affirmation Cds and the creator of the awarding winning website, http://www.thechristianmeditator.com. Visit her website to learn more about Christian meditation and its benefits and subscribe to Free Daily Christian Meditations.
“While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, ”Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Being disorganized is one of the common causes of stress. Time management is the key to organizing your work at home and at the workplace, thus lessening the stress you may feel. Prioritizing the most important job and writing down your duties and activities everyday is one of the best ways of managing you time.
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Last week I wrote a post about intention and created a list of intentions that I read each morning. But lately during my quiet meditation time with God, I sense God taking my heart and thoughts in a new direction. I believe the Lord is tell me we all have great intentions, dreams, desires, and goals, so the problem isn’t knowing what we want, the issue is “allowing” God to bless us with these things. Too often we become the pursurer of what we want instead of becoming a pursurer of God, who declares, seek ME first and I will give us ALL things. 
EFT is an acronym on for Emotional Freedom Technique. Occasionally, I am asked if EFT is something that Christians should avoid. I first became familiar with EFT about 10 years ago at a book signing event. At that time I had never heard of EFT, but participated in several tapping exercises to reducing sugar cravings. EFT is now taught and practiced world-wide. Just look on YouTube you will find 100s of EFT videos on reducing everything from stress and anxiety to losing weight and people swear by it.
I truly believe that depression is the result of internalized fear. Fear can take many forms such as anxiety, worry, guilt, regret, jealousy, and even anger. Usually we fear a loss or unwanted situation. For example, fear of losing a loved one, wages, health, or even face can cause great anxiety. These situations, if not properly dealt with, steal our peace of mind and well-being.
Lately I have been practicing one of my meditation sessions a little differently. Generally I try to meditate twice a day, one guided meditation (usually one of my Cds) and then a Centering Prayer meditation (a silent meditation using a sacred word to anchor my mind). There are many benefits to meditation and meditating on God and His word. I believe one of the most important reasons is to quiet our mind so we can hear and build relationship with God on a spiritual level. I enjoy both types because they provide me with different experiences and results.
