Kanye West has been steering culture towards Jesus for several months now with his Sunday Services. Justin Bieber is another megastar who has been using his enormous platform to point people towards God, and he continued this wonderful trend by posting another guided prayer to social media.
The prayer is led by Judah Smith, one of Bieber’s pastors who hails from Seattle.
“Good morning, here is a guided prayer to start your day,” Bieber captioned the first video. “Find a comfy position and enjoy.”
The contemplative prayer begins with Romans 8:38, which reads:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV)
“God, we thank you for your love that is so extensive, so extraordinary and unconditional towards us,” Smith begins, before urging listeners to repeat three simple Biblical truths:
1. “Nothing will ever separate me from God’s love.”
2. “Nothing is more powerful than God’s love for me.”
3. “Nothing compares to being loved by God.”
Smith goes on to encourage listeners “to sink into the reality of God’s love” and take deep breaths while meditating on the endless love of Christ.
“God, thank you we are loved. We are loved not because of our own doing, our own earning or deserving.. but because of who you are. You are love and you love us unconditionally and endlessly,” Smith prays.
“And we thank you for that.”
Smith goes on to declare that “God is the greatest artist of all time,” and urges listeners to put their hands in the air and “join with all the created beings, and all of the creation itself in glorifying and honoring the creator..”
“In truth, we are doing the very thing we were created to do,” he said of adopting the worshipful posture.
Smith concludes: “God, we thank you right now. It is our privilege and our honor to think about you, to acknowledge you and to worship you in this moment. You are big, you are wonderful, you are powerful. You are awe-inspiring. In truth, you are beyond our description. We love being loved by you. And we love you because you first loved us. Thank you, God. Amen.”
Contemplative prayer, often called “Centering Prayer,” is an ancient Christian practice designed to help believers connect with their God in the quiet place. Sadly, the secular mindfulness and meditation popular in our modern culture has borrowed from this ancient Christian practice and, in many cases, stripped it of its spiritual meaning.
It is nice to see one of the biggest pop stars in the world putting Christian contemplative prayer back on the map!