When I Meditate: Reclaiming a Key Facet of Prayer

When I Meditate explores the biblical basis of meditation, encouraging Christians to embrace it as a profound way to pray and commune with God. It dispels misconceptions about meditation being solely for other religions, presenting it instead as a transformative practice rooted in Scripture. The book emphasizes how Christian meditation focuses on engaging with the Bible to renew the mind and heart, and how it complements prayer in fostering a deep connection with God. Through meditation on Scripture, believers are equipped to live out their faith actively, offering God's grace to others.

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About

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About the Author: Art Toalston
Art Toalston has worked more than twenty-five years in Southern Baptist communications -- as an editor of Baptist Press (1992-present) and as a writer for the International Mission Board (1985-91). He also has worked ten years in newspaper journalism and education in Mississippi and Ohio.

After being raised in a United Presbyterian church in northeastern Ohio, Art converted to Catholicism as a young adult and later was baptized in a Christian and Missionary Alliance church. After moving to Mississippi in 1977, he joined a Southern Baptist church. Art holds a Master of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has studied at Bowling Green State University in Ohio; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas; Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Virginia; and Wesley Biblical Seminary in Mississippi.

He is the author of three upcoming books on prayer and meditation, Meditation & Morality, Pray As Never Before, and Your Soul on Scripture, and of Lamp Unto My Feet: A Verse-A-Day Devotional (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997) in which 365 Christian leaders share the Scriptures that have guided their lives.

Recounting how his life has been changed by prayer and meditation rooted in Scripture memorization/internalization, Art states, "I have been memorizing Scripture since around 2000, stirred to do so by a speaker at church. I started with the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, and have since focused on several new passages a year, about 75 in all, ranging from one verse to multiple verses. When they have slipped from memory, I have re-memorized them, repeating the process numerous times. As various realizations came to mind during times of prayer, I wrote down as many as I could, yearning to share these gleanings with others. While new birth began an extraordinary transformation of my life when I trusted Christ in my early twenties, each Scripture now is making my relationship to God all the more wondrous."
When I Meditate conveys this central message: It's good to pray and it's good to meditate.

Some Christians find this hard to believe. They know that meditation is mentioned in the Bible, but they tend to think it is a practice that belongs in other religions. When I Meditate sets forth a winsome alternative -- a Scripture-based, you-can-do-it understanding of meditation as a life-changing facet of prayer. Within a biblical context, When I Meditate relays an array of insights and illustrations for an enlivened readiness to pray -- and to follow Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, into tender communion with the Father and to live out his message of redemption in a world of needy souls.

Compared to religions and techniques that center on meditation, mantras, and physical postures for emptying one's soul into an impersonal cosmos, Christian meditation, in its all-important uniqueness as described in When I Meditate, entails God's use of Scripture to transform our minds and hearts. The riches of Scripture, when set in motion by prayer and meditation, can address any human need or yearning. Even one Scripture passage when memorized -- and re-memorized as need be -- and then internalized through meditation can be a catalyst for personal renewal and for conveying God's grace by word and deed to anyone, near or far, who yearns for a vibrant faith.

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Available in the following formats: .epub, .pdf, .mobi

Price: $2.99 USD

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