Meditation - My ‘Nightly Prep’
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So with a command not to worry and be anxious about anything (see last post), and another command in Scripture to meditate, how does this all work out?
Let me share with you my regular process that I have followed for over 40 years, and which, if I follow it nightly, it has always ensured deep, peaceful sleep and victory over attacks on my heart and mind. It is also a principle I keep whenever I have a disturbed night for one reason or another and gain rich benefits from as I walk this process out.
It is based on the passage from the last post I wrote found in the Bible (Philippians iv 6):
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
I will either sit in a chair before I go to bed or kneel by my bed, and I go through these steps:
Asking the LORD if there is sin or lack of forgiveness in my heart?
I deal with that sin before the LORD and see if He has anything specific to tell me about it
I consider what burdens, worries, cares or anxieties I might be carrying from the day
I specifically pray out those things (“cast my burdens”) into the LORD’s hands, telling Him how much I know I cannot do anything about them, but that I trust Him to sustain me
For each of those cares I will literally think of something in each care where I can give thanks and where I can give thanks for something of the LORD’s character concerning that care
I close this section of “casting burdens” (as I like to call it) by specifically making a request of the LORD about each of the things concerning me.
Then, because I have cast it into the LORD’s hands, I will not think about those things again that night
And I do that, by turning to meditation - concentrating very specifically on His Word at that point as I undress for bed and lie down to sleep.
Next time we will begin to look at the multitude of ways I have found in the Scripture and from amazing saints of God about how to meditate.