Jul 21, 2019
146 For You Are Children of Light A Guided Christian Meditation on
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
I’m Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be changed by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina:
Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization.
Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes.
Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:
Breathe and direct your thoughts to contacting God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate.
Bible verses for Meditation:
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
NABRE
1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for
anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well
that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night.
3 When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden
disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake
you like a thief.
5 For all of you are children of the light and children of the day.
We are not of the night or of darkness.
NRSV
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you
do not need to have anything written to you.
2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will
come like a thief in the night.
3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden
destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a
pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise
you like a thief;
5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are
not of the night or of darkness.
Meditation on Scripture:
This weekend I had a chance to go on a camping trip with my Son’s scout troop. He is special needs and he the best son in the world. On the drive up we talked about life. He told me about some of his worries about the future. This was my favorite part of the whole trip. I love that he trusted me enough to tell me how he felt. Many people I have talked to over the years have had similar worries about the future. In fact, fear is a huge part of anxiety which plagues so many people. I find this scripture to be interesting and special because it does two things at once. It pronounces words which could cause fear but then directly defuses them.
It says that destruction will come upon those who are not prepared. Many people fear this kind of fire and brimstone idea but Paul immediately comforts us against that fear. If you are listening to this and you accept and follow Jesus, then you are a child of God, a child of light. Your struggle is not against the full weight of your lack of preparation to enter into the presence of God. You struggle is to trust God and receive the change he is willing to put into your life. You are children of Light, not children of darkness. When you are looking back on this life and this moment in a million years from now during the infinity of eternity you will see yourself enveloped by the love of Jesus going through the same struggles you have now but you will see how it ends up.
Many times when I counsel with people and they arrive at a place of peace, I ask them what they would say to themselves as a child. Inside of yourself you have the same child you once were. What you would you say to yourself if you could go back? My hope is that you can get to a place where you could say something along the lines of “Everything is going to be OK in the end.” When the infinite future arrives, I suspect that this is the message that we would want to send back to ourselves now. It is the message that God has been whispering to you for a long time now. He wrote it in many forms in the scriptures for us. You are a child of God. Jesus loves you and me that he would lay down his life for us because he KNEW, that in the end everything would be OK. He also knows you well enough that you can trust Him by telling him exactly how you feel today.
Meditation of Prayer:
Pray as directed by the Spirit.
Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him.
Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm:
I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own
faults and trials.
Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life:
This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast
Updates:
Final Question:
What are things, if any, that we should be unwilling to receive
from God.
Final Thought:
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