Vibrance Ministries: What is Christian Meditation?

For Christians, what is MEDITATION? Shut the hell up and listen!

Should Christians meditate? Well, do you want to hear God’s opinion on whatever you are going on about in prayer?

The moment you shut up and allow God to get a word in edgewise, you are meditating. Meditation is simply holding space so that you can have two-way communion with your God.

We Christians never shut up. Blessedly, we have a really patient God who is with us all the way as we come before Him to tell Him about what needs fixing and how to fix it. God winks at our ignorance and He just keeps transmitting.

Our internet, cable and radio broadcasts are accessible 24/7 because the equipment is in place and keeps transmitting, so too our God. He talks to us constantly. Trouble is we struggle to hear Him, so we simply talk over Him.

Shut the HELL up and listen. I mean this literally. Hell is also on 24/7 broadcast and in our fallen state we pick up those signals without effort. Unfortunately, even as God loving, good hearted Christians, hell dominates our bandwidth.

We have to learn to tune out the noise. For many of us communion with God will take focus, intense focus. We think the Holy Spirit has one line and all other voices have a separate line, this is not true. Just like broadband, one line carries a range of frequencies. Most of us are tuned in to the lower bands, locked in anxiety, stress, lack, hatred, resentment and like emotions. It's hard to hear the still small voice when you are immersed in the noise. Yet no matter where you are emotionally, you get to make one simple choice. Focus on God.

That is all that meditation is, it is bringing your full focus, as best you can to God. The distractions will come, you mind has built-in auto-focus which will return to what it is used to focusing on. You do have to put the work in to teach your mind to tune in and keep focus on God. Keep trying. This is something every Christian must master if you are to grow in intimacy with your God.

You have to be able to hear Him.

We are not meant to live life from our heads. Communion with God comes from our hearts.

“ O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” - Matthew 12:34

Our hearts speak more powerfully than our words. God is always transmitting and our hearts are always responding. Whether you are aware or not, you are in constant communion with your God. What is your heart telling Him?

Shut the hell up and listen. That is one of the purposes of meditation. Before you even try to talk to your God, listen to your heart. What is your heart saying about the thing you are praying about. How is your heart feeling about your God? Is it feeling alienated and shut down? Is it feeling happy and safe in His care? Is it frightened, angry or resentful. Do you think perhaps the state of your heart may impact the outcome of your prayers?

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” - Proverbs 4:23

People think the ability to hear God is a spiritual gift. It isn’t. It is a basic spiritual capacity that every human being is born with. We have organs, physical organs that serve no other purpose but to receive, assimilate and translate spiritual energy. We are built to hear God, as Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden.

We don’t need mass meetings where the energy is stirred up through chanting, music, song and dance. We have the ability, in the quiet of our own hearts to communicate, two way with our God. Question-answer, desolation-comfort, doubt-encouragement, weariness-solace.

This is supposed to be our norm! Every Christian. This is our Father’s will for us.

It starts with us making the determination that for a little while, we will clear a path through the clutter and make a little room for Him. We shut up. We invite Him in. We wait patiently to hear His voice, whatever He wants to talk about.

I sat in deafening silence for years. Actually, since I am never silent myself, I railed and yelled at God for being silent for years. I kept praying for the ability to hear Him, until one day I did.

You can hear God audibly. You can hear God as a thought, a feeling, a sensation, a knowing. You can hear God through a scripture or even a billboard, you can hear Him through music and through random noise. You can hear God and have no words to describe it. He is talking always, He never shuts up. All He asks of you is the opportunity to talk to you.

What He has to say to you is so personal. There is a channel that is customized just for you. He will answer your questions and soothe your concerns. He will advise you about the dumbest, most insignificant day to day stuff. He will teach you how to position yourself in the spiritual and the temporal. He will tickle your funny bone and raise up your joy. He is very interested in you, personally.

There are warnings and caveats I must include. I do not suggest that Christian’s OHM or offer mantras which are actually holy sounds that speak to another god. When you open to Spirit, you are not only exposed to what we call the Holy Spirit.

It is important to make our intention and allegiance clear, otherwise the spirits we experience may not be so holy. Understand also that spirits attach to a heart that is resonating in the same frequency as they are. So it's important that no matter how you are feeling, do your best to lift your heart to the highest place you can reach.

In desolation, choose hope. In defeat choose faith. In chaos and dysfunction choose love. Those energies take you into your Father’s highest heart.

And know that when you open your heart to your God, He will not leave you vulnerable and unprotected. God will always nurture and protect the steadfast heart. He has hosts of angels to protect, guide and counsel you as you go. As you grow.

Every Christian must meditate. No point in sanctifying it and hiding it behind terms such as contemplation and soaking. Understand that to grow in your God, you must master one simple skill.

Shut the hell up and listen.