The title of the message was “He” by Jonathan Robbins, that was given at thesummitchurch.net. The sermon is simply terrific. I strongly recommend you listen to this message. It’s a message for guys but ladies will enjoy it to. It peers into the hopes, fears, and dreams of men and teaches us how to “Man Up”.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO WATCH THE MESSAGE:

The Summit Church “He”

The message is relevant, true, and applicable to our lives. I wish there were more messages like this “out there”. Good job Jonathan… thanks Wade.

For me, Christian meditation is like a daily shower of my mind. It’s where I can dissolve any fears, worries, stresses, or the onset of negative or toxic emotions lingering near by. During meditation, I cast all of my cares upon the Lord and allow them to diminish in his light, Spirit, and love. To forfeit my meditation practice any one day means that my flesh has gotten the victory over my spirit and now sits on the throne. It is said that how we begin our day is how we often finish our day.

My meditation practice consists of slowly meditating on passages of scripture or inspirational texts. I call this Scripture Meditation. I meditate on the 23rd Psalms, The Lord’s Prayer, The Love Chapter, The Beatitudes and other verses that I have memorized and God puts on my heart. I begin each meditation session with the following prayer that I slightly modified from Psalm 19 of Praying the Psalms by Nan Merrill. It read it as:

“But who can discern their own weakness? Cleanse me, O Lord, from all my hidden faults? Keep me from boldly acting in error; let my fears and illusions not have dominion over me! Then shall I become a beneficial presence, Freely and fully surrendered to your Love. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favor in your Heart. O my Beloved, my strength and my joy!”

During meditation, I slowly graze over the scriptures in my mind, and as I do I sink deeper and deeper into the peace, calm, and presence of God. Each time my mind wanders off in thought, fear, or anxiety, I turn my attention back to my scripture passage, keeping my mind on the Lord. The Bible says that “you will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.”

Jesus tells us in the Bible that we become what we think about or meditate on. Through meditation, we hide God’s word in our heart and that planted word begins to take root and grow a harvest of godly fruit. Each time we return our wandering mind back to the scripture passage, it’s the same as plucking up the weeds that want to invade out mental garden.

The benefits of meditation aren’t generally realized during the actual practice, though dwelling in God’s presence is definitely as added reward. The real benefits of Christian Meditation are realized throughout our day when we find that we are more loving, kind, patient, and compassionate or when we squash thoughts of fear or worry that come to steal our peace and joy. Just like we divert our attention from them in meditation, we do the same as we go about our daily tasks. Through meditation, we learn that we can choose what we allow in our minds. We can choose what we allow to rule over us. Meditation empowers us to “cast down every thought and imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Paul said that we are a slave to whatever we allow to rule over us. Too many Christians are ruled by the whims of their thoughts. Just like watching a television commercial that tells us we want a Mrs. Smith’s Cherry Pie and we run out and buy one, our unregenerated mind rules most us of. It says stay in bed and stay in bed. It says you’re depressed and we become depressed. It says sin and we sin. It says don’t forgive and we hold grudges. Christian meditation gives us the opportunity to become slaves of righteousness as we continue to hide God’s in our heart and crowd out the voices of illusion and deception. Through Christ-centered meditation, we also experience a deeper connection with God. As our meditation practice deepens we gain a greater capacity to know God, hear his voice, and experience him in a new and real way.

James 4:8 declares, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Christian meditation allows us to wash away the mental dirt and debris that we pick up each day. It helps us to break the conditioning, patterns, and falsehoods of the world and start each day clean, purified, and centered in Christ.

Some people would never think to miss their morning shower or bath. I know people that spend at least 30 minutes in the shower or until the water turns cold. Then they spend another two hours doing their make up and hair. They wouldn’t dare leave the house until their outsides our fully together. But how much more important is it that we clean our insides from worldly contaminates. To miss this time in silence reverence to God means carrying around these mental and emotional weights for another 24 hours or until I decide to meditate again. I’d much rather wash them away, just like the water takes the dirt from my bodies and carries it down the drain. Starting my morning in meditation frees me from any encumbrances lingering in my unconscious mind. Through Christian meditation, my mind is swept clean and polished with the light of God’s word.

2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement that contaminates either flesh or spirit.” Through meditation, we become the observer of our thoughts and which gives us the power to eliminate those ideas that are contrary to our faith. Mastery of the mind is the only road to true freedom, for it is in the mind and thoughts that all things are created, “for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he,” and “a good man out of the good treasure in his heart creates that which is good.”

Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and of a heavy heart and I will give you rest. Spending time with God in meditation, whether scripture, guided, or mantra, is that place of rest for me, for it is where I lay my burdens at the cross and then cloth myself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Each time I enter meditation I am covering myself in his Word, Presence, and Love. I am dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty. Each time I leave my green comfy chair, I leave cleansed, renewed, and restored and prepared to begin my day.

If you would like to learn more about Scripture Meditation, see Free Scripture Meditation Online Course or get a copy of the Scripture
Meditation Tutorial CD that contains a 75-minutes of detailed instructions and Scripture Meditation recording.

Acts 17:28 let’s us know that, “In him we live and move and have our being and Philippians 4:13 says, “Through Christ we can do all things.”

These scriptures demonstrate that the responsibility to change or to fulfill our desires (or resolutions) isn’t based entirely upon our will but God’s Spirit living in us.

God knows that we are weak, but in our weakness, he is strong. It is in our own frailty that we surrender and turn the reins over to God. When we acknowledge our weaknesses and inability to change ourselves and surrender ourselves to God, the architect and molder of our lives as well as our hearts, we become the clay in God’s loving and wise hands. Therefore, our resolutions must change from seeking after a desired outcome to seeking after God.

We must begin to use our weaknesses to go deeper into God. All too often when we become restless or begin to fixate on what is missing in our lives and then we go on a desperate search to meet our needs, but this is like fishing in the dark. The children of Israel did this exact thing when they built a golden calf and began to worship it because Moses spent too long with God on Mount Sinai. They reasoned that Moses must be dead or that God wasn’t concerned for them, when all the time Moses was petitioning on their behalf. Yet instead of trusting and resting in God’s faithfulness, they tried to fill their inner void with a big party.

In Deuteronomy 8, God explained to the children of Israel saying, “He humbled you, ‘causing you to hunger’ and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” That hunger that every Christians feels one time or another comes from God; however, God doesn’t want us to fill this hunger with more people, situation, or things. Psalms 4:2 declares, “How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?” He wants us to fill this hunger with more of Him.

Jesus said, if we seek him first and exclusively, he will meet all of our needs and give us the desires of our hearts. In Matthew 6 we’re told, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans (unbelievers) run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We know that every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17). Gifts are usually unexpected, they are selected based upon the likes and tastes of the recipient, and they are a blessing to the receiver. God wants to give all of his children every perfect gift that leads to health, wellness, contentment, wholeness, peace, joy, and purpose. But it comes through seeking after God with all your heart, soul, and strength and getting your own false ideas or assumptions out of the way.

There are no short-cuts to spiritual maturity and an intimate relationship with the Lord. God said that you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. If we really want to prosper, if we really want to change, if we really want God’s best, and if we want God’s good and perfect gifts, we’ll need to “die to ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him.” He will lead us in the right direction. And you’ll find that the more you seek after God, the less these peripheral things will matter, for when we are full of God, there is not much room for anything false or fake.

Let whatever needs, resolutions, or desires that you have, cause you to go deeper in Christ. Use these 10 steps to go deeper in God this New Year.

1. Be still before the Lord and know that he is God and that he really does have everything under control. Learn to silence all thoughts and eliminate all emotions that pull you from resting under the shadow of the almighty.

2. Stop trying to fill your hunger and anxiety with things that can’t satisfy. Instead, ask God to feel the voids in your life with his love, mercy, and grace.

3. Enter into God’s rest. The Bible says that he can do exceedingly abundantly above what we can ask for or think. The only thing he needs from us is faith, trust, and obedience.

4. Keep your eyes on Jesus instead of your circumstances. The scripture says, “I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon me.” Jesus is the answer to every problem you are facing. Continually bring your attention back to his love, power, and faithfulness.

5. Meditate on the Lord day and night. Joshua 1:8 tells us that this is the surest way to success in God. Meditate on the word, meditate on his goodness, and meditate on his love. Spend time in God’s presence, the place where we can touch the hem of his garment and be made whole. Use daily meditation to help you gain control over fearful or negative thinking and to bring every thought under the obedience of Christ.

6. Hide God’s word in your heart. God’s word is true and powerful and can’t return void. Let his word be the fuel that drives you. Let the scriptures become the spiritual food that you crave.

7. Be filled with the Spirit. The scriptures say that if we are filled with the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust and desires of the flesh. Give the Holy Spirit permission to live in and through you and be receptive to his still small voice in your heart.

8. Eliminate any attitudes or mindsets that grieve or limit the work of the Spirit in you life.Become an instrument of God’s love. The Bible says that God is love, that love never fails, that perfect love casts out fear, and that we are made perfect in love. Want to become more like God, then let love motivate your every action.

9. Take every concern to God. The Word of God tells us to cast every care upon Him because he cares for us. Too often we will tell everybody but God our problems. But something supernatural happens when we turn every care over to God. He actually takes them and leaves us with his peace instead. A peace that passes all understanding.

10. At lastly, wait on the Lord. This means waiting on God through all the mental and emotional pain that you’ll endure during this detaching process. Going deeper in God means listening to Him as he leads and guides you to wholeness and contentment, and most importantly, it means listening to the still small voice in your heart and crowding out or eliminating all the other voices that cause confusion, doubt, and fear.

The result of going deeper in God will result in a new you, a healthier you, a more joyful and content you. If you only have one new years resolution, let it be to surrender yourself more fully to the living and transformative power of God and to let him do the work he wants to do in you and through you.

Isaiah 26:3 declares, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.” If you’ve lost your peace and joy, or want a deeper relationship with God, visit The Christian Meditator. Now Christians can meditate in a way that pleases God & won’t compromise their Christian faith. Meditate your worries away by bringing every thought under the authority of Christ.

The goal of this article to provide the meaning of life if atheism is true, which by default, means God is mythological: An archaic way to try and explain where we come from and what happens when we die. The concept of God would be an arbitrary yoke of ethics and moral standards asserted to either control the masses or for something more sinister.

By evaluating the atheistic worldview from this lens, it is easier to see the worldview is not grounded in reality, but rather simply the revamped religion of humanism.

Key Meaning of Life Points for the Atheist to Consider:

• There is no after life, when you die – that’s it. Your body, your physical life, and your consciousness is all you will ever know.
• Morals and ethics are subjective. There is no definitive “right” or “wrong”. These are just concepts contrived by man. Rape and murder are on the same moral level as self-sacrifice and love. There is simply no moral absolute. For example, you can say Hitler was evil TO YOU, but you really couldn’t say Hitler was absolutely evil.
• The universe will end. Energy will end. Time will cease. This means from an absolute lens, no matter what books you write, discoveries you make, self-imposed standards you choose – it all has a limited shelf-life. Even if we can eventually “planet hop” before our sun burns out, we can’t escape the universe anywhere other than science fiction. Read on universe expansion rates for one example.
• You are a genetic accident.
• From a species perspective, survival is king. Eugenics makes a lot of sense. Only the strong should reproduce.
• Atheism is faith-based. To say there is no God implies that you have absolute knowledge about everything. That is the only way to rule out God’s existence.
• Abortion should be a simple choice because life’s value is minimal.
• Homosexuality is just genetic code misfiring. Since homosexuality doesn’t offer any known benefit to the species other than keeping populations “down”, the only other alternative is some genetic wiring gets crossed.
• Treatment of murderers, rapists, and other offenders should be rethought. They are essentially doing what their genetic code is “telling” them to do.
• We are applying a subjective value system when we try to tell another country what they do is either right or wrong. For example, if a country oppresses women, they are not wrong, they simply have another value system. The same is true of communism, genocide, racism, etc.
• Churches are nothing more than temples to a modern Zeus and religion is a sickness that causes unneeded conflict and war. Either creating a nebulous form of religion or removing religion all together is best for the survival of life.
• All spirituality is fantasy.
• You have great faith that animals like the woodpecker evolved. You believe either in the ancient soup theory (which many atheistic scientists are rejecting), aliens planted life, life jump-started off crystals, or simply have faith there is an alternative.
• Your worldview requires enormous faith in improbabilities. It also defies entropy and thermodynamics.
• Its ultimately a hypocrisy of selectively choosing where faith should be applied. For example, you have faith in uniformitarianism, what caused the big bang, and life’s origins. You are quick to point out the “who created God” argument, but you appeal to the infinite as well.

So How Should You Live?

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:32, “…If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

The atheist worldview offers no meaning to life because life is merely one huge genetic accident. Live life to the fullest, according to whatever definition you can make from the word “fullest”.

The Reality

Atheism is not grounded in reality. It doesn’t offer a satisfactory answer for good and evil. It is not grounded in science because it rejects the scientific method to prove its points and reverts to science fiction to force fit the pieces we have to work with. For example, the multiple universe concept was thought of just to increase the odds of naturalistic evolution.

We were given a consciousness and awareness of good and evil that is much more than just learned reactions to continue the species. The atheist proves this each time he accuses God of evil acts, for he immediately concedes a difference between good and evil.

We know abortion is wrong. We know murder is wrong. We know rape is wrong. If you don’t believe it, just personalize the crimes to loved ones. Your own conscious will be the biggest witness against the worldview of atheism.

No one will not find the meaning of life until he embraces his/her heritage. Each person is uniquely created by God. We are equipped with an internal sense of good and evil. We were created to worship God and seek Him while we live in this petri dish called Earth. Money and carnal pleasures are washed away in time. Youth fades, money is spent, food is eaten, but the soul is internal. The finite can not satisfy the infinite, only transcendent things can fill the immortal soul. This is why every generation asks about the meaning of life. You are eating finite food that has no eternal nutritional value.

You are starving for something more.

Honestly seek God, look for answers, and the hole that is within you will start to be filled with transcendent understanding. Understanding your origins will unlock the meaning to your life and a relationship with God.

A cursory prayer isn’t enough. If you are reading this, you are hungry. To find the food you need will require honest seeking. I can promise you, the nourishment to feed your questions are waiting.

Jesus implores, “Oh weak in faith, stop worrying. Your heavenly Father knows what you need.” God’s plan works. How has your plan been going so far?

Align yourself with God’s plan. The challenge is to not automatically fall victim to the wiles of this world and the deceit of ego. Listen for the still small voice within. By rejecting ego you open yourself to the Holy Spirit, to the divine plan. Let go of the weights that hold you back and journey once more, free.

Listen, plan, act, but do not attach yourself to outcomes. Let go of the outcome. Detach yourself from the details. Anxiety over outcomes is the realm of ego. Ego, always seeking to control, shackles you to events past. If the circumstances you encounter involve the acquisition of power, beware the influence of ego. Ego’s main tools are arrogance and fear. Let go — don’t intend to dominate others nor succumb to fear.

On this spinning globe, inhabited by some six and a half billion souls, realize in truth there is only you. The masses are here to help you achieve your purpose, your destiny. Everyone is here for you – not to make your journey comfortable or easy or simple but to add dimension to your quest. Your task is to discover your inner strength, your true genius, your special character and transcendent and enduring nature. You are spirit on an earthly journey finding your way home.

While society could be running smoothly like water blending together in a stream, often instead people act like rocks banging and grinding and scraping along. When you encounter friction realize your vision is not yet clear, your thinking not yet pure. Friction is a measure of resistance – don’t be party to it. Learn to act like water, be the fluid of life and accept that though you encounter rocks, these are not obstacles to confront but rather rough edges to polish.

Let go of any anchor. An anchor only draws you to new depths. Let go of the illusion of fixing yourself in time and space; this world is in constant motion; clinging leads to regret. Like grasping an object in a jar, by your grip you trap yourself. Only by releasing hold will you gain freedom. Choose freedom over bondage, release your grip – a new adventure will unfold.

Release blame, fear, and guilt – let go. What you cling to holds you back. The truth surrounds you. You are immersed in light – open your eyes. As if submerged in water; you breathe God, feel God, experience God, yet still ego seeks to convince you that God does not exist. Ego falsely directs you to choose a lonely, pain-filled path.

Lift the veil of the illusion to reveal that you are home, now, in the arms of God, enfolded in love. Accept this truth.

Let go of fabricated faults, perceived injustices and self-imposed obstacles. You are not meant to lay up an earthly treasure, nor worry about the cares of this life. Let go of ego. Rather seek first the way of truth, the path of freedom, and all riches will be yours besides.

Scott F. Paradis, author of “Promise and Potential: A Life of Wisdom, Courage, Strength and Will” http://www.promiseandpotential.com