The New Mindfulness–Old As Dirt

In spite of our many similarities, we are all indeed different. I am constantly reminded (and marvel) that God speaks to us in the way we each can hear. I have to admit the way God gets through to me has changed as I have matured in spirit over the years. My hard knock experiences (born from my mistakes) and exposure to the wiles of satan and his ever morphing techniques for using ‘good’ words and concepts, even Scripture, trying to prevent the still small voice from reaching me, have armed me with a large measure of heightened discernment.  

This often gets me in trouble. Being able to quickly recognize the snares does not mean my warnings are then readily received. This is where I find being mature in spirit often isolates me even further from ordinary life. 

That said, speaking only from personal experience, this is a classic example of how God orchestrates ‘coincidences’ for me and then says ‘pay attention’. 

Years ago my husband and I traveled to Destin to visit our daughter and her family but we stopped in Tallahassee to visit with my brother and his wife. The plan was to go to church with them the next morning and be on our way to Destin. At the time my brother’s church had just begun the Forty Days of the Purpose Driven Life series. I had heard of it but knew nothing about it thus I  could listen to the sermon without prejudice or cynicism. 

When we arrived in Destin later that day, my daughter related her pastor’s sermon. Apparently her church was involved in the program as well. What stood out for me and rang a warning bell was one particular part my daughter repeated, that she thought was so poignant, which was a ‘personal’ story the pastor told. Turned out that it was the exact same story my brother’s pastor had used, only with the names changed. Personal? Really? My first thought–we are being played. This is a script. This has been fed to be told verbatim in hundreds of churches across the US with no room for the Holy Spirit at all. How diabolical!

Red Flag!

So, what are the odds that I could be exposed to this tiny crack of truth revealed in one day from exposure to two sermons–considering I don’t go to church generally speaking? 

Curious when I returned home, I dug a little into Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven Life, came to my conclusions, and then I waited. The truth is out there and has been for some time for those with ears to hear and eyes to recognize the differences between true Christianity and humanism. But just because it was clear for me then didn’t mean I thought I could tell it. I did, however, warn my daughter to keep her ears and eyes open and she paid attention from then on to the siren call of the Formula Driven Life. 

Can we just say time heals all wounds, proves all things, and wounds all heels? 

Recently, while making my bed I was praying about a certain pressing problem, okay I was pleading actually. In the span of about two seconds an amazing thing happened. My spirit heard, ‘Do you trust Me?’ and I instantly replied, ‘Yes!’  I stopped and thought, ‘Wow, what just happened?” And then I resumed making my bed. Two seconds in God’s time, in His circumstances and place, can be more powerful than centuries of human time and ‘perfectly’ devised conditions.

For me, and again, this is just the way it works for me, my body, or brain for that matter, doesn’t have to be tuned in, just my spirit. God doesn’t require me to follow a routine or a method, a formula or a pattern. He moves mysteriously and wonderfully, sometimes what seems to be randomly, and it has next to nothing to do with my flesh which is the least important part of my being and one day will perish into dust anyway.

I offer this to consider that while we are all indeed different and finding the way God speaks to us individually determines how we work out our sanctification or growth in Christ, nevertheless the snares are out there and, from what I’ve seen, they usually call out to the MIND/BODY experience because it appeals ever so genuine to SELF. What is always unseen is the gentle call to fix ourselves by doing the ‘right’ thing, finding the right way so that we can be our own god, our own healer. Gosh. Doesn’t that sound great?

As far as I can tell this is not only not new it is as old as satan whispering to Eve, “You will not surely die.”

For Him,

Meema

Marcia Montenegro 

Should you practice Mindfulness?

If you are a Christian, the basis, rationale, and goal of mindfulness is in complete conflict with a Christian worldview and with the reality presented by God in his word. Mindfulness has nothing in common with biblical meditation, which is thoughtful contemplation of God's word. 

Biblical meditation and prayer are not matters of trying to go beyond thought, either to achieve a mystical oneness with God, or to "hear" from God. Nothing like this is taught anywhere in the Bible. Prayer in the Bible is always presented as verbal praise, petition, confession, and expression of gratitude to God. 

Furthermore, the concept of needing detachment goes against biblical teaching that we should remember what God has done, and vividly keep before us Christ's atonement on the cross and his bodily resurrection. There are many desires that are good, and desire to know God more deeply through prayer, Bible study, and worship nourishes believers in Christ. There is no need to fear attachment or good desires.

Mindfulness and the practice of Christianity do not mesh and cannot co-exist.

If you are not a Christian, consider whether or not you wish to attach yourself to a teaching of non-attachment that stems from teachings that reject God, the concept of self, and the concept of an individual mind, while exalting a belief that the ultimate state is one of extinction from all desire, in which you essentially do not exist.

Excerpted from Should you practice Mindfulness?