Christian Meditation Techniques
Christian meditation is one of the most powerful tools for spiritual growth. It enables you to meditate on Scripture and allow God’s word to renew your mind and transform your heart.
To start, find a comfortable spot where you won’t be distracted. Then sit down and close your eyes.
Breath Prayer
Christian meditation is a form of prayer that seeks to get closer to God. It focuses on the inescapable presence of Jesus Christ and teaches you how to live from his spiritual reality. It helps you cope with stress, anxiety and worry, and teaches you how to deal with low self-esteem, hurried living, people-pleasing and fear.
Christian practitioners of meditation can use many different methods to develop their relationship with God. One type is called breath prayer. This type of meditation involves finding a quiet place and choosing a two-word anchor prayer to focus on while breathing deeply. The prayer can be from Scripture or a Christian book or even the writings of a saint. As you breathe, you ponder this passage in your mind and heart and ask for the Holy Spirit to give you insight into its meaning and application in your life.
Breath prayer is an important part of any Christian meditation practice because it helps you learn to focus your mind and your attention. It also provides a simple way to incorporate Paul’s teaching of “pray without ceasing” into your daily life.
Another popular Christian meditation technique is Lectio Divina, or “divine reading.” This method involves choosing a passage from Scripture to read and meditate on. You can choose a single verse, a short chapter, a parable or a story from the Bible. You then slowly recite the passage, focusing on its meaning and its connection to your own life. You can also ponder the meaning of the words and the spiritual principles contained in the text.
Unlike daydreaming, which is random and aimless, Christian meditation is focused. The goal is to retrain the mind to focus on a specific word, phrase, or teaching of Scripture. It also teaches you to notice the presence of God in your daily activities and gives you a way to practice the disciplines of stewardship and self-control. Moreover, meditation helps you develop your relationship with God as you experience his transforming love for you and for others. It is a powerful tool for every disciple of Jesus Christ.
Centering Prayer
Christian meditation is a way to connect with God through quieting the mind and focusing on the divine presence within. The Bible mentions meditation 23 times, 19 of those times in the book of Psalms alone. The goal of this type of prayer is to enter into heart-to-heart conversation with Christ while listening for his insights and guidance.
To do this, start by choosing a passage of Scripture to meditate on. Then, read it through several times and ponder its meaning. You can even repeat it out loud to yourself, letting the words sink in as you meditate on them. You should also try to be open to hearing from the Lord about anything that comes up in your mind, whether it’s a word or image that is resonating or a feeling that arises.
Next, choose a sacred word that expresses your intention to consent to the presence of God and his action within you. It should be a word that you can return to if your thoughts kidnap you. Throughout the meditation, whenever a thought emerges, just return to your sacred word. As time passes, this technique will become second nature for you.
Another way to meditate is with Lectio Divina, which involves reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation of Scripture. This form of Christian meditation was developed by the Trappist monk Thomas Keating in the 1970s and is a popular method of meditating on Scripture. It includes four steps: read the text, ponder its meaning, pray about it and listen for guidance from above. This is a more in-depth prayer practice, so it can take up to 20 minutes for each session. Then, after each session, you should write down the key points from your discussion with Christ. This is a great way to keep track of what you’ve learned, and it can be very helpful if you ever feel lost or confused in your spiritual life. It’s important to remember, however, that this method is not intended to replace other forms of meditation that focus on connecting with Jesus and Mary or spirit companions.
Lectio Divina
This is a form of Christian meditation centered on reading and praying the Scriptures. It combines contemplation and silent prayer with a focus on reading the Bible as “love letters from God.” The practice focuses on a text that is chosen ahead of time to be read out loud. This reading is repeated, reflected upon and responded to in prayer. Lectio Divina is a time-honored Christian practice first developed in the 6th century by St. Benedict of Nursia and then formalized by the Carthusian monk Guigo II into a four-step process: Lectio (reading); Meditatio (reflection); Oratio (prayer); Contemplatio (resting).
The passage is read out loud slowly, allowing each word to echo in the mind and heart. This is not a time to analyze the text or try to understand it, but a time to receive the Word of God as an individualized gift for each reader. As you read the text, pay attention to any word or phrase that catches your eye. Repeat that word or phrase softly to yourself, pondering it as you would a precious love letter from a friend.
As you reflect on the passage, listen for what God is saying to you and how it applies to your life. As you do, be willing to let your responses rise up spontaneously — praise, thanksgiving, questions, petitions. Then, listen for how the passage speaks to you anew in the quietness of your heart.
Finally, listen for how God is calling you into action or service. The final step is to pray, asking God for the grace to live out what you have heard and learned in your daily life. Many practitioners keep a journal for this purpose to record their experiences and prayers.
Practicing this form of Christian meditation with a group can help encourage participants to be vulnerable, prayful and connected. It is also a way to build trust within the group and a good precursor to more formal group meetings such as those led by a spiritual director or pastor. In addition, meditating on recommended Lectio Divina Guides between sessions can continue the spiritual growth process.
The Jesus Prayer
The Jesus Prayer is a form of contemplative prayer that involves repeating the name of Jesus Christ over and over again. It is a common practice among many Christian mystics and it is known as a way to free the mind and unite with the Divine.
The earliest recorded version of the prayer dates back to around 600 CE. It was a simple phrase: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Today there are several variations of the prayer and each has its own style but they all have the same purpose. The purpose of the prayer is to enter into a heart-to-heart conversation with Christ. It is a way to deepen your personal relationship with him and to identify yourself more closely with the fulfillment of his will.
During the first part of the prayer you repeat the phrase to yourself over and over again, in equal breaths. Then, slowly, you let some of the words fall away so that the meaning and the feeling of the prayer melds into the remaining words. The prayer becomes, simply, “Jesus — have mercy on me.” Eventually the repetitions of the word should be reduced to just the first and last part of the phrase.
Another form of Christian meditation is to meditate on Scripture, either individually or in a group. This is an important part of Christian prayer because it allows believers to ponder the words and principles found in Scripture and deepen their understanding of them.
Meditation on Scripture is also an important part of Christian meditation because it allows believers to find guidance for living in a difficult world. It is important to remember that meditation on Scripture should not be done in a legalistic manner and that believers should seek the wisdom of God when dealing with difficult situations, both big and small. In addition, it is important to remember that it is not the reading of Scripture or meditation on it that makes a person wise, but rather the serious pondering over its words and applying them to one’s own life that leads to true wisdom.
