How I Meditate As a Christian- Rhonda Jones

How I Meditate as a Christian -or- How I Spend My Quiet Time with God is a New Category Just Launched to Learn About How Others Meditate in the Body of Christ. If you would like to participate by sharing your meditation practice, please see the link at the end of this article.

by Rhonda Jones

Introduction

Rhonda Jones is the creator of The Christian Meditator website where she has promoted Christian meditation since 2006. She is the producer of over 25 Christ-Centered meditation and affirmation Cds and is the author of several books, “A Date with God” and “Help Me God Change My Life.”  Through her website, workshops, and Christian meditation and yoga retreats, Rhonda has in many instances, introduced Christians to the wonderful benefits of Christian meditation, abiding in God’s presence, and meditating on His Word.

Where do you meditate?

Typically I meditate on my couch in my living room. I usually sit in a criss-cross legged position and use pillows to prop up my knees. I’m generally covered up with a blanket.

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When do you meditate?

I meditate the very first thing in the morning and prefer to get started before the sun comes up.  It’s kind of funny but 90% of the time I will wake up and go straight to the kitchen and put a pot of water on the stove for tea. Then I go to the couch to start my morning practice. More often than not, I forget about the water until it’s all boiled out. Then I have to add more. I still don’t know why I just don’t make my tea after I meditate since that what ends up happening anyway. I guess I just like the habit of putting on the water beforehand. I generally meditate anywhere from 5-7 days per week during my Quiet Time.

What type of meditation do you practice?

Lately have started doing what I call a Living Sacrifice Meditation that I created.  My practice first starts with randomly flipping through my Bible and reading a passage from the Psalms. After that I read a prayer that I wrote that invites God’s presence and the Holy Spirit into my meditation practice. I declare that I am releasing every care unto Him and as a little child I sit at his feet ready, open, and willing to receive from Him.

Next I put on my favorite background music and then I begin the meditation which consists of me repeating a series of Biblical phrases as I concentrate on different parts of my body. Moving from the top down, I offer them as a living sacrifice to God. For example, as I focus on my forehead I slowly and silently ask God to “Renew my mind,” incorporating the breath between words.  Next I bring my attention to my eyes and silently affirm, “Enlighten my eyes.” I continue all the way down my seat-bones where  ask God to “ground me in his love, wisdom, and truth” before starting over again. It takes me about 20 minutes to do it three times.

Props used?

Only the ones for my left knee because it is a little stiff in the morning.

Why do you meditate?

I meditate to draw closer to God and maintain my peace of mind. I’ve been meditating for over 15 years, sometimes more consistently than other times. I started meditating by accident while suffering from years of depression. One day I was sitting in my mini-van filled with so much internal pain you could cut it with a knife. For some reason I just started taking deep breathes and saying to myself, “I release pain.” Each time I exhaled I felt some of the heaviness leave my body until it was ALL gone. At that point I became very aware of my mind and thoughts and how negative they were. I heard an inner voice which I believe was God say to me, “Rhonda the reason you are so depressed is because of the thoughts you are thinking.” It was at that moment that I became an observer of my head and began using meditation and my breath to detach from my chronically negative thought life. This began my journey of healing.  Within 3 months I was depression free.

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Advice for first-time meditators?

Be consistent and let the process work. Meditation works outside of our minds and control. Therefore, establish a practice and just do it regardless of whether you think it is working or not. Then one day it will just dawn on you that you’re more at peace, you’re not reacting to situations the same, and you feel more connected with yourself and maybe even God. Also, starting with a guided meditation can be helpful for beginners.

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Is Meditation Christian?

Meditation in and of itself is non-religious. Rather, it is simply a tool used to create deeper awareness and to detach from and quiet the mind, thus creating greater space for that which is life affirming.  However, the Bible does support meditation. In fact, you can find the word meditate over 17 times in the Scripture. Two of my favorite verses that support Christian meditation include, “Meditate on God’s Word day and night so that you can have great success in life” (Joshua 1:8) and Psalms 46:10 that says, “Be still and know that I am God.” The Bible tells us that God only dwells in clean and pure vessels; therefore, we need to purify our hearts of toxic mindsets and emotions that obstruct the flow of God’s love and light in our lives and limit his access to our being. It is a matter of renewing our minds and putting new wine (thoughts of love, faith, and truth) into new wine skins (a clean temple or vessel) by getting rid of the old thought patterns that don’t serve us or God. (Mark 2:22) Christian meditation is a tool that can help us to do that.

Bio:

Rhonda Jones, aka, The Christian Meditator has been promoting health and wellness for many years. Since 2006 her Christian meditation ministry has touched the lives of thousands around the world through her guided meditation Cds, courses, and Christian meditation and yoga retreats. She believes that Christ-centered meditation helps believers to follow the Biblical mandate to “cast down every thought and imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of Yah (God) and bring every thought under the authority of Christ.”  “Our faith is only a pure as our thoughts,” says Rhonda.  Visit her website to get a FREE copy of The Christian Meditator’s Power Hour Morning Routine at https://thechristianmeditator.com. You can also join her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/msrhondajones . 

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