How Can One Know If They Are Meditating Correctly

Our mind is like a flowing river that does not stop, and so is our inner force!

Meditation is unlike other things in life where the harder we push ourselves, the greater are our chances of success. On the other hand, the harder we force ourselves to meditate, or the more we try to hold on to our composure, the further we are pushing ourselves away from it.
We need to stop trying to hard to meditate, and let self ease into a state of nothingness.
Meditation can be one of the hardest and yet easiest spiritual thing to master. It can be easy because any can quickly learn the technique and there are also, many available tools to help guide you through a meditation session. Although we can enjoy listening to guided meditation CDs at times, we can also spend the most of our time meditating in silence or with soft music playing in the background. If we are Christians, we can use meditation as a way to spend quiet time with God as well as for the benefits of our mental health.(  Psalms 46:10) says "be still and know that I am God." I believe that it is during these quiet times with God that our spirit is transformed as well as renewed. Other additional benefits for meditation include stress relief, maintaining peace of mind, and controlling negative thinking.
Unlike guided meditation, during silent meditation you don't have any prompts telling you how to relax your body, or a descriptive narrative telling you what to do. It's pretty much up to  you to guide yourself, but that is the easy part.
As I said earlier meditation is easy, because any one can practice it. However, meditation is hard because most of us have a hard time quieting our thoughts and keeping our mind from wandering off. Because of this, some people give up prematurely believing that they can't meditate or it is to hard. But let me give you an analogy of what meditation is like, even what you might consider a "bad" meditation.


Have you ever burnt food in a pot? I have on many occasions. This is one of the worst things about cooking. Well, if you are like me you probably fill the pot with water in an effort to soften the burnt food. Later you come back to the pot with a scrub brush in hand and begin to scrub and scrub until you can start to see the bottom of the pan again. It may take you 20, 40, or 60 scrubs with the brush before you get all that debris off. However, with each scrub you are taking off a little bit more until finally, you have a clean pot again.

That is what meditation is like. Each time your mind wanders off and you bring it back to the present by focusing on your breathing, a sacred word or phrase, it is like one scrub of that brush and little by little you learn to quiet your mind and free it from negative and destructive thinking patterns. With continual practice you can learn to control your mind instead of allowing it to control you.

Therefore, you can't meditate incorrectly unless you give up and don't do it at all.

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Rhonda Jones is the author of 22 Christian meditation and affirmation CDs and creator of The Christian Meditator website, visit at http://www.thechristianmeditator.com Find meditations and affirmations on weight loss, healing, healthy living,and more.

Hearing God Voice Through Christian Meditation

Meditation is applying mindfulness without feelings of being hurried or under pressure.

- Christopher Titmuss

As christian we are a unique people, for it alone offers a personal relationship with the Creator beginning here and now, and throughout eternity. Jesus declared, "This is eternal life that they may know [God]" (Jn. 17:2). Unfortunately, many of us in the Church miss the great blessing of fellowship with our Lord because we have lost the ability to recognize His voice within us. Though we have the promise that "My sheep hear My voice," too many of us are starved for that intimate relationship that alone can satisfy the desire of our hearts.

By Rhonda Jones, Creator a 23 Christ-centered meditation and affirmation Cds.
 

One of the number one questions Christians ask today is, "How do we hear God's voice? How do we know when God is speaking to us or when it's just our own thinking?" Christians desperately want to hear from God and know Him in an intimate and personal way. They want to know His voice from amongst their own mental clanging and clutter. Some believers get discouraged and believe that God has nothing to say to them which makes them feel unloved or inferior.

The good news is that God does speak to His children. He did throughout the Old Testament, the New Testament, and He does today. How do we know this for sure? Because the scriptures tell us that God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. However, as the years progress it appears that God's voice has become more subtle. Rarely do you hear people saying that God spoke to them in an audible voice, like he did with Noah and Moses. We don't seem to have as many anointed prophets that impart God's heart to use as with Samuel, Elisha, and Elijah.

For these days and times, God generally speaks to his children through the Holy Spirit deep inside the intricate parts of their heart. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. If you have ever been to a sheep farm, you can see the sheep grazing quietly as they move from one spot to the next.
Yes, God does talk to us but the real problem is that many of us are hard of hearing. We can't hear God because our own mental chatter, mindset, and incessant thinking crowds out what God may be trying to say to us. If our minds are filled up with mental mind stuff, is there any room for the quiet yearnings of God.
Therefore the first step to hearing God more clearly is to quiet our minds and the only way to do this is through practicing some form of meditation. Now don't stop reading or get scared because meditation is just a tool used to quiet our minds and Christian meditation fills our quiet minds with God.

Whenever God spoke to his people, it was generally through a still small voice or a whisper. In fact, when God speaks, people say it's often like a knowing in your heart and mind. It's not always words. I believe it's through the unity of the spirit that we connect with God in a personal way. Jesus said, I only do what I hear the Father telling me to do. That means there was a constant fellowshipping  going on between Jesus and the Father.

God wants us to have that constant communication as well, but first we must learn to become still and quiet our minds so we can hear God speaking to us. It's generally not going to happen during the hustle and bustle of daily living. We must make an effort to stop and spend some time regularly just hanging out with the Lord.

 
The more control you get over your own thoughts, the more you will be able to differentiate them from God's. Also, God's thoughts will always line up with is Word so it is equally important to spend time reading the scriptures. Little by little begin to act upon the unctions in your heart. If your heart tells you to do something good or that will bless someone and then a few seconds later you try and talk yourself out of it, that's you talking. Often, it is the first thought that seems to come out of nowhere that is God speaking to us. After that, we begin to rationalize our way out of being obedient or responding.

Practicing Christ-centered or Biblical meditation can help you to bring stillness to your thoughts so you can begin to discern God's voice more clearly.

Keep your mind focused on the Lord throughout the day. Subscribe to Free Daily Christian Affirmations. 

 Rhonda Jones is the author of a series of Christian meditation and relaxation CDs that encourages listeners to relax, spend more quality time with God, and learn to live more consciously and in the present. Please visit her website at the christian meditation site for additional information
 

Christian Meditation, What Is It?

 Winning The Battle Over Your Mind:

Is The Art Of Christian Meditation

Jan12

Relief Stress and Eliminate Worry with Meditation and Relaxation

Learn how Christian Meditation can help you win the battle over your mind and create more intimacy with God. To receive Parts 2-7of this Audio Course, please subscribe to The Christian Meditator below.  You’ll receive email links to the remaining audios as the are available:Part 1- How I Became a Christian Meditator (listen now!, see below)
Part 2- What is Christian Meditation?
Part 3- Benefits of Christian Meditation 1 (Physical & Emotional)
Part 4- Benefits of Christian Meditation 2 (Emotional)
Part 5- Benefits of Christian Meditation 3 (Spiritual)
Part 6- What the Bible Says about Meditation
Part 7- How to Meditate to Christ.

Enjoy Part 2 below:What is Christian Meditation?

What is christian meditation 1

what is christian meditation 2

To learn more about meditating go here christian meditation site to try it for free

About Christian Meditation

happiness

We cannot fine true fulfillment  in worldly pleasures, then where can we it be find it? Happiness is a state of mind, therefore the real source of happiness lies in our minds, not in our outward circumstances. If our mind is pure and peaceful we’ll be happy, regardless of our external conditions, but if it is impure and peaceful, we will never find happiness, no matter how much we try to change our outward conditions.The purpose of meditation is to cultivate true peace and happiness.
Meditation is universal. It transcends all divides like religion, country and culture. It is a gift given to humankind to access the infinite spirit not limited by any identity. It is the a tool that can aid a person to return to innocence.
Meditation helps an individual overcome their emotions to facilitate a calm peaceful mind and a healthy and stress free body.Upon daily practice an individual will blossom into an unshakable personality. With increase in the number of people who are clam, peaceful and healthy will facilitate a social transformation, enabling a society that is trusting, happy and content.
Some Benifits of Meditation meditation is a technique

• Mental Benefits – Emotional stability, anxiety decreases, anger reduces,happiness increases, intuition develops, clarity and peace of mind, induces ability to focus, reduces tension and fear.
• Spiritual Growth – Consciousness evolves,meditation brings harmony in creation, personal transformation, realization of SELF.
• Bodily Benefits – Lower Blood Pressure,lowers the levels of blood lactate, improves the immune system, increases body vitality, controls insomnia and increases overall health of the body

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit. Meditation is generally an inwardly oriented, personal practice, which individuals can do by themselves.

 

 

Rhonda Jones, M.A., is the author of 23 Christian meditation and affirmation Cds and creator of the award-winning http://www.thechristianmeditator.com website. Visit her website to Try Christian Meditation for FREE.