In my Arise & Align time, God revealed to me a deeper understanding of what it means to meditate on Him. In a world full of HYPE words like “meditation, mindfulness, and balance,” it’s important to understand who we are anchoring into. Today I would like to share the framework that has supported me and thousands of others in Arising & Aligning with the Lord. 

If you were to search for current hype-y words like meditation, mindfulness, balance, and/or awareness there would be no shortage of information. Everybody is searching for it, seeking for it, looking for all of these things to fulfill the deep desire to find peace, purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. We google it, read books about it, download apps to support us in the process, yet based upon staggering statistics, it’s not working. 

More than 40 million Americans struggle with anxiety. We sit at an all time high for those struggling with depression, impacting more than 29% of people. It’s as though the more we google, the less we know. Now, I don’t know about you, but those statistics break my heart. It breaks my heart for multiple reasons but 2 main reasons come to mind. The first – I have been there, done that, struggled with both anxiety and depression in ways that I felt like I would never overcome. Though I would never try to downplay one’s pain or make it as simple as an “I get it,” I too have fought my own battles and have overcome. Secondly, I believe that Jesus did not come, die on a cross, and rise again for us to cope with such issues. He sacrificed everything he did so we could have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). So how do we walk in that truth? How do we embrace the grace that’s been given to us?

In my Arise & Align time, God revealed to me a deeper understanding of not only the power of meditating on him, but also what it means to ARISE and ALIGN in the Lord, and even gave me the framework to help YOU unlearn what you think they are, so you can come back into alignment with the Truth.

Mark Twain once said, “It’s not what we know that hurts us, it’s what we think we know that just isn’t so.” 

How true that can be.

So today, I wanted to invite you to unlearn what you think you know about morning meditations so you can relearn what’s been awaiting you all along. I pray this supports you as you walk through your own healing journey, awakening journey, and even more so, what it means to live life more abundantly in the graces of heavenly alignment, each and every morning, as well as throughout your day.

Let’s begin.

Exploring the Physical and Spiritual Benefits:

Let’s talk about the benefits of meditation….

There are physical benefits to meditation and also spiritual benefits to mediation. First, let’s look at the physical benefits of mediation.

If you are feeling anxious or even depressed, mediation can help ease the stress you are experiencing. For those of you who feel scattered, overwhelmed or underwhelmed by all the things that you have to do in your day, meditation will help because it turns off the prefrontal lobe of the brain, or what I like to call the “chatter” part of the brain. Now, you may be thinking, “JG what’s the chatter?” It’s the voices, the to-do list that never stops, all the things  you “should be doing”.  It’s the 1,000 emails you need to respond to, your chore list, thoughts of “I should be with my kids”, “I should be with my husband”, “I should be working,” the non-stop noise in your brain. Maybe you can relate. Do you ever struggle with chatter?

If so, practicing meditation will help calm the chatter and quiet the noise.

It will also boost your immunity and will support you in getting better sleep. 

But you’ve heard all that haven’t you?!

Or maybe you admit, you’ve tried ALL THAT before and “it didn’t work.” Well, here’s what I tell my kids: It’s never that it doesn’t work. It’s always whether or not we didn’t quit. 9 out of 10 times the reason it “doesn’t work” isn’t because it doesn’t but rather because someone stops doing it. Maybe you’ve tried meditating once. Try again. Maybe you’ve tried 100 times. Try again. Maybe you started, it worked, and then it worked so well you stopped doing it. Start again.

This practice is not about you being “perfect” at it, it’s about you practicing it until it becomes permanent.

I’ll say it again: PRACTICE DOES NOT MAKE PERFECT. PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT.

Now get this, the art of morning meditations is not about you being good at it. It’s not about you acing a test. It’s not about scoring “10 for 10.” It’s about you becoming good at YOU by aligning with God! Which leads me to the next benefit and really, the true reason behind WHY we Arise & Align.

Aligning with Spiritual Purpose:

Here’s where it gets good….

Mediation is an invitation for you to actually sit with the Lord and learn how to hear his voice better and how to actually become the best version of YOU by sitting as close to God as possible. That means, every morning, as you arise & align, you are purposefully and intentionally moving your soul to Him. David talks about this in Psalm 55: 17 (TPT) when he says, “Every evening I will explain my need to him. Every morning I will move my soul toward him. Every waking hour I will worship only him, and he will hear and respond to my cry.”

These morning meditations help you to posture your heart towards him every morning and every night and ultimately becomes your practice throughout the entire day! Therefore, this isn’t a moment in time with God, this is a lifestyle. A lifestyle of alignment. Why is alignment important? Here’s what alignment actually means. . . It’s a position of agreement, or alliance. Alignment is a positioning. A positioning of your heart towards his heart. It’s your alliance, your commitment, to God. Not your alliance to people pleasing. Not your alliance to success metrics. Not your alliance even to the goals and the visions and the dreams of your heart, your alliance to HIS.

Every morning when you find yourself in a place of alignment, it means you are positioning yourself, your mind, your heart and your dreams unto the Lord, unto the allegiance you have to Him.

This then becomes your greatest place of sacrifice. Because let’s face it, giving everything to the Lord, including your will, your way, your time IS a sacrifice. It declares, “I trust YOU Lord above it all.” That may be simple, but it isn’t always easy to do. But I promise you, it will also provide your greatest place of blessing. Just as the Bible tells us to tithe the 10% of our earnings as an offering and as a sacrifice to the Lord, of the goodness of what he’s provided in our lives,“One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy” ‭‭(Leviticus‬ ‭27‬:‭30‬ ‭NLT), so too are we doing the same thing when we give him the 10% of our day. ‬‬By giving him 10% of your morning, you’re doing the exact same thing. It’s your sacrifice, it’s your tithe. Your giving him the first part of your day, you’re giving him your will, your way, your time, in exchange for his. It’s the first fruits of your morning that you’re ultimately saying, “Hey, God, I’m going to give you this time so that the rest of my day comes in alignment with You first, everything else is second.”

This also supports you because now, as you go about your day, you are not moved by the event’s of the day. You won’t be triggered by people and circumstances. Why? Because your priorities are aligned. 

Arise & Align with Him, in Spirit and in Truth, regardless of what’s going on around you. That means every morning, may he find you faithful. Faithful in your living room, faithful in your closet, faithful in your bed, faithful in your office, faithful in your car. There is no right way or right place to meditate with God. It’s just the place and the time that you get up and carve out for Him to find you. 

Cultivate a Lifestyle of Alignment:

NOTE: There is no “right” way to do this. It’s just doing it. Learning to get your mind aligned, your heart aligned, and the day ahead of you aligned with the truth of God. That means I don’t want you to have a morning routine that’s a “fixed program” that keeps you doing what you’ve always done. I want you to have a morning routine that’s going to take you where you’ve never been. It’s going to take you into the heavenly realms. It’s going to throw you into your future, it’s going to throw you into your dreams, and then it’s going to launch you back into your present moment so you can actually start living like you’re living your dreams today. Living like heaven’s realities today. This is what it means to Arise & Align. 

So, my question to you today is; “Is your routine getting you to where you want to be? Or is it just giving you what you’ve already got?” 🤔

For some of you, your routines are based upon comfort, safety and security. You need a morning routine that will cause you to Arise & Align, sit with the Lord and hear His voice better so you can become the best version of YOU. It’s time to wake up, and it’s time to feel focused and aligned with the dreams that God has given you so you can wholeheartedly focus on what matters most in your faith, your family, your career and your community. 

This is the power of meditating. 

AND, if you are ready to bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be? Grab this FREE Mini Course where I’ll equip you with the tools to Arise & Align your morning using my 15-minute, proven faith-based daily routine.

You’ll thank me later.