Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer and Meditation

Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer and Meditation

Growing and maintaining a thriving relationship with Christ takes investment. One of the ways we can make important spiritual investments is through spiritual disciplines, which are regular practices that bring us to a place of greater spiritual health and maturity. But it can be difficult to know what those disciplines are and to understand how they actually help us grow closer to Jesus. So, starting with this article, we will spend a few weeks looking at spiritual disciplines. We begin by looking at two that go hand in hand—and the first one might not be what you expect it to be on the surface.

In our current culture, meditation has become a popular practice for maintaining mental health, even among people who do not claim to be particularly spiritual. There are books, podcasts, and even apps solely dedicated to teaching meditation and helping people make it a regular practice. You may have come across some of these, perhaps even going so far as to download one of the apps. If you have ever tried to learn anything about meditation in many of its most popular forms, you have probably heard that most, if not all, of its value comes in clearing your mind. 

Our minds are cluttered, especially in our modern environment where devices are ever-present and constantly notifying us of something or playing an endless stream of content. So, as the argument goes, we need to clear the clutter, and when our minds are empty, they will be able to achieve a proper stasis. Our stresses and anxieties will recede, and we will be able to emerge from our meditation better prepared to face the challenges of our day-to-day lives. With this perspective, it makes sense that even the most secular people would be attracted to this practice. You don’t have to believe in any other kind of outside, spiritual force—just stop thinking and let your mind heal itself.

But what should Christians think about this? Is there any value in meditation? Well, a point where Christians can agree with the rest of the world is in recognizing that our minds are overloaded with a lot of things that do more to tear us down than to build us up. It is true that we need to do some mental clearing. But a biblical worldview says that we have to do more than just clear out; we need to take a step beyond emptying and find the right things to add in. That’s why Christian meditation is the practice of filling our minds with Christ. Instead of willing ourselves to release the anxious thoughts swirling in our heads, we replace those thoughts by turning our attention to the Lord and His Word. 

a biblical worldview says that we have to do more than just clear out; we need to take a step beyond emptying and find the right things to add in.

All throughout Scripture, we find testimony of how essential our minds are in growing a relationship with God. In Romans 12:2, we read, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” In Philippians 4:8, we see this instruction: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.” Filling our minds with the Lord is not just a New Testament idea. Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night.” And Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the collection, uses the words meditate or meditation seven different times (in the CSB translation of the Bible). Disciplining our minds in this way is clearly an important part of spiritual growth and development.

Meditation, when practiced in this way, goes hand-in-hand with prayer. Prayer is the way to communicate with God, and when you are thinking about Him in meditation, it is an easy jump to make to start talking to Him. So, when you put meditation into practice, do not be surprised if you end up in prayer more often than not. Reciting the Lord’s truth in your mind can naturally lead to thanking Him for who He is, or even to asking for Him to help you grow in the truth you have been dwelling on. Because we have already written about prayer in the past, we will keep our discussion of it here brief. You can look up past Experience Commentary articles to dig deeper into the practice of prayer and the value it brings to our lives.

To end, let’s look at some practical ways to start incorporating meditation and prayer into your routines. Life is busy, so it can be hard to find a way to fit in something new. If that is a concern for you, allow yourself to start small. Read a Psalm, then set aside five minutes to meditate on it, reciting its truth over and over in your mind. Set a timer if you need to. When that time has passed, thank God for His Word and its beauty, and ask Him to help you keep Him in focus throughout the rest of your day. Just doing that will start producing noticeable fruit in your life, and you will likely find that you want to dedicate even more time to it. The world throws so much at us every day, and knowing God is the only way we can find hope to live beyond our brokenness.

If you have more questions about these topics or would like someone to pray for you, you can reach out to us on our website, experiencecc.com.