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
390 episodes
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 4: The Emotional Life of Jesus | Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
We’ve been trained to admire the person who never cracks: the serene face, the steady tone, the spiritual “stiff upper lip”. But when we slow down and actually read the Gospels closely, that image starts to look less like Jesus and more like a ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 3: Rise Into Your Calling | Friday Devotion
“Rise, let us go.” That single line from Matthew 26:46 can feel like a hand on your shoulder when you’re tired, stuck, or unsure what to do next. We sit with Jesus in the garden and notice something subtle but life-changing: after prayer, he st...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 3: Jesus Meets Our Weakness With Compassion | Thursday Devotion
Your intentions are real and your faith is real, so why does follow-through feel so hard? We open Matthew 26:41 and sit with Jesus’ words: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then we step into the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus w...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 3: The Courage To Surrender Wednesday Devotion
One sentence from Jesus can confront everything we try to control: “Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). We return to Gethsemane not to admire a distant moment, but to learn how surrender to God works when the cost is real and t...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 3: The Cup We Wish Would Pass | Tuesday Devotion
Jesus doesn’t hide his dread in the garden. He prays, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39), and that one line can change how we think about Christian faith, suffering, and prayer. We sit with Pastor Robert Youn...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series Pt. 3: The Weight Jesus Carried | Monday Devotion
Jesus approaches the cross carrying crushing emotional and spiritual weight and He doesn’t cover it up. We sit with that moment in Gethsemane, imagining the dim garden, the heaviness on His face, and the startling clarity of a Savior who names ...
The Jesus No One Talks About Series: Pt. 3 Strength in The Garden | Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
We’ve been trained to admire unshakable people the ones who never flinch, never doubt, never show fear. But the Garden of Gethsemane tells a different story, and it’s far more useful for real life. Dan and Sheila dig into Pastor Robert Young’s ...
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,...
