How to start meditation? We encourage you to equip yourself with the below foundational knowledge, designed for you to have basic building blocks upon which you can build your abilities to appreciate your whole wellness.
THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE
When our mind gains strength, we can build a healthy and balanced life. Biblical meditation is about emptying darkness from our lives and filling them with God’s light, and it begins with meeting the life-giving Spirit of God.
GOD’S DESIGN PRINCIPLE FOR HUMANITY
God’s Spirit → human
We were created as spiritual beings. God breathed His Spirit into the first man, Adam, enabling his mind and life to resemble God’s own; thus, our minds and lives find true happiness when we commune with God. To ensure we understood that we were created to receive His good Spirit and enjoy only what is good, God gave us one command: not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
CHECK OUT THE CONCEPT
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When God created the heavens and the earth, He had design principles for every creature. Trees must be rooted in the earth, fish must live in water, birds must be free to fly in the sky (Genesis 1:11, 1:20). Likewise, mankind must live with God because God created us in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). God formed the body of the first man Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Spirit of God, so we became spiritual beings (Genesis 2:7). We could commune with the invisible God intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally, when God would fill us with His Spirit, inspiring us to keep His creatures in the beautiful state when they were created (Genesis 1:28). As God’s image bearers, we could have a relationship with the Creator God and inherit His nature and power to keep the world beautiful in perfect harmony and fullness.
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As spiritual beings, our intellect, emotions, volitions, and lives are influenced by the spiritual realm. When we commune with the good Spirit of God, we bear His likeness in our intellect, emotions, volitions, and lives (2 Peter 1:4). But if we leave the good Spirit of God, we fall into the hands of evil spirits and inherit their dark temperament (1 John 3:8-10, John 8:44, Ephesians 2:2). God wanted us to keep in mind this law for sure, so that we would know only the good God and be innocent of the evil Satan, enjoying His blessing forever; so He commanded Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and also told him what would happen if he broke the law (Genesis 2:16-17). The logic is simple, because there is no middle ground in the spiritual realm: it’s either God or Satan, good or evil, light or darkness (Genesis 2:17, Matthew 12:30, John 1:5).
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
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We were created as living spiritual beings with the Spirit of God dwelling within us (Genesis 2:7). So we have spirit, mind, and body. We are happiest when we inherit God’s image in our intellect, emotions, and will, and when that image is reflected in our lives (Genesis 1:26-28).
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As spiritual beings, our intellect, emotions, volitions, and lives are influenced by the spiritual realm. When we commune with the good Spirit of God, we bear His likeness in our intellect, emotions, volitions, and lives (2 Peter 1:4). But if we leave the good Spirit of God, we fall into the hands of evil spirits and inherit their dark temperament (1 John 3:8-10, John 8:44, Ephesians 2:2). God wanted us to keep in mind this law for sure, so that we would know only the good God and be innocent of the evil Satan, enjoying His blessing forever; so He commanded Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and also told him what would happen if he broke the law (Genesis 2:16-17). The logic is simple, because there is no middle ground in the spiritual realm: it’s either God or Satan, good or evil, light or darkness (Genesis 2:17, Matthew 12:30, John 1:5).
THE ROOT CAUSE OF OUR DEFICIENCY
sin ⟹ death, death ⟹ sin
Despite God’s warning that he would die the day he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam ate its fruit. The moment he did, God’s living Spirit departed from him, and he became spiritually dead. When we are separated from God, our spirit, mind, and body lie open to the invisible spiritual force who influences human life in this world.
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That invisible spiritual force is Satan who approached Eve, the first woman and Adam’s wife (Genesis 3:13, Revelation 12:9). He affected her feeling and thinking, successfully talking her into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-5). As soon as she ate, she gave some to Adam to eat (Genesis 3:6). So they ended up committing the sin of breaking the law and the result was death as God had said (Romans 6:23, Genesis 2:16-17).
They became spiritually dead because the Spirit of God left them (Ephesians 2:1, Isaiah 59:2). We are all born as Adam’s descendants and thus come into the world in a state of spiritual death (Romans 5:12). We are destined for physical death when the soul will leave the body for judgment, and while on earth, our souls are bound to feel empty no matter how beautifully we decorate our intellect, emotions, will, and lives (Hebrews 9:27, Genesis 3:19, Ephesians 4:17-18).
When we sin, we are separated from God (Isaiah 59:2). When we are separated from God, everything we do inevitably becomes sin (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:8). So the state of spiritual death increasingly spreads through our minds and lives. This means that Satan, the spirit who holds the power of death, gradually comes to envelop our minds and lives (Hebrews 2:14-15, Ephesians 2:2).
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The Bible reveals that Satan was behind the persuasion that led Eve to believe eating the fruit would make her like God (Genesis 3:1-6, Revelation 12:9). This Satan holds the power of death and is at work among the dead (Hebrews 2:14, Ephesians 2:2).
Satan was initially created as a good angel doing God’s will (Ezekiel 28:15, Psalm 103:20-21). But he became proud of the beauty and wisdom given to carry out God’s will and left his position to ascend to God’s throne (Ezekiel 28:17, Jude 1:6, Isaiah 14:13-14). There arose a war in heaven, but of course the almighty God defeated Satan and his followers and cast them out of heaven to earth (Revelation 12:7-9).
These fallen angels are sentenced to eternal fire of hell but while here on earth, working diligently to drag us down to their cursed fate (Matthew 25:41, Ephesians 2:2, John 8:44). He knows God’s design principle for humanity very well, that the wages of sin is death; when we sin, Satan can gain control over us (Romans 6:23, 3:23). Knowing that it works as the highest law for us, he deceives us into breaking this law (1 John 3:8).
CHECK OUT THE CONCEPT
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Simply put, sin means deviating from the principle by which God designed us (Romans 3:23, 1 John 3:4). So if any part of our spirit, mind, and body does not align with the principle, it becomes sin. For instance, since God created fish to live in water, it becomes “sin” for a fish to live outside of it (though, of course, “sin” is a concept applicable only to humans, who are spiritual beings created in the image of God). The consequences of deviating from that created order are illness and death.
When we lived according to the fundamental principle of being filled with God’s Spirit, God Himself inspired our minds and manifested His glory in our lives. However, because our spirits died and we lost the ability to enter into God’s presence, all of this became difficult, or actually, impossible. Yet, God provided a very simple solution to this, though it came at a tremendous cost.
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Spiritual death was the immediate consequence of Adam’s sin. As a result, it became our destiny to experience the death of the mind and ultimately the death of the body.
In the Bible, death is presented as separation. Spiritual death refers to the separation of our spirit from the living Spirit of God. Then it leads to the progressive impairment and fragmentation of our thoughts, emotions, and will. Then the consequent loss of balance and coherence in our words and actions. Ultimately, we are all destined for physical death, which refers to the separation of the soul from the body.
If we remain in a state of sin, the state of spiritual death continues to deepen within us, casting a dark shadow over our minds, our lives, and even our surroundings. This is the death of which the Bible speaks.
THE AFTEREFFECTS
IN PROGRESS
death: spirit → mind → body
We are all born spiritually dead. Unless we address the issue from the source at the spiritual level, spiritual death will continue to grow to affect our minds and lives.
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We belong to Satan who is destined for hell (John 8:44, Matthew 25:41). So the spirit is destined for hell when we physically die, and we have the background of hell while living here on earth (Revelation 20:14-15).
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Satan continues to lure us into his fate with the same tactics, and we continue to fall for his lies because we are spiritually blind (1 Peter 5:8, 2 Corinthians 4:4). We follow the ways of the world, which the Bible reveals is in fact following Satan, i.e., idol worship (Ephesians 2:2, Galatians 4:8).
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Separated from God, we have deep-seated fear (Hebrews 2:15). Because we are unable to reason and love like God with our darkened mind, we can’t have true rest even if we try hard (2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 4:18, Matthew 11:28).
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Mental distress begins to affect our lives, from individual problems such as chronic insomnia and persistent hallucinations to societal problems including relational problems and chaotic circumstances (Mark 9:17-18, Mark 5:1-9).
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Whether we want it or not, we radiate the spiritual state of death throughout our lives and pass this manner of life along with its problems on to those around us and future generations (Exodus 20:3-5).
THE LEGAL SOLUTION
AT A PRICE
Christ = prophet + priest + king
We have no ability to break free from the spiritual problem of bondage to Satan and sin. That’s why God came to us in human flesh by the name of Jesus (John 1:14, Matthew 1:21). He fulfilled the threefold office of Christ and thus all the requirements of the law to pay for our sins and open the way for our restoration (Romans 8:3-4).
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God, the only being who can defeat Satan, must take on human flesh to become a sinless human. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in order that He was not Adam’s seed (Matthew 1:18, Genesis 3:15). So He became God and man in one person, i.e., a man without sin, to reconcile God and man (Colossians 2:9, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:18). So He fulfilled the office of the prophet and became the Way for us to meet God (John 14:6).
SEPARATION FROM GOD
As the Prophet who was 100% God and 100% man, Jesus is the way for our salvation.
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The price for sin is death, and there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of innocent blood (Romans 6:23, Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22). So He carried all the curses of our sin upon His sinless body, shed His innocent blood on the cross, and died on the cross along with our sin as a final and perfect sacrifice of atonement (John 1:29, Matthew 27:4, Hebrews 10:10). So He fulfilled the office of the high priest to atone for our sin by offering Himself as a sacrifice without blemish or spot (Hebrews 2:17, 1 Peter 1:19).
POWER OF SIN
As the High Priest, Jesus made propitiation for our sins through His self-sacrifice.
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He rose from the dead and destroyed the works of Satan who has the power of death (Genesis 3:15, Hebrews 2:14, 1 John 3:8). He brought not only the power of sin but the power of death to complete death so that He can restore life in us (Romans 6:10, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Romans 4:25). As King of kings, He opened the way for us to be our king so we can liberate ourselves from evil (Philippians 2:9-11, 1 Corinthians 15:57).
POWER OF SATAN
As the King of kings, Jesus destroyed the power of Satan who holds the power of death.
Jesus
He came by the name of Jesus, which means “God is salvation” (Matthew 1:21).
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Christ
He fulfilled the threefold office of Christ simultaneously, once and for all (Matthew 16:16).
HOW TO
APPLY THE SOLUTION
Receive the Spirit of Jesus
Because Jesus has finished the work of Christ,
you only need to ask Jesus to come into you to let Him do the work of Christ for you.
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to follow the prayer of receiving Him in you.