God's Arts of Light

Why speak of the dark arts of the enemy as some restless souls are wont to do from time to time? Our God's arts of light are infinitely more intriguing and beneficial.

Briefly, these arts are:

prayer, meditation, chanting of Bible verses, chanting of Spirit of Prophecy texts, healing via religious visualization, grace, righteousness, acts of kindness, righteous laughter, spiritual music, fasting, ...

These are only some of the Holy Arts. There may be others that time will make evident.

Activities:

1. Chant portions of scripture that deal with Light or other principles of grace. Chant these aloud if by yourself or in a group of believers or mentally chant them to yourself. Chant each phrase or text once, pair it with another similar verse from another part of scripture, or the Spirit of Prophecy, and then begin the second or third repetition. The goal is to eventually do this spontaneously or even subconsciously.

Examples: "The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom then shall I fear. The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom then shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27

"I am still convinced of this: I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord. Be strong and take heart [cheer up] and wait on the Lord." Psalm 27

"God is the source of life and light and joy to the universe." Steps to Christ, 77.1

2. Whether sitting up in a quiet place or lying in your bed late at night or early in the morning, engage in the following mental exercise:

Imagine Christ himself standing next to you and placing his hands on your head or your shoulder as he transmits healing light all throughout your body.

3. I've been praying in new way for some months now. I call it visualization-oriented prayer. Sometimes when I'm dropping off to sleep or when I rise, or even when I'm working out at the gym, I visualize Christ--a faceless Christ which I do intentionally to avoid any hint of idolatry--who is standing next to me and either healing me of whatever pains I'm experiencing, or actually clothing me with his robe of righteousness. I don't think many people pray visually and it shouldn't take the place of word-oriented prayer. Sometimes, though, an image can express so much more spiritually speaking when words fail, or when the concurrent activities do not allow for actual words to be entertained as one prays. Perhaps this could be one way of fostering an attitude of prayer even when one is not using actual words.