This meditation is the second of a ten part series on The Fruit of the Spirit. In Paul's list of the fruits in Galatians, he lists love first. Love is the primary fruit and in fact, all the other fruits are not possible without love. In Paul's letter to the church at Corinth, he listed sixteen qualities of Christian love. In this meditation, you will contemplate these sixteen qualities from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8: what they are, how God expresses them perfectly, and how you express them in your own life. The fruit of the Spirit is Love.

Many listeners have asked about a meditation on the expressions of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This seemed like a perfect place to dig into those attributes. I didn't set out to write a guided meditation that was nearly an hour long, but this passage is so rich, it seemed the only way to get everything in. I hope you grow in your own expression of love as you meditate with me on those passages--I know I certainly have.

Mindful Worship Meditation #24 - The Fruit of the Spirit, is the first part of this christian meditation series; it provides an overview of the nine fruits of the spirit. If you would like to do this particular series of biblical meditations in order, that is the place to begin.

If you would like to listen to the Fruit of the Spirit Series in order:

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-Control

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit begins to live in us so He can teach us and lead us. As He lives in us, and we grow in Him, He builds nine characteristics of Godliness in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all characteristics that all followers of Jesus should be producing in our lives. In this meditation, you will contemplate the The Fruit of the Spirit in your own life.

This particular meditation provides an overview of the nine fruits of the Spirit. In the upcoming guided Christian meditations, we will focus on each of the individual fruits more deeply, so that God may more plant them more deeply in our hearts. Be sure to let me know about your experience with this Christian guided meditation in the comments.

If you would like to listen to the Fruit of the Spirit Series in order:

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-Control

This meditation is the last of a three part series on Psalm 51. In Have Mercy on Me, O God, we examined the first 6 verses as David laments over his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, and asks God to forgive him. In Create in Me a Pure Heart, we contemplated verses 7 through 12 where David asks God to clean him, renew him, and restore him. In this mediation we see David's response to God's grace. He begins by saying, "Then I Will Teach."

When I originally began to write the first meditation in this series, I was only going to do a few particular verses from this Psalm. As I meditated on it in my own life though, I realized that every line holds life-changing truth that needs to be seriously contemplated. A single meditation would probably be more than an hour long though, so I decided to present it in a three-part series. This is the last of those three parts. I am now planning to do more series type meditations that will build and elaborate on each other and allow us to go deeper into the study and personal application of God's Word. Let me know what you think in the comments. (Photo by Anna Gay. Original on flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License)

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 20:24
File Size: 18.6MB

This meditation is the second of a three part series on Psalm 51. In Have Mercy on Me, O God, we examined the first 6 verses as David laments over his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, and asks God to forgive him. In this meditation, you will contemplate verses 7 through 12 where David asks God to clean him, renew him, and restore him. In a previous meditation, you asked God to Guard Your Heart; in this meditation you ask God to Create in Me a Pure Heart.

When I originally began to write the first meditation in this series, I was only going to do a few particular verses from this Psalm. As I meditated on it in my own life though, I realized that every line holds life-changing truth that needs to be seriously contemplated. A single meditation would probably be more than an hour long though, so I decided to present it in a three-part series. This is the second of those three parts. I am now planning to do more series type meditations that will build and elaborate on each other and allow us to go deeper into the study and personal application of God's Word. Let me know what you think in the comments. (Photo by Jennifer Milward. Original on flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License)

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 30:03
File Size: 24.5MB

Psalm 51 is David's prayer of repentance after he sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed. We all have sin in our lives because we have a sin nature. Although we don't like to often think about our sin, it is the reason Jesus came and died for us. In this meditation you will identify a specific sin from your own life and then apply David's words to that sin in your life to help you grow more into God's image. Have Mercy on Me, O God.

When I originally began to write this meditation, I was only going to do a few particular verses from this Psalm. As I meditated on it in my own life though, I realized that every line holds life-changing truth that Christians need to seriously contemplate and apply to their lives. A single meditation would probably be more than an hour long though, so I decided to present it in a three-part series. This is the first of those three parts. I am now planning to do more series type meditations that will build and elaborate on each other and allow us to go deeper into the study and personal application of God's Word. Let me know what you think in the comments! (Photo by thanker212. Original on flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic License)

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 25:42
File Size: 23.5MB

"I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." - Psalm 4:8

Many people have told us they really enjoy doing the New Every Morning meditation when they first wake up. In fact, many people wake up with it by having it automatically begin to play at a certain time. The idea behind New Every Morning was to help you prepare yourself for the upcoming day. This guided meditation is written to help you close out your day and to help you Sleep in Peace.

Although it's not necessary to do this meditation after you lie down in bed, it is written with the assumption that you will do it very close to bed time. You will probably enjoy it best by listening after you go to bed so you gently drift into peaceful sleep when it is finished. If you are listening with headphones or earbuds with wires, remember to take them off before you actually fall asleep.

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 16:55
File Size: 15.4MB

It has been said that in our Christian walk we are all either in a battle, have just finished a battle, or are about to enter a battle. Psalm 20 was written as a song to be sung as an encouragement to David, the other soldiers, and the Israelite people before, during, and after battles. It is a wonderful song that asks God for help, acknowledges Him as our helper, and praises him for helping us.

You may choose to apply this psalm as a prayer for yourself concerning a spiritual battle you are involved in, to prepare you for an upcoming spiritual battle, or to praise God for victory in a past spiritual battle. You may also choose to use it as a guide to pray for someone else who is in any of those situations right now. Regardless of how you apply this Psalm, may He grant you support from Zion.

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 22:30
File Size: 20.5MB

Jesus included such great imagery in so much of his teaching. The people He was speaking to at the time would have understood many of the objects in His metaphors. When we study His words today, we may have to use our imagination to better understand many of the nuances of what He was teaching. An excellent example of this is when he taught his disciples saying, "I am the True Vine."

In this Christian guided meditation, you will meditate on this passage and apply it just as the disciples may have. If you are not familiar with vineyards and grapevines, the cover image may help you better understand Christ's metaphor. As you follow along with this meditation, try to imagine this as the kind of vineyard through which you are walking.

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 25:31
File Size: 23.3MB

My pastor recently finished a sermon series entitled Password. In this series, he talks about how we protect so much of our personal information with passwords, yet we don't have a password to keep harmful things away from what matters most: our heart, our soul, and our mind. This meditation was inspired by one of those sermons. I hope it helps you to guard your heart.

You can download and listen to the four sermons in the Password series yourself in the Sermons area of the Rich Fork Baptist Church web site. These sermons were delivered between January 18, 2009, and February 8, 2009.

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 20:30
File Size: 18.7MB

It is so easy to think bad thoughts. You know what I’m talking about. We think about bad outcomes instead of good outcomes. We think about ourselves and our own desires instead of others. We worry. We become anxious. We become negative. There are so many ways we make ourselves suffer from what one author called, “stinkin’ thinkin’.” In this Christian guided meditation you will take time to focus on Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi on how they should endeavor to think. “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

Learning to think in this manner has had a major positive effect on my own life, and I'm sure it will have a positive effect in yours as well. As always, I welcome your comments.

Written by: Ricky Spears
Recorded by: Ricky Spears
Length: 14:27
File Size: 13.2MB