Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation
Welcome to the new season of the podcast, now titled "Growing Closer to God with Guided Meditation"!
Join your host, Pastor Robert Young, as we embark on a journey of spiritual exploration and renewal. This podcast is designed to help you deepen your faith and find inner peace through calming, reflective, and transformative meditative practices inspired by scripture.
Our Evolution
While the podcast, formerly known as Not Your Parent's Religion, focused in Seasons 1 and 2 on correcting misinformation and myths about religious beliefs and the teaching of Jesus Christ, the program has evolved. In Season 3, we began drawing closer to God with guided meditations, exploring all the details of why and how to meditate, and discussing the Biblical origins of Christian meditations.
With over 30 years of experience in Church planting and mentoring other Pastors, and 30+ years of training leaders in evangelism/discipleship, Pastor Young is here to guide you through these moments of stillness and connection with God.
What to Expect in Season 4
We are excited to return with Season 4 starting Sunday, October 5. We will continue to offer a structured weekly schedule:
- Sundays: Our weekly guided meditation episode.
- Monday through Friday: Daily devotions and reflections that expand on the topic of the Sunday meditations.
- Wednesdays: Audio episodes of our House Church series. This series reflects the Bible's teaching that believers should gather together for corporate worship, fellowship, encouragement, and even admonishment.
For those seeking an enhanced experience, we are adding video versions of the meditations and devotions to our Patreon page. These videos are designed to give you a more immersive experience as you meditate on the Father, His teachings, and His presence.
Tune in each week as we lead you on this path to connecting more deeply with God.
Episodes
383 episodes
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt.2: Becoming a Living Temple | Friday Devotion
You can spend years trying to “clean yourself up” and still feel like something is off. We take a different route here: the bold spiritual claim that you are God’s temple and that the work Jesus does in the temple is the same work he continues ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 2: Making Room for the Outsider | Thursday Devotion
Jesus clearing the temple can sound like a moment of pure confrontation, but we hear something else underneath it: protection, welcome, and space-making. When the Court of the Gentiles the one area set aside for outsiders gets taken over, Jesus...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 2: Jesus Confronts What Harms You | Wednesday Devotion
Jesus flipping tables is one of the most misunderstood moments in the Gospels, and we slow down to hear what it actually reveals about his heart. Reading from John 2:17, we explore a simple but disruptive idea: Jesus’ passion isn’t rage, it’s p...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 2: Naming What Has Become Distorted | Tuesday Devotion
Jesus flipping tables is one of the most misunderstood scenes in the Gospels, and we wanted to slow it down and let it read us. We start with the temple moment and the line about a “den of robbers,” then ask the uncomfortable question: what if ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Pt. 2 Series: Clearing Space for Jesus | Monday Devotion
Jesus walks into the temple and does something that feels almost backward to how we handle stress: he deals with the space first. Pastor Robert Young takes us to Matthew 21:13 “My house shall be called a house of prayer” and invites us to hear ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 2: Why Jesus Flipped the Tables? | Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
Picture the scene most people think they already understand: Jesus storms into the temple, flips tables, and “finally snaps.” We slow that story down and follow the details that change everything, because the cleansing of the temple is not a di...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series: Jesus, Both Lion & Lamb | Friday Devotion
One verse can reframe your whole picture of Jesus: Luke 19:10 says the Son of Man comes to seek and to save the lost. We start there, because it keeps faith from turning into performance, politics, or personality. Jesus is active, personal, and...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series: Jesus Exposes Motives | Thursday Devotion
A clean outside can hide a crowded inside, and Jesus refuses to let us settle for appearances. We open with Matthew 23:25, where Jesus warns about polishing the cup while the interior stays full of greed and self-indulgence. It’s a short passag...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series: Jesus Combats Bad Theology | Wednesday Devotion
“You are mistaken” is not an insult from Jesus, it’s a rescue line. We sit with Matthew 22:29 and let it do its work: exposing the subtle ways we can misread Scripture, underestimate the power of God, and end up living with beliefs that burden ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series: Jesus Exposes Hypocrisy! Tuesday Devotion
Your mouth can say all the right things while your heart quietly drifts, and Matthew 15:8 names that tension with unsettling clarity: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” We slow down with this short, focus...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series!! Jesus Confronts Corrupt Leaders | Monday Devotion
Truth is comforting right up until it contradicts us. We open with John 8:32, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” and then slow down long enough to ask what that actually looks like when truth presses on our pride, our a...
The Jesus No One Talks About! Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
The most familiar Jesus in our culture is safe, quiet, and almost impossible to argue with. But that picture leaves out a crucial Gospel reality: Jesus also confronts corruption, exposes hypocrisy, and challenges the institutions that profit fr...
Walking in The Grace God Provides: Persevering With God's Strength | Friday Devotion
Perseverance gets misread as stubborn toughness, but we take a different path: dependence on God. When we say “keep going,” we’re not talking about pretending you’re fine or forcing your way through burnout. We’re talking about the kind of spir...
Walking in the Grace God Provides: Spiritual Habits That Make Room for God's Grace | Thursday Devotion
Trying harder can feel spiritual, but it can also leave us tired and stuck. We slow down and name a different path: you don’t run to produce fruit, you remain. That shift takes spiritual growth out of the realm of self-powered effort and puts i...
Walking in The Grace God Provides: Renewing the Mind With God's Power | Wednesday Devotion
The thought loop is loud, familiar, and exhausting and we often assume the fix is more effort, better habits, or a tougher mindset. Pastor Robert Young offers a different path: transformation that does not come from self-help, but from spirit-l...
Walking in The Grace God Provides: Obedience Empowered by God, Not Forced by Us | Tuesday Devotion
Obedience can feel like pressure, performance, and constant self-correction but what if that’s never what Jesus wanted for you? We name the quiet lie that keeps so many people stuck: “If I love God, I’ll prove it by trying harder.” Then we repl...
Walking in The Grace God Provides: Responding in Willing Surrender | Monday Devotion
“Work out your salvation” can sound like a demand to strain harder, try more, and prove yourself. We slow that phrase down with Pastor Robert Young and place it back where Paul puts it in Philippians 2:12-13: right next to the assurance that Go...
Honoring Mothers Brings A Promise Of Goodness: Encore Episode
Mother’s Day is easy to celebrate with traditions and treats, but it’s harder and far more meaningful to name what a mother’s love has actually done in our lives. We take a few focused minutes to honor mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures,...
Guarding Your Heart & Mind Series: God's Power is Made Perfect in Our Weakness | Friday Devotional
The hardest moments are often the most honest ones: when you’re tired of trying to be “strong,” tired of pretending you’ve got it together, and tired of carrying a struggle that won’t move. We open with 2 Corinthians 12:9 and let God’s words la...
Guarding Your Heart & Mind Series: God Strengthens Us When Our Strength Fails | Thursday Devotional
When you’re exhausted, it’s easy to assume you’re failing spiritually. We slow down and let Isaiah 40:29 correct that lie: God gives power to the faint, and he increases strength for those who have no might. That promise is not aimed at the “st...
Guarding Your Heart & Mind Series: God Works in Us What We Cannot Produce | Wednesday Devotional
Willpower runs out. Motivation fades. And if spiritual growth depends on us generating perfect discipline, most of us end up stuck in the same cycle: try harder, fall short, feel guilty, repeat. We open Philippians 2:13 and let the Apostle Paul...
Guarding Your Heart & Mind Series: God Gives Us a New Heart, Not a New To Do List | Tuesday Devotional
A tired heart can start to feel normal, until you realise you’re living on emotional autopilot: guarded, worn down, and slowly turning numb. We sit with Ezekiel 36:26 and let God’s promise land with its full weight: “I will give you a new heart...
Guarding Your Heart & Mind Series: God's Grace Does What We Can't | Monday Devotion
The pressure to “be better” can feel holy, but it often turns into quiet exhaustion. We keep trying to fix ourselves, manage our habits, and force change through sheer willpower, then wonder why we feel stuck. Titus 2:11–12 offers a different p...
Guarding Your Heart and Mind From Christian Humanism Series: Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
What if the most dangerous thing to your spiritual peace isn’t blatant evil or constant noise, but a worldview that looks like kindness? We follow Pastor Robert Young’s “Guarding Your Mind” argument that modern humanism can promote admirable go...
Protecting Your Peace Series: Choose Stillness | Thursday Devotion
The fastest way to lose your peace is to forget who’s in control, then keep sprinting anyway. We slow down and do the opposite: we rise into stillness on purpose, even if it’s only for a few minutes, and we let that quiet become a place where G...
