198 The Covenant of The Smoking Fire and Flaming Torch a Guided Christian Meditation on Genesis 15:9,10, 17 I'm Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be change d by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina: Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization. Get into a place where y...
198 The Covenant of The Smoking Fire and Flaming Torch a Guided Christian Meditation on Genesis 15:9,10, 17
I'm Chaplain Jared and I work as a hospice chaplain and an ICU chaplain, my purpose in making this podcast is to help you find more peace in your life and to be more open for your heart to be change d by the Spirit of God. By using centuries old form of Christian Meditation named Lectio Divina:
Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization.
Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing. If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes.
Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:
Breathe and direct your thoughts to contacting God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate, deflate.
Bible verses for Meditation:
Genesis 15
NABRE
9 He answered him: Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
10 He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.
NIV
9 So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
Meditation on Scripture:
How did God determine that there would be a need for the Cross? Are we blessed to have wandered into the most eternally convenient coincidence that Jesus died for us?
This is a very dense section of scripture. I picked it for a unique reason. At first glance this section is confusing. The strangeness of it causes us to gloss right over it sometimes. I have a possible interpretation. In the period of Abraham, roughly 2 thousands years before Jesus, there was a unique practice performed by powerful kings. It was a type of covenant and submission that was performed by a lower king called the assal who were serving under the power of a greater king called Suzerain. They would take animals and cut them in half and take the halves and separate them then the lesser king would walk between them. This was a symbol that if the vassal king did not live up to the covenant than he would be divided in two as the animals were. In this scripture it appears as though Abraham is being set up as the Vassal King yet Abraham is not what passes between the Animals but a smoking fire and a flaming torch. Some have interpreted this to be a representation of Jehovah. In other words, as part of the Covenant of Abraham Jehovah himself placed himself as responsible for the failure of Abraham and his posterity to maintain faithfulness to the Covenant.
My goal with this scripture is to help us ponder on the mystery that is God’s preparation to save us and the inevitability of our need to be saved. Despite our best intentions of positive change, if we do it alone and without God, it will not provide lasting change. As you continue to work toward improvement realize this, without God all change is incomplete at best or worse yet, pointless. Involve God in the goals for positive change that you have. We have evidence thousands of years ago that God has been preparing to bless us.
Meditation of Prayer:
Pray as directed by the Spirit.
Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him.
Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm:
I invite you to sit in silence feeling being patient for your own faults and trials.
Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life:
This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast
Updates:
Final Question: What is involved with your covenant with God?
Final Thought:
Long before Abraham had his son, long before Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, before the Sons of Israel entered egypt, before the Exodus Jehovah was giving signs and prophecy of the need for the Cross. God was not surprised in an eternal sense that we would need a Savior. His plan to send His Son was not a last minute decision. It was because he cared for you and I before we were ever born. When we fall short of our potential at times, and sin, this is not a surprise to Him either. The Good News of the gospel is that despite our failure that God can and will forgive us if we believe in Jesus and follow His path.
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