.png)
Introduction
God has given us glimpses of heaven in the Bible to fire up our imagination to envision our future destiny. In this guided Christian meditation session, you are invited to use your God-sanctified imagination to enter into and delight in the divine reality of heaven, for the good of your mental health and intimacy with God.
If you wish to proceed, then find yourself a quiet place to settle down and sit on a comfortable chair. Effortlessly place your hands on your laps with the palms facing upwards to symbolize your receptivity and acceptance of God’s will. Close your eyes and sense the peace around you.
Now, picture yourself sitting by the seaside, hearing the waves gently hitting the shore and the breeze softly touching your face.
You now begin to focus more inwards to get in touch with your breathing. For a few moments, sense each breathing in and breathing out. Breath in through your nose to a count of 3, expanding your diaphragm and stomach, and hold to 3, then breath out through your mouth, and hold to 3. Do this again, In (suck), and hold, out (blow), and hold. (suck), and hold, (blow), and hold.
Now, tighten both your wrists, then release them and feel your wrists relaxing. Do this one more time. Tighten, and release. Tighten your chest muscles, then release them and feel your body relaxing. Do this one more time. Tighten, and release. Lastly, tighten your leg muscles, then release them and feel your legs relaxing. Do this one more time. Tighten, and release. You can now feel your body slowing down.
Tune in to your heart, gently say this to God, “God, I come into your presence by the blood of Jesus Christ. I want to experience your goodness in my life.” Quietly say this another time. “God, I come into your presence by the blood of Jesus Christ. I want to experience your goodness in my life.”
Entering heaven
Then imagine that there is a door a short distance from you. Behind that door is a path that leads to heaven.
Imagine yourself walking to that door. Reach out your hand to the door knob and open it.
Step inside and you see before you a stairway leading to heaven. Step on the stairway and picture yourself being instantly transported to heaven.
In the matter of seconds, you have come to a place of lush greenery on both sides of a stream flowing softly with crystal-clear water. The gentle sun rays are coming through the trees and they are dancing across your face. Everything around you is so stunning and refreshing. It is as if you are in the Garden of Eden in the beginning of time.
Wow, the breathtaking beauty is enough to fill you with so much love, joy, peace, and contentment. Never before have you felt so carefree and light-hearted in such blissful surroundings.
And the presence of God here is so strong all around you. You sense God is welcoming you to come to Him. You just want to focus your attention exclusively on Him. As you breathe in, call out softly, “Abba Father”. As you breathe out, call out softly, “Papa”. Do this two more times. In (suck), Abba Father, Out (blow), Papa. (suck), Abba Father, (blow), Papa.
Then you hear God’s assuring voice saying to you, “My child, my presence is enough for all your needs.”
Cognition needs
Again, you hear God’s assuring voice saying to you, “My child, my presence is enough for all your needs, including your thoughts and cognitive needs.”
At this moment, briefly monitor if you have been harboring a negative thought for some time. Are you preoccupied with a pain or regret of what happened in the past, or excessively worrying about what will happen in the future? This pain or worry is a repetitive negative thought that distracts you from focusing on your present-moment functioning.
Or have you been dwelling on thoughts that are evil or lustful? Such thoughts are toxic to your allegiance to live in holiness according to the Word of God.
These negative thoughts can be defeated through shifting from an earthly preoccupation with them to an awareness of a more transcendent heavenly reality at the present moment.
Now, briefly acknowledge that pain or worry, or evil or lustful thought, with nonjudgmental acceptance and open curiosity. Use your hands to take those negative thoughts from your mind and symbolically surrender them to God.
Then inhale a deep breath and during the hold, softly recite and meditate on God’s Word, “Search me and know my heart, O God”. Exhale deeply and during the hold, softly recite and mediate on the second part of God’s Word, “I surrender all my negative thoughts to you”. Inhale (suck), “Search me and know my heart, O God”, then exhale (blow), “I surrender all my negative thoughts to you”. (suck) “Search me and know my heart, O God”, (blow) “I surrender all my negative thoughts to you”.
Then, shift to an awareness of God’s active and loving presence at the present moment, to cleanse and transform your impaired, negative thoughts to thoughts that are true and noble. God is now offering you His grace to depend on for your daily thoughts. Stretch forth your hands and softly tell Him, “God, I receive your grace. From now on, I will depend on your grace and not dwell on my impaired, negative thoughts. May your grace be with me throughout the day.”
As you align your thoughts with God’s grace and will for your life, you will have a greater capacity to think about your thinking and manage them with greater distance and clarity. You are now cultivating the mind of Christ to think thoughts that align to the Word of God, thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, to face each day by depending on His grace.
Emotional needs
Again, as you breathe in, call out softly, “Abba Father”. As you breathe out, call out softly, “Papa”. Do this two more times. In (suck), Abba Father, Out (blow), Papa. (suck), Abba Father, (blow), Papa.
Then you hear God’s assuring voice saying to you, “My child, my presence is enough for all your emotional needs.”
At this moment, briefly monitor any unhealthy feelings such as hatred, greed, pride or unforgiveness that you have been experiencing. Such emotions can draw you away from living a righteous life.
Or you may be intolerant towards some of your natural emotions such as sadness, fear, anger, guilt, and shame, because they are distressing to you. God gave you your natural emotions to motivate you to do what is right, even when you are in the midst of your sufferings.
Dwelling in unhealthy emotions or your intolerance to your natural emotions, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant, can be defeated through shifting from an earthly preoccupation to an awareness of a more transcendent heavenly reality at the present moment.
Now, briefly acknowledge those unhealthy emotions or your intolerance to a particular natural emotion, with nonjudgmental acceptance and open curiosity. Use your hands to take those unhealthy emotions or intolerance and symbolically surrender them to God.
Then inhale a deep breath and during the hold, softly recite and meditate on God’s Word, “Still my emotions, O God”. Exhale deeply and during the hold, softly recite and mediate on the second part of God’s Word, “I know You are my God”. Inhale (suck), “Still my emotions, oh God”, then exhale (blow), “I know You are my God”. (suck) “Still my emotions, oh God”, (blow) “I know You are my God”.
Then, shift to an awareness of God’s active and loving presence at the present moment, to cleanse and transform your unhealthy emotions or impaired response to your natural emotions. God is now offering you His grace to depend on for your daily emotions. Stretch forth your hands and softly tell Him, “God, I receive your grace. From now on, I will depend on your grace and not dwell on my unhealthy emotions or impaired response to my natural emotions. May your grace be with me throughout the day.”
As you align your emotions with God’s grace and will for your life, you are inviting the presence of God to help you understand and learn from your emotions with greater distance and clarity. You will now have a greater capacity to grow in your character as you cultivate and learn from your emotions that are true and noble, to face each day by depending on the grace of God.
Behavioral Needs
Again, as you breathe in, call out softly, “Abba Father”. As you breathe out, call out softly, “Papa”. Do this two more times. In (suck), Abba Father, Out (blow), Papa. (suck), Abba Father, (blow), Papa.
Then you hear God’s assuring voice saying to you, “My child, my presence is enough for all your behavioral needs.”
At this moment, briefly monitor if you have been harboring any sense of perfectionism which sets high standard for yourselves and you become frustrated when you don’t meet your own standards. You end up judging and criticizing yourself harshly, and you waiver to follow God’s will for your life.
Or you may be aware of a preoccupation with some earthly pursuits for prestige, fame or wealth, over cultivating a deeper relationship with God. Alternatively, you are depending only on yourself in all that you do. As a result, you struggle to recognize God’s role in your daily needs and you waver to follow His will for your life.
Your preoccupation with perfectionistic behavior, earthly pursuits or self-dependence can be defeated through shifting from an earthly preoccupation to an awareness of a more transcendent heavenly reality at the present moment.
Now, briefly acknowledge that preoccupation with nonjudgmental acceptance and open curiosity. Use your hands to take those preoccupations and symbolically surrender them to God.
Then inhale a deep breath and during the hold, softly recite and meditate on God’s Word, “Turn my behaviors from what is worthless, O God”. Exhale deeply and during the hold, softly recite and mediate on the second part of God’s Word, “Revive me in Your ways”. Inhale (suck), “Turn my behaviors from what is worthless, O God”, then exhale (blow), “Revive me in Your ways”. (suck) “Turn my behaviors from what is worthless, O God”, (blow) “Revive me in Your ways”.
Then, shift to an awareness of God’s active and loving presence at the present moment, to cleanse and transform your preoccupation with perfectionistic behavior, earthly pursuits or self-dependence. God is now offering you His grace to depend on for your daily behaviors. Stretch forth your hands and softly tell Him, “God, I receive your grace. From now on, I will depend on your grace and not dwell on my carnal behaviors and preoccupations. May your grace be with me throughout the day.”
As you align your carnal behaviors and preoccupations with God’s will for your life, you are cultivating a greater measure of Christlikeness in your character, to face each day by depending on the grace of God.
Contemplation Phase
Now, as you breathe in, call out softly, “Abba Father”. As you breathe out, call out softly, “Papa”. Do this two more times. In (suck), Abba Father, Out (blow), Papa. (suck), Abba Father, (blow), Papa.
From here, you will spend some time just being quiet before God by focusing on Him in a contemplation that is beyond your knowledge, feelings, or words.
In Christian contemplation, we recognize the limitations of language in fully capturing the presence of God to minister and transform us. Thus, Christian contemplation is an adoring, uncomplicated, and enduring attention to God by using only a few or no words at all.
So right now, just focus on the presence of God without thinking, feeling or saying anything. If a thought or feeling surfaces, acknowledge them with nonjudgmental acceptance and open curiosity, and shift back to focusing on the presence of God.
You can pause the video to contemplate on God for as long as you want and when you are ready, resume with the video to proceed to the next phase of our Christian meditation.
Meeting with Jesus and another
This time, as you breathe in, call out softly, “Jesus, Son of God”. As you breathe out, call out softly, “Have mercy on me”. Do this two more times. In (suck), Jesus, Son of God. Out (blow), Have mercy on me. (suck) Jesus, Son of God, (blow) have mercy on me.
Instantly, you see two persons not far from you. They are freely talking to one another, joyfully and with much laughter. They are radiating with brightness, and their eyes are beaming with life and love. Deep in your heart, you know and recognize that the person in white robes is unmistakably Jesus. And you sense a certain familiarity with the person next to Him. To your delight, they are gesturing to you to come to them.
As you walk closer, you see the big smiles in their faces. They each reach out their hands to welcome you and give you a lovely hug.
Now, cross your own hands to hold your opposite shoulders and feel the warmth and security of their embrace.
Talking with Jesus and another
As you join them in conversation, you are listening with so much excitement and fully taking in all the beautiful things that they are sharing. You truly enjoy relating to them, for they are so genuine, so spontaneous, each speaking without any pretense or fear. You find yourself truly experiencing your greatest joy and satisfaction.
Subsequently, the conversation shifts to talking about you, about your kindness to the needy and hurting, your perseverance in serving God, your stand for justice and righteousness, matters about your health, the mistakes you made and the lessons you learned that transformed you to be a better, more Christlike person, how you love and honor God each day, and much more.
You see, God keeps a record of everything we say and do on earth, whether good or bad, seen or unseen, whether you are a believer or unbeliever, for someday, we have to account for all we say and do, when the scroll of remembrance is open before you.
Your heart swells with joy and gratitude in knowing that you are a much better person than you have ever imagined yourself to be. You know you are a work in progress, but slowly and surely, you are developing more love, peace and joy within you. You find yourself showing more kindness, goodness, and faithfulness to yourself and others around you. Above all, you are displaying more patience, gentleness and self-control. These are the fruit of the Holy Spirit that He growing in you.
If you wish to spend a few more moments in your mental conversation with Jesus and the other person, you can pause the video now and resume whenever you want to. At this time, you can even ask Jesus some personal questions and wait for His reply.
Returning
As you talked and laughed away the time, the sun is beginning to set and you must now leave to where you came from. You start to walk back, feeling most refreshed and whole. You have a renewed sense of love, hope and faith in you. You are confident of realizing the full potential in you and you will not settle for anything that is second best. Your life is now glowing with self-worth, meaning and purpose.
Instantly, it dawns upon you that the person besides Jesus is none other than your future self. You are that young person whose body is untainted by sin, disease or death, but instead, radiating the flower of its youth with life and abundance.
You turn around to see Jesus and your future self once more and you notice that they are gone. But not all is gone. You sense that the goodness of your future self is now being integrated into you to be a better person.
God is the greatest good. You have been in the presence of God, and the goodness of God is now being imparted to you to transform you even more into an authentic representation of Jesus Christ in where you live.
Ending
As you continue to spend intimate time with God through Christian meditation, you will go through life with a greater sense of joy, security and contentment. So, continue to focus on experiencing the love of God flowing from His grace.
In turn, God will care for every aspect of your life. He has provided the simple things in life for your enjoyment. Nothing happens to us by chance but only by the permission and providence of God. You are now anchoring yourself in the transcendent reality of your heavenly identity and Christlike character. Above all, God is always there for you to enjoy His presence.
Finally, tell this to God, “God, I thank you for the time in Your presence. Help me to live as You intend me to be and extend Your love and compassion to myself and to the people around me. Enable me to be fully present, non-reactive, nonjudgmental and caring towards myself and others. May your grace be with me throughout the day.”
Instantly, you are descending the stairway you first came. As you step out of the door you entered earlier, you are back to where you were initially. Now, take a little time to reflect on your meditation experience, and when you are ready, open your eyes to your surroundings. Welcome back.
Dr. Edmund Ng
SSC Facilitator
16 May 2023
Corresponding SSC monthly teaching video: V10 – Christian Meditation for Mental Health and Intimacy with God at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
and Guided Christian Meditation Session for Mental Health and Intimacy with God at https://www.youtube.com/
Safe Space Community for Asians (SSC) seeks to equip the body of Christ with mental health literacy from the medical, psychological, spiritual, and relational perspectives, by integrating theology and psychology from an Asian mindset.
By following and communing with us, you will acquire the spiritual and mental health knowledge and skills for better self-care and ministry to others.
To continue receiving our monthly video teachings, blogs, emails, pro-bono counseling sessions, and links to our Saturday morning conversations for sharing and consultations, kindly SUBSCRIBE to our SSC YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZSLUhKoQzcRbKQ0O10-IMw) and our website (https://www.safespacecom.org). Subscribing is free and joining the weekly conversations is optional.
Please do not re-subscribe if you have already subscribed earlier. And always remember to forward this email to your loved ones and friends.