The Key (meeting)
Basics of Meditation
Meditation means to engage in contemplation or reflection. It is letting go of all the things in this physical world and focusing on something in your mind; your imagination. The Bible tells us that our thoughts are important. Scripture instructs us in what we should be meditating on:
“I will meditate also on all Your work, and talk of Your doings.” (Psalms 77:12 AKJV)
“Meditate on these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your profiting may appear to all.” (1 Timothy 4:14 AKJV)Paul instructs Timothy to meditate and think on the gifts that had been given to him by the Holy Spirit. When we meditate on the things of God it honors Him. This allows Him to reveal more about those things to us.
A few more scriptures about meditation are:
I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. (Psalm 119:15-16)
When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches... (Psalm 63:6)
Great are the works of the LORD; They are studied by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:2)
On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. (Psalm 145:5)
These give us a few major ways to meditate:
- Focusing on God’s ways (precepts)
- Rejoicing in how awesome He is.
- Thinking about the things He has done
We should have all three of these in our lives.
Focusing on God’s Ways
To become a healthy, mature Christian, we should have a steady diet of the Word of God. Meditating on God’s ways is more than reading the Bible. This is thinking about what you’ve read throughout the day and applying what you’ve learned to the world around you. This form of meditation is for every day as we walk through life. It will help us develop a deeper relationship with our Lord and the Holy Spirit.Rejoicing in Him
The most common way to rejoice in Him is when we worship God with songs about how great He is. For it to be considered meditation we have to let Him be the center focus of our thoughts. This often opens the door to the Secret Place.
What He Has Done
This can be the hardest of the three types of meditation to do. Problems and worries of this life often intrude in our thoughts. It can be very hard to stay focused on Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You may want to begin with a more secular practice of meditation.Focusing on physically letting go is a good starting point. There are many secular teachings about this. Here are the steps I use:
- I relax my entire body
- If I sense tension in any area, I focus on making that part relax
In grade school when we took naps our teachers would walk us through an exercise something like this:
- move your head, side to side, it is time to say goodnight
- waggle your fingers, nice and loose, no more to use
- round and round let your wrists can go all the way to your elbow
- your shoulders are done after having fun (flex up and down)
- your body work is complete, it can rest and go to sleep
- legs are needed, they can rest
- say goodnight to your ankles after you flex
- wiggle your toes, then let them go, now your body is like jello.
It is a silly way to take stock of the tension in your muscles. By addressing and releasing all the anxiety in our physical body we are also letting go of all the troubles that bring that tension. Doing this before bed may help you relax and get into the habit of letting go of things. We should try to always reach the state of letting go of our needs and focusing on God before entering prayer. This will help receive information from Him rather than our own minds.
The Key
These three basic aspects of meditation will help you get ready for hearing from God through prayer, journaling and in the Secret Place. However, there is a singular key which will unlock the door to not only journaling and Secret Place visits with Abba, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but also to operating in the Outpouring of God’s glory. It is the way in which we perceive what Jesus has done for us. Many good-hearted Christians have lost this key, misplaced it, or perhaps never had it in the first place. The good news is, it can be found and is always available if you never received it!In many ways we have become like the Jewish people right before Jesus came: we depend upon a single prayer dedicating ourselves to Jesus as they depended on the fact that they were circumcised, showing that they were God’s chosen people. The first two chapters of the Book of Romans is Paul’s letter to the Jews in Rome. Much of these books can be summed up in one verse:
Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)? (Romans 2:4)God’s chosen people had decided that the outward appearances were sufficient, that their sin didn’t matter. They judged the world for their sin, yet they were doing the same things and then making yearly sacrifices to atone, thinking that was good enough. Because of the disobedience of His people, their eyes and ears became dull, meaning they couldn’t easily recognize the things of God and they were easily led astray. Is not the majority of Christians in the very same boat?
We say a prayer then continue with life, not really considering what it really means or what God now expects of us. Things that are detestable to God, His children readily walk in, counting on the cross as our way to heaven. We have been raised in a world where we have easy access to God and take for granted the sacrifice that allows us to come boldly before the throne of God.
We can go into any church at any time and usually receive prayer quite easily. There is now 24/7 access to Christian brothers and sisters online who will readily agree with most any prayer. Despite this easy access to His house and His people, the presence of God isn’t often apparent because of disobedience to His ways.
This vicious cycle has caused us to undervalue what it means to be called a child of God and be able to BE in His presence. Before we begin trying to remove sin and walk in the ways of God, we must realize what has been done for us. Without knowing the full value of what has happened we cannot worship Him. How can you thank someone with the level of gratitude they deserve if you are unaware of what has been given. Think of it this way:
You are given the keys to a car. The one in the parking lot looks 100 years old and like it might make it home (to heaven) if you are lucky.Yes, you’d be happy about getting even a clunker like this; especially if you didn’t have one at all. However how much happier would you be if:
A friend sees your beat-up ride and says, “Man, where’d you get that!”
It was a gift…” You shrug. Not thinking much of it.
Your friend smiles, “You know that it's got a secret engine, right? All you have to do is push that red button and you can go anywhere, instantly.”Now this would be a super awesome gift that you would be totally thrilled to have. That is the way we should feel about being a child of God through our Lord, Jesus. Unfortunately, too many of us feel like we are driving around is a sketchy rust bucket that we hope gets us home.
Looking at the gift we’ve been given from a different perspective is the key to being able to walk in the ways of God which will open up the Secret Place and allow you to operate in the Outpouring of God’s glory. Like with meditation, let’s go through an exercise to look at this differently. Here is what it would be like today if Jesus had not come:
There is a group of people who believe they are better than everyone else. They set themselves aside and won’t do what everyone else does. They only:
- work on certain days
- eat meat prepared a particular way, if they are allowed to eat it at all
- socialize with others who are like them
Your hunger to know about this God grows. The things you learn cause you to support the temple where they gather even though you are not allowed to enter. You try to live right, do what their laws say you should do, but you know that you will never be a child of God like them which means you probably won’t go to Heaven when you die. Some form of eternal suffering in Hell will be where you wind up for all eternity.
Then you begin to hear stories. There is a man telling people to prepare to meet the Son of God who will visit earth where He will rule and reign. When you learn that everyone can now be one of God’s children this is not just “good news,” this is the absolute best thing you have ever heard!
This is a free gift from God because you cannot buy it with money or earn it by what you do. You only get this gift by coming into a covenant or an agreement with the Son. Jesus lived a perfect life without sin. He has taken all the punishment for everything you have done wrong, if you will give Him the rest of your life on this earth.
The KEY to receiving more from meditation, to be able to enter the Secret Place and to operating in Outpouring is remembering that He is LORD. This means you are His willing slave, ready to do whatever He says to do. You may not hear from Him, experience things just the way you think it should be: You must be okay with this. He is in charge, not you. Let go of your expectations and be glad to be called a child of God. When you are able to relax and rejoice in these things, then He will begin to move in greater measure.
Of course the journey begins by learning more about His ways, but even that is taken care of because He will send the very Spirit of God to be IN YOU, to teach and guide you. You can be set free of anything that would hinder you from receiving from the Holy Spirit. Jesus has paid the price for that freedom!
Our prayer team would be happy to pray with you so that you can receive the freedom to begin this journey with Him.
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Believers' Boot Camp series
Many people think of boot camp as a place you train for combat. Any veteran will tell you that basic training is about three things:
- Knowing what weapons are available
- Learning how to use those weapons
- Receiving orders and following them
Believer’s Boot Camp series is a collection of books which teach us how to hear more clearly from God with the goal to ready ourselves for a face-to-face meeting with our Lord, Jesus. The series reveals the “weapons and tools” God has given us and how to use them, so we can bring God’s kingdom to Earth. Each book in the series focuses on a single topic to clearly define one tool or weapon from our Heavenly Father.
The series uses the Word of God to reveal all that He has given us through Jesus. The Bible is our instruction manual and the Holy Spirit is our guide to understanding it.
Volume 1: Why Doesn't God Speak to Me?
Eager hearts cry out, hoping for a single word to confirm that He hears us. Yet, many times the only sound is silence. Over the years I have heard several reasons why God speaks to some and not to others. One night, as I tossed and turned, I brought each of these reasons before the Lord, stating why each of them did not line up with who I thought He was.
Words rose from my soul, pleading for Him to reveal why He has remained silent when a single word from Him would mean so much to so many. For the next few hours, God used things I learned about years ago and things I had just discovered to show why He talks to some and why He doesn’t, and in demonstrative ways.
In His grace, He also showed me how people could hear more from Him. Basic instructions on how to hear more from God and how to be led by Him are included in this book. Thank you for taking time to consider the answers I received and share with you now.
Eager hearts cry out, hoping for a single word to confirm that He hears us. Yet, many times the only sound is silence. Over the years I have heard several reasons why God speaks to some and not to others. One night, as I tossed and turned, I brought each of these reasons before the Lord, stating why each of them did not line up with who I thought He was.
Words rose from my soul, pleading for Him to reveal why He has remained silent when a single word from Him would mean so much to so many. For the next few hours, God used things I learned about years ago and things I had just discovered to show why He talks to some and why He doesn’t, and in demonstrative ways.
In His grace, He also showed me how people could hear more from Him. Basic instructions on how to hear more from God and how to be led by Him are included in this book. Thank you for taking time to consider the answers I received and share with you now.
Keys to Authority for Every Believer
There is untapped power that is easy for every Christian to access in the form of authority. The keys to this authority will unlock weapons we can use to free ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. We must be intimately aware of the bounds and limitations of our weapon if they are to be used effectively.
Find out about your authority:
- Why you need it.
- Where it comes from.
- What you can do with it.
- How to get more.
There is untapped power that is easy for every Christian to access in the form of authority. The keys to this authority will unlock weapons we can use to free ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. We must be intimately aware of the bounds and limitations of our weapon if they are to be used effectively.
Find out about your authority:
- Why you need it.
- Where it comes from.
- What you can do with it.
- How to get more.
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