This is a long blog post, but a short and effective tool to quiet your busy brain and calm your soul.
Let-Go-And-Let-God Meditation
Making it’s way to newsstands and blogs everywhere is Mindful Meditation. It’s been utilized and promoted in Buddhist practices causing many Christians to stay away from it for fear that they will get sucked into false teachings. But we know that David in the Old Testament spoke about the benefits of meditating long before Buddha came on the scene. Meditation is mentioned twenty times in the Bible and eighteen of those are in Psalms alone. As David spoke of meditating on some aspect of God constantly in his writing, one wonders if that’s how he survived the challenges of being a warrior king who was constantly on the run from people he loved.
Let each tool build on the other as you Let-Go-And-Let-God.
Tool 1: BREATHING—Sit quietly and focus on your breathing, either at the nostrils or the abdomen to help you shut everything else out and pay attention to the Lord. Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace, all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT.) In her book, Jesus Calling, Sarah Young shares the words of Jesus from the first person, “Ask the Holy Spirit to quiet your mind so that you can think My thoughts. Don’t be deafened by the ways of the world or that of your own thinking. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Sit quietly in My presence, letting My thoughts reprogram your thinking.”(Romans 12:1-2.)
Matthew 11:28-30 from the New International Version of the Bible where Jesus invites us to come to Him and find rest. Listen to that verse from The Message translation, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Mindfully meditating is a way to get to that precious place of experiencing peace in God’s presence.
Tool 2: RELAXATION—Allow your body to relax and your mind will follow along.
“Lamentations 3:22-23, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Psalm 143:8 , “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”
Have you ever experienced stressful moments, and no matter how much your tell brain to relax and let go, your worries continue to dictate your mood? I certainly have. That is why I found this step so helpful. When I focus on relaxing physically, then my mind takes the hint. Breathing deeply and rhythmically moves us toward a relaxed state. As we focus on our breathing, it moves our mind from our troubles to what our body is doing, helping us unwind.
When it comes to resting in God, we can be our own worst enemy and fight the very thing that helps us most. Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah as he shares God’s truth to the people of Israel: Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” NIV.
Same verse--The Message Bible: “God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel: “Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves. Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me. The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.” When I can relax in the Lord and stop trying to solve all of the problems and issues I am facing, I am able to find God’s peace over my pieces.
Focusing on our breathing helps to calm our spirits, relax our bodies, and quiet the noise in our heads. Meditation experts explain that a relaxed body is “grounded.” Before we dismiss this as “crazy-yoga-talk,” lets look at this from a scientific perspective. When you’re tense, your body doesn’t rest comfortably. You’re ready to fight or flee, and your muscles lift you up slightly to prepare you for what’s ahead. You’re figuratively on your toes. When you’re relaxed, you rest firmly on the ground. Breathing deeply helps you to become grounded.
Relax your face. Your face registers your body’s tension. The easiest way to relax your face, believe it or not, is to smile. Almost as much of your brain is devoted to controlling the muscles in your face as is devoted to controlling the rest of your body. Bringing a gentle smile to your lips relaxes muscles from your eyes down to your jaw, plus it helps you recognize what this exercise is all about—seeking joy in the presence of Jesus, even in the midst of stress.
Tool 3: THOUGHT SURRENDER—Surrender each thought to the Lord. When a thought, a worry, or even a plan comes into your mind, let it go, and give it to God because your purpose is to be in the now experiencing God’s presence in the present. That’s your present!This is such an important step that I have named the entire exercise after it. This is your “Let-Go-And Let-God-Meditation.”
1Peter 5:7 tells us to, “Cast your cares on him because he cares for you.” Let’s look more closely at the word cast in this verse. It is less intentional or deliberate of an action than other words used in Scripture for cast as in John 21:6, when Jesus told the disciples to casttheir net on the other side of the boat.
The word cast in 1Peter means to “fling with a quick toss.” So we fling our problems, anxieties, cares on to the Lord because He cares for us. A quick flick of the wrist and we let it go. I will even say as I pray, “That’s yours God; that’s yours God,” as all the worries and cares collect my mind. We can either fling or linger! We can let the Lord have our troubles or we can linger in our depressing thoughts. I’ll take the former, thank you very much!
1 Peter 5:6-9, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith...”
Don’t worry that your mind can come up with thoughts as quickly as you can let them go. You’re not, “doing it wrong” if that happens. It’s the nature of the mind to wander. If this step is difficult for you, you are not alone. Everyone has difficulty with this. Because the brain has a hard time letting go and shutting off, we need to spend time idling down in God’s presence. The more we do it, the easier it will become.
Tool 4: BE PRESENT—Stay in the moment.
Listen to the advice of Jesus, Himself: Matthew 6:34, “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes,”(The Message).
As you continue to breathe deeply, take a second and pay attention to the thoughts that you are surrendering. So many of them are thoughts of regret about the past, fears about the future, worry about what is going to happen to folks we love, or how we are going to get through the ever-mounting to-do list for today and the days ahead. We can waste a lifetime pining after the past or fretting about the future and never realize that life exists in the current moment. The present moment is where the Lord can truly bless us with His presence; that is where the power is. As you are breathing and relaxing, stay aware of the moment right in front of you.
Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.
Along with awareness, mindfulness involves acceptance.
Tool 5: NO JUDGEMENT—Suspend judgment of yourself, others, and your circumstances and accept the present moment just as it is.
As we embrace the moment we’re in, and recognize it is all we have, a new acceptance of life as it is, not as we wish it was, or worry that it will be emerges. This acceptance of life as it is, in the now and in the moment, precludes any harsh judgments of ourselves. As we quiet our hearts and rest in God’s presence, we are more able to embrace His thoughts about us rather than nursing and rehearsing our own stinkin’ thinkin.’
Matthew 6:27, “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.”
In the quiet of the present moment, absent of any judgment of ourselves, other people, or our circumstances, we can relax in God’s presence and breathe out our problems as we breathe in God’s peace.
Tool 5: Spend some time in God’s presence thanking Him for all He has done for you. Write a list of everything you have to be thankful for. Read that list regularly. It’s a game changer. Read it especially when things aren’t going well to remind you that God is in charge and that He is working things our for good in your life. Here are some verses to remind you of the benefit of thankfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 2:6-7, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Philippians 4:6,”Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”