Why Meditate? (with printable 5-minute Bible Meditation Cards!)

**Scroll right to the bottom to get the cards!**

This time of year is full of excitement and anticipation.  But for some of us, (most of us,) it can also be draining, and even anxiety-ridden.  This year I want to encourage you to slow down a little (with me)...and one way I want to do that is by using meditation.  But not just any meditation…

I hope you’ll read on and see what I’m talking about.  {and find a free printable to help you at the bottom!}

Meditation is a popular topic among everyone from health experts, to business people.  And the benefits of meditation are pretty undeniable.  Research has shown that it:  reduces stress, and improves concentration…increases happiness and self-acceptance, slows aging, and improves immune function.  So understandably, meditation is widely accepted and encouraged as a healthy part of a balanced lifestyle.

Yet as trendy (and healthy) as meditation is known to be, many Christians are unsure of it, at best.  And I get that, because I used to shy away from the whole meditation topic too.  For me at least, this was mostly because I associated meditation with the New Age movement, which is known to encourage Transcendental Meditation (which is rooted in Hindu and eastern spirituality.)   A lot of people are drawn to that, but for me as a Christian, that just does not jive with my Biblical world view.

Well, you might have read a post I wrote last winter called, Yoga, meditation and my (Christian) faith, (or if you haven’t, you might want to click over and check that out.)  In it I shared that I have been working on adding Biblical meditation to my day.  And it’s honestly not easy for me.  It’s a discipline;  slowing down is hard for me.  Being still for the sake of being still?  Torturous…

Which is why I really LOVE the idea of Biblical meditation.  Biblical meditation serves the purpose of slowing me down and calming my breath and my mind, but it has the added benefit of filling me up with God’s Word.  Unlike transcendental meditation, which focuses on clearing the mind, Biblical meditation actually serves to focus the mind on the powerful Word of God.

I found a lot of great information in an article called: Christian Meditation at allaboutGod.com.  (I highly recommend you check it out.)  I was reminded that God’s Word actually commands us to meditate.  Joshua 1:8 reads, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night…” And Psalm 1:3 says “His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”  The bible mentions meditate or meditation over 20 times!

This was also from the article:

Rick Warren, in The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan), describes meditation this way: “Meditation is focused thinking. It takes serious effort. You select a verse and reflect on it over and over in your mind…if you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate” (190). Warren goes on to say, “No other habit can do more to transform your life and make you more like Jesus than daily reflection on Scripture…If you look up all the times God speaks about meditation in the Bible, you will amazed at the benefits He has promised to those who take the time to reflect on His Word throughout the day” (190).

Biblical meditation is a great practice.  I am not only working on it more, but I’m teaching my kids to use it as well.  Before Luke goes into a surf heat, I encourage him to slow down and focus on a few key verses that will hep him calm his nerves and focus his energy.  It’s such a powerful tool!

So how do you practice Christian meditation?

The article about Christian meditation says this:

There are three times during the day we can actively turn our minds over to God’s Word in Christian Meditation. Just before we fall asleep, we can have God’s Word be the last thing that occupies our mind. Upon awaking, we can have God’s Word be the first thing to fill our minds to start the day. Finally, we need a specific time each day to be in God’s Word so it can speak to us throughout our day.

What should we focus on in Christian meditation? “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8, NASB).

Here’s how it looks for me:

Quite simply:  Every morning I wake up and spend some time reading my Bible and praying.  (and drinking coffee.) I often use the SheReadsTruth app for this, but sometimes I just read through a book of the Bible, or follow another devotional.  While I read, and at the end, I spend time praying; first, thanking God for who He is and His many blessings in my life, then asking Him for counsel, and lifting any number of people or concerns I might have up to Him.  At the end of all of that, (if kids are still leaving me alone and I have time–so no, not every day,) I take a few minutes to do Biblical meditation.  I mentioned in my previous post the app called “Five minute Christian meditation“, (it’s free!) which really helped me get started.  Now I might just gather a few verses that I have been studying, then I take about one minute for each verse, focusing on half of the verse with my inhale, and the other half on my exhale.  It is incredibly calming and empowering!

Of course, if you have a Bible, you can create your own meditations simply.   (Short verses are easiest!)

But to help get you started, I created a really helpful new printable with eight, 5-minute meditations which are focused on a variety of topics!  

The topics are: 

FAITH
GRACE
PEACE
OVERCOMING FEAR
FORGIVENESS
JOY
OVERCOMING ANXIETY
ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

Each 5-minute meditation will fit perfectly on a 3X5 card, so you can print it on card stock and cut it out (or print on paper and glue to an index card! :))

I think these turned out super cute, you’re gonna love ’em!
(If you don’t want to print, you can just use them on your phone or device.  SO fun!)

To download the printable PDF for these, just leave your email address below, and they will be sent directly to you!  Just like my last printable PDF giveaway, this is also a super helpful way for me to track how many of my blog readers are interested in this topic! 🙂

Also note:  By leaving your email with this, you will be put on my blog subscriber list, so you will receive an email notification each time I publish a blog post. (usually once or twice a week.)  If you don’t like subscribing to blogs, you can always unsubscribe anytime by simply clicking the little “unsubscribe” button on the bottom of my emails!  (No hard feelings I promise.)

Here’s to some solid meditations to keep us calm, balance and energized as we enter the holiday season!

Aloha,

Monica

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