Meditation plays a very important role in the spiritual growth of a Christian. The meaning of meditation is focusing your thoughts to think on, ponder, or muse about something. The main aim of meditation for Christians is to renew their minds by letting go and detaching from fear and worry-based thoughts and instead fill it instead with what is right according to the Scriptures. Christian meditation has some really great benefits. These include controlling negative thinking, maintaining peace of mind, and getting closer to God. In order to unleash the amazing benefits of Christian meditation, you should make it a daily habit. Here are 6 ways to start and maintain a daily Christian meditation practice.

1. Identify a Good Spot for Your Meditation

When meditating, it is important to have a peaceful environment free from any interruptions. Find a place in your house or elsewhere where you can get some quality alone time. The purpose of Christian meditation is to personalize and internalize the scripture and let its truth transform our actions, thoughts attitudes and even your life. By finding a good spot for your meditation, you will be able to spend quality time with God uninterrupted. Your environment during meditation should make you feel relaxed and calm.

2. Make a Goal to Connect with God through Meditation Daily

If possible set up a daily routine or date with God. At first, don’t worry about set time limits. If you are brand new to meditation, start with 5 minutes and work your way up to more. Also, you don’t want to make your meditation time feel like a chore either and find yourself not meditating at all. So ease yourself in.

3. Meditate in the Morning Immediately after You Wake Up

If possible, try to mediate first thing in the morning before allowing other tasks and commitments to steal this time away from you. The key to having a fantastic day is to use Christian meditation to connect with God, renew your mind, and cleanse and purify your heart. Christian meditation is like a shower of the mind, so by practicing it, you’re starting your day trusting God, and dwelling on what is good and right. You’ll also feel closer to God. and have courage you need to face any challenge all that comes your way during the entire day.

4. Find a Guided Meditation That You Love

There are lots of guided Christian meditations, methods, and techniques available. Once you identify a Christian meditation method that will work for you, use it. It’s not necessary to do different methods once you find one that works for you. By staying consistent, your mind and body will begin to associate peace, calm, and tranquility with the Christian meditation technique you choose and will and you’ll find that you quickly ease into a meditative state. Ensure that the guided meditation you get is Christian based and will not compromise your faith.

5. Invite Others

It is always a great idea to invite others once in a while during your meditation sessions. It could be your spouse, children, roommates, family or friends. Guide them through a short guided meditation. However, don’t force anyone to join you. It is best if you lead by example. This way, they will even respect you and give you time to meditate and they might join you sometimes.

6. Understand How Good You Will Feel Afterwards

Christian meditation gives one a great feeling afterward. You get comfort from reminding yourself that God is still there for you. By meditating and reflecting upon the Word of God, you know that you are not alone and that God is always by your side. A consistent practice will also help you overcome bad habits or even addictive behaviors.

Remember not to fill yourself with guilt if you skip one day of meditation. Creating a habit takes time. Just ensure that you keep encouraging yourself and be willing to actually make daily Christian meditation part of your daily Christian life. Soon enough, you will find that meditation will be part of you and you can’t do without it. I wish you all the best as you begin your daily Christian meditation. Be sure and check out our Product Library!

Start a Christian Power Hour Routine

Do you begin your day in a rush? You rush to wake up, get yourself dressed, eat your meal, and then you’re off to work? Then after work, you have errands to run, dinner to cook, and housework to complete. Even if you are a stay-at-home mom or you work from home, your day can still be filled with an abundance of non-stop or unproductive activity. One of the best ways to make the most out of your day as well as your life is to incorporate a daily Hour of Power. An Hour of Power is time you cut out just to nurture you. It is a time of self-development and mental, spiritual, or physical growth.

Each day, it’s important that we check in with ourselves. If we don’t, life just becomes like the wheel of a treadmill. We just do what we did today because we did it yesterday. We’re not living with passion or according to our highest values. In fact, without taking time to find out what we want, we may not even realize what is really important to us. Some good questions to ask are, “Why am I doing the things I do?” “Are my actions based on faith or fear?” “Am I living or just existing?” “Am I getting the most out of my life?” If you never stop to check in with yourself and God, how do you really know?

Incorporating a daily Hour of Power in your life can help you answers these questions and more. For years my Hour of Power included a time for meditation, reading the Bible, reading my confession of faith, and journaling. I also used this time to work through uncomfortable emotions, schedule my day, and get focused on my vision. When distractions presented themselves throughout the day, the time I spend getting centered with God and my purpose, kept me from being pulled in opposing directions. In addition, because I had a clearer vision for my life through taking time to understand my values and desires, I could say no to activities that didn’t line up with my goals. My Hour of Power helps me to set the course of my life instead of being swept away with every idle thought or new idea.

Now that I hoped I’ve convinced you of the power of an Hour of Power, I want to share with you some specific ways you can use this time effectively.

Meditation

The Bible tells us to “be still and know that I am God.” It is through stillness and quiet that our relationship with God expands. Through meditation, whether on scriptures, a sacred word, or just soaking in God’s presence, we learn to quiet our minds, renew our thoughts, and create a greater space for the Lord in our lives. Spending time every day in meditation also breaks the cycle of unconscious living because we’re able to detach from mindless patterns and make choices that benefit our life and others. You can find a variety of Christian meditation techniques on the internet or even purchase Christ-centered meditation CDs.

Prayer

Prayer takes the burdens of life off ourselves and puts them on God. Jesus said Come to me all who are burdened and of a heavy heart and I will give you rest. He also tells his children to Cast your cares upon me and I will give you rest. You can find numerous scriptures that encourage Christians not to worry but to bring all of our needs unto him and then to stand in faith believing that God will never leave us or forsake us. Hardship and prayer give God the opportunity to move in our lives in miraculous and unexpected ways. Establishing prayer in your Hour of Prayer will allow you to start your day lighter, freer, and putting your faith in the Lord.

Journaling

Journaling is an invaluable tool for transforming. Journaling can help you work through destructive emotions, record your spiritual growth, write down inspirations you receive from the spirit, and heal your life. Journaling helps you to dig deep within and uncover areas of denial, fear, and hurt. We can’t change what we don’t see or acknowledge and journaling acts as an excavation tool to dig up the junk we need to heal and eliminate. Spending some time each day writing your thoughts or whatever comes to mind can also lead to a well spring of inspiration and creativity that you never knew existed.

Affirmations

We become what we meditate on? We become what we believe? By changing our thoughts and the words we use each day, we can change our own consciousness and our changed consciousness changes our outcomes. If your limiting beliefs are causing you from doing or being the person you really want to be, then it’s time to change your telling yourself. If you are shy, begin to affirm you are outgoing. If you are fearful, affirm your courage. Make a list of who or what you want to be, and then spend time during your Hour of Power repeating them at least 3 times each. If you do it long enough and then begin to take baby steps to act upon uncomfortable situations, you can change your life tremendously.

Inspirational Reading

Many people don’t read. It is critical to our faith to read our Bibles or other inspirational books. We wouldn’t think to go without physical food. In fact, many of us eat when were not even hungry, but all too often we’re starving our spirits because we neglect to feed our spirits. Incorporating time within your Hour of Power to read the Bible or an inspirational or self-development book will keep you growing and expanding mentally and spiritually. Many times I will read a self-improvement book while exercising on the treadmill at the gym or I’ll listen to motivational CD or the Bible on tape while doing housework. Every day I want to feed my spirit so I can continue to move forward and become the best me I can be.

Gratitude

Many people often look at what is wrong with their life instead of all the things that are actually right with their life. When we focus on the negative it’s like giving permission to a heavy, dark, cloud to follow us around and rain on our life. We begin to see every circumstance through an unhappy or pessimistic filter or dismal eye glasses. It doesn’t matter how much good is happening, shade it with negativity or don’t see it altogether. I thank God every day that I can live in peace, have a warm bed to sleep in, wonderful children, use of my legs and other facilities, have my health, and the list goes on. Of course, there are things I would like to change or aren’t going the way I want at the moment, but I turn those things over to God in prayer knowing he will take care of them in his time. Make it a point to list 5-10 things you are grateful for each day. It can be as simple as a warm cup of cocoa.

Emotional Work

We pick up all sorts of mental and emotional garbage and residue throughout the day. These can make us feel heavy, weighed down, and a host of other toxic emotions. The Power Hour is a great time to rid our inner-being of destructive mindsets and emotions that rob us from our peace, joy, and harmony. The best indicator that our well-being is being sabotaged is to pay attention to how you feel. If you’re feeling depressed, sad, restless, angry, fearful, etc., it means you need to do emotional work. Most often this means tuning into what’s going on inside of you and then releasing it to God. All too often we deny our feelings or sweep them under the rug only to allow them to influence us on a subconscious level. I heard someone say that denied feelings or emotions just come back in “another pair of shoes.” Some of my favorite techniques for eliminating toxic emotions and limiting beliefs are Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and the Welcoming Prayer. You can find more about EFT on this blog. If you are dealing with chronic negative thoughts or emotional issues consider purchasing my Help Me God! Change My Life Program to help you to systematically work through them.

Visualizations

The Bible gives us a lot of advice concerning visions. We are told that without a vision my people perish. God tells us to write our vision on the wall and to make it plain and to share it with anybody who will listen. Paul told us to speak those things that be not as though they already were. Visualizing is simply seeing the outcome that we want. It’s like daydreaming with a purpose. Scientific studies declare that our mind can differentiate fantasy from reality. Just think about biting into a lemon and watch how your mouth salivates. In the same light, your brain doesn’t know your visualizations about your prospering business or slim figure are just wishful thinking. Use some time during your Hour of Power to visualize your success in the present moment, before it has actually happened. By doing so, you invite the universe to help you manifest your desires and open the door to unexpected encounters and miracles to make it happen.

Exercise

I decided to include exercise in the Hour of Power because exercise gets us moving and movement creates momentum. In actuality, you will probably need to schedule exercise before or after your Hour of Power, but you do want to include it. When you exercise you release endorphins, the feel-good hormones. These endorphins will help you to ward off depression and procrastination. Exercise will also enhance the other aspects of the Hour of Power listed. Almost daily, I will walk while I tell God what I’m grateful for, declare what I’m thankful for (visualizations), and say my affirmations aloud.

Schedule Your Day

Just think of how much more you can accomplish if you actually schedule your day before it begins? Setting aside 5 to 10 minutes to decide what you want to complete for each day and in specific time slots will help you to accomplish more and make constructive use of your time. It also helps you to be more practical about what you can actually complete in a day’s time. In addition, it creates accountability. At the end of the day, you can look at your schedule and feel empowered using your time wisely.

You may not have time for all of these or you may even want to start with a few and alternate them on a rotating basis. The important thing is that you just get started and allow your momentum to catapult you to living with more purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

Get a Free Copy of my Power Hour Spiritual Morning Routine!