Hello and Welcome!
It is a new week and a new day and I’m so glad you could join me as we continue our journey toward renewing our minds and improving our self-discipline. If you’re just joining me, you can read my article, A New Self Discipline Journey to learn more about why I am doing this, and how this may benefit you as well.
This week we are going to focus each day on mental health. Each day this week I will provide affirmations, scriptures, and daily challenges regarding this topic. Next week will be a new one!
With that said, let’s start our morning together!
BREATHING EXERCISE
Before we begin let us take some deep breaths to calm our mind and prepare us for this mornings discipline.
MUSIC FOR A NEW DAY
I personally like to have some soft music in the background, so if that’s something you like as well below you will find a song you can play for the duration of our time together.
PRAYER For Calming the Mind
Now that we’re calm, let us transition to a time of prayer. Over the next few minutes you can pray on your own or feel free to use the following prayer:
Almighty God,
We bless you for our lives, we give you praise for your abundant mercy and grace we receive. We thank you for your faithfulness even though we are not that faithful to you.
Lord Jesus, we ask you to give us all around peace in our mind, body, soul and spirit. We want you to heal and remove everything that is causing stress, grief, and sorrow in our lives.
Please guide our path through life and make our enemies be at peace with us. Let your peace reign in our family, at our place of work, businesses and everything we lay our hands on.
Let your angels of peace go ahead of us when we go out and stay by our side when we return.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
A Christian Prayer for Peace of Mind | Xavier University
AFFIRMATIONS for Calming the Mind
Here are a few affirmations for this morning that you can put in your pocket and carry with you throughout your day.
As you read through them, repeat each one out loud at least three times before moving to the next. Take your time. Close your eyes and say them to yourself as well. Let these words sink into your heart and mind this morning:
- I let go of stress.
- My mind is quiet.
- I only need to take one step at a time.
- My anxious thoughts don’t rule me.
SCRIPTURES About Meditation
As Christians, our affirmations should be rooted in the strength and power of God who empowers us and strengthens us to face every trial and every day (both good and bad).
Here are some scriptures that further support the affirmations we just spoke to ourselves. Again, repeat each one three times out loud before moving to the next one. Take your time. Maybe try to commit these to memory as well:
- Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
- Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
- Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
- Psalm 19:14, “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sigh, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
TODAYS CHALLENGE
Our challenge today is this: take some time to pray and meditate.
Meditation is not a bad word. I remember growing up thinking it was though. This was largely due to the New Age Movement being pretty popular and it had taken over the Biblical concept of meditation in most people’s minds.
But meditation is quite biblical. The idea of meditating on God’s word, his promises, his goodness, his presence, and more is all throughout scripture. So don’t let the word scare you. It simply means to focus the mind on or train your attention and awareness on something. In the case of the Christian, our focus is on God and his Word.
Perhaps you already have a routine, and that’s great! If you are new to the concept and practice of meditation, have no fear, thanks to the wonderful advent of technology there is very literally an app for that.
The app is called “Glorify” and can be found for all smart phone devices Android and iOS alike. It is an app I’ve been using pretty frequently for the last couple of years and I highly recommend. The best part? It’s 100% free to use at all times.
The structure it follows is what you would expect for a Christian to engage in around specific topics each week:
- Inspirational quote
- Scripture reading
- Expounding on the scripture and topic
- Meditation and Prayer on the scripture and topic
- A bonus prayer, meditation, declaration, song, etc.
Go download the app, give it a shot for a week, and see how this will help you get your mind (and soul) healthy.
Quote of the Day
Today’s quote comes from the late pastor Charles Stanley:
An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.
Charles Stanley
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