I recently led a coworker with PTSD through some visualization prayer targeting the dissociated parts of his heart due to childhood and war trauma. He experienced peace in his mind, heart, and body for the first time in a long time. When he finally opened his eyes (long after I had stopped praying), he asked me how he could learn to meditate. So I wrote him this blog. 🤭
What Meditation Is & Isn’t
Many Christians have been taught that meditation comes from eastern religions (like Buddhism) and is therefore ungodly; many people teach the same about seeing visions. This is a false teaching that is rooted in the fear of spiritual things. (Remember, fear comes from the enemy; love comes from God.)
Meditation, visions, and trances are mentioned as godly practices that godly people do, both in the Old Testament (by King David as something that helped him become more pleasing to God) and in the New Testament (by Jesus as well by his apostles Peter, John, and Paul as a way to hear and learn from God).
Biblical Reasons to Meditate
In its simplest sense, meditation is the practice of intentionally shaping your own mind and heart (AKA your soul). My understanding is that the mind consists of our conscious thoughts and the heart consists of our subconscious thoughts. Whatever we repeatedly think in our mind shapes the beliefs in our heart, and whatever beliefs we have in our heart affect the default thoughts in our mind.
When you look up scriptures about the heart and the mind, you can get an idea of the different reasons to meditate:
- Search the heart
- Create a new heart
- Make an inflexible heart (of stone) into a flexible heart (of tissue)
- Store God’s word in the heart
- Seek God with the heart
- Purify the heart
- Test the heart
- Bind up the broken heart
- Renew the mind
- Think on lovely things (with the mind)
- Turn a double-mind into a unified mind
- And many more
What’s more, science is in agreement with the Bible about the powerful benefits of meditation; in fact, this article notes 12 scientific research-backed benefits to your body, soul, and spirit. (Note: This is not a Christian site so they don’t use my language, but the concepts are there.)
Different Ways to Meditate
There are many different ways to meditate. Below are a few ways I have personally used and what benefits they gave me:
- While you’re walking, repeat a scripture or thought over and over in your mind or with your mouth — shapes your core beliefs
- Close your eyes, ask God to visually represent a scripture or a thought in your imagination (the movie screen in your mind). Let the vision unfold, explore every corner of the picture, scene, sounds, words, or sensations that come to you — gives deeper meaning of scripture to your mind
- Close your eyes, use your awareness (mind’s eye) to scan every part of your body. Where you perceive a block or darkness, invite the Holy Spirit to set you free from that. Ask God to show you how he/she is setting you free and agree with it — improves your authority over your body
- Close your eyes, ask God to show you your body, your soul, and your spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to align your spirit under the Holy Spirit, your soul under your spirit, and your body under your soul; watch the vision unfold. Invite your spirit to expand and take authority over your soul and body (to protect and lead them): watch the vision unfold. — increases spiritual authority over yourself
- Close your eyes and imagine being in the most beautiful place in the world (real or imagined). Invite God to meet you there and wait until you perceive his/her presence. Look around, smell the flowers, walk barefoot in the field, swim in the water, bask in the sunshine with God by your side. Ask God to hug and hold you, and laugh together. Ask God to tell you how he/she sees you. — establishes a secret place in your heart to meet with God
- While you’re sitting comfortably, imagine yourself inhaling the love of God and exhaling fear as you inhale for 1-2-3-4 seconds, hold full for 1-2-3-4 seconds, exhale for 1-2-3-4 seconds, hold empty for 1-2-3-4 seconds.
- With your eyes closed, imagine you are a fish deep under water. Imagine thoughts that run through your mind as worms on a hook. Say the name of each thought, like “Fear, that thought is fear; Hope, that thought is hope; Jealousy, that thought is jealousy.” Remember that you don’t have to bite on every worm, only on the ones you want to hook into your mind and heart. Imagine yourself biting on the thought you want and repeat that thought over and over in your mind until it feels like you have swallowed it. — improves the authority of your spirit over your soul
More Resources on Meditation
Update 8 Mar 2023: I recently began offering a meditation series via Eventbrite that I’m then uploading to YouTube. If you want to join me in the live sessions, get a ticket via Eventbrite. Otherwise, subscribe to my YouTube playlist “Guided Christian Meditation” for free content.
Here are some additional resources I’ve found on meditation or Christian meditation that will help you.
7 of the Best Christian Meditation Apps
My Guided Prayer in the Spirit Video Part 1 & Part 2 (from my Holy Spirit U series)
I hope this helps get you a stat on one of the most powerful tools to take authority over our soul so that we can live in greater peace, joy, rest, and power.
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