

"Meditation"
Today (good news in part!), "meditating" is in vogue. 25 years back, you would've been considered a nut to do it. Now it's addressed as something of great health, mentally and spiritually, for a person to do. Well, OK! Great! Scripture speaks of meditating, and, it comes not from a cultural change from five years back, but from at least about 1050 B.C. King David of Israel at that time spoke of meditating on God’s law. We see this, for instance, in Psalm 119:97 ("Oh, how


Without Guilt: When to Pray
6. When to pray. First, you might want to set a time (you don’t have to; a “prayer time” is not commanded in the Bible, as it is in the Koran, for instance). If you do set a time, you could say “some time in the morning,” “when I first get up before I do anything else,” “before I sit down for breakfast,” or just “some time today.” Start with (and maybe stay with forever) five minutes. Literally have a timer set (use your phone’s clock timer) and don’t allow yourself over


How to Pray
5. How to pray. My recommendation for you on the “how do I pray?” front is to take the Lord’s prayer—use Matthew 6:9ff (“ff” means whatever verses follow that are on the same subject). Print it out. When you do And please notice in the Lord’s Prayer how little is about us and our grocery list of requests. That list of requests we might have is OK (it fits under “daily bread”), but most of the Lord's Prayer is focused on God, the kingdom of His Son, and our forgiving other


"Prayer Life" (& Feeling Guilty)
If you're like me (and every other Christian), you often feel guilty about prayer. Who can ever pray enough? It's like evangelism. I can always do more. Guilt, guilt, guilt. From the get-go, the Church in America and elsewhere makes us feel guilty. Here's how: they talk about the believer (and presumably you!) having "a prayer life." Some believers will ask you about yours. There begins the guilt. Here begin a few thoughts to help you to do what you want to do, but ne