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
354 episodes
All Night Prayer? Daily Devotion | Friday
When the night gets quiet, the names we’ve carried get loud. We open Genesis 32:28 and sit with Jacob in the dark, tracing his fear, his wrestle with God, and the dawn that delivers a new name. This isn’t a tidy moral tale about trying harder; ...
All Night Prayer? Daily Devotion | Thursday
What if the guidance you need is already present, waiting in the quiet? We revisit Samuel’s night encounter and explore why stillness—especially in the evening—can sharpen our spiritual hearing. Instead of adding more noise to our days, we prac...
All Night Prayer? Daily Devotion | Wednesday
When the night stretches long and your strength runs thin, where does help begin? We turn to Gethsemane, not for spectacle but for clarity, listening closely as Luke tells us an angel appeared and strengthened Jesus. That single line reframes h...
All Night Prayer? Daily Devotion | Tuesday
When the world finally goes quiet, what rises in you that you’ve been too busy to feel? We open Psalm 77 and step into the night watch, where emotions are not enemies to suppress but invitations to be held. Instead of tidying our pain, we pract...
All Night Prayer? Daily Devotion | Monday
What if clarity isn’t hiding in more data, but in deeper prayer? We open Luke 6:12–13 and notice a detail that’s easy to rush past: before choosing the Twelve, Jesus spent the entire night in prayer. That simple choice becomes a blueprint for a...
All Night Prayer? Deep Dive with Dan & Sheila
When the world finally goes quiet, what conversations become possible? We explore the surprising power of night prayer—not as a badge of honor, but as extended presence—where interference drops, honesty rises, and real change begins. Drawing fr...
Discernment as a Lifestyle | Daily Devotion (Saturday)
Ever wish you could tell the difference between a shiny half-truth and the quiet ring of the real thing? We open Hebrews 5:14 and get practical about how ordinary people train their spiritual senses to discern good from evil—not by chance, but ...
Discernment is Impossible Without the Holy Spirit | Daily Devotion (Friday)
When confusion gets loud and choices blur, we return to a promise that doesn’t waver: He will guide you into all truth. Anchored in John 16:13, we walk through what it looks like to practice discernment with the Holy Spirit—not as a rare breakt...
Discernment is Anchored in Scripture | Daily Devotion (Thursday)
When the noise gets loud and the signals get mixed, how do we know what to trust? We turn to the one source that doesn’t sway with trends: God’s Word. Pastor Robert Young leads a focused, heartfelt time on making Scripture the believer’s primar...
Discernment vs Suspicion | Daily Devotion (Wednesday)
Ever felt certain you were being “discerning” only to realize later it was fear steering the wheel? We take a deep, honest look at how true wisdom shows up in everyday decisions, using James 3:17 as our compass: pure, peace-loving, considerate,...
Discernment Test the Spirits | Daily Devotion (Tuesday)
When every feed and platform claims authority, how do we know which voice is truly from God? We open 1 John 4:1 and walk through a clear, practical framework for spiritual discernment that anyone can practice: pause first, test the source, look...
The Danger of Outsourcing Your Discernment | Daily Devotion (Monday)
What if your spiritual life has been living on borrowed batteries? We explore how to move from secondhand guidance to a steady, personal connection with God’s voice, building spiritual sensitivity through Scripture, prayer, and the Holy Spirit’...
How To Recognize Truth When Everything Feels Urgent | Meditation on Discernment
When every feed screams for your attention, how do you know what to trust? We open Scripture to Matthew 24:4—“Take heed that no man deceive you”—and move through a grounded practice of confession, breath, and worship that quiets the noise and r...
Daily Devotion: God's Peace is Given, Not Earned | Thursday
Stop chasing calm like a prize you have to earn. We take a fresh look at John 14:27 and discover why peace works best when it’s received, not manufactured. That single shift—from striving to openness—changes how we move through stress, how our ...
Daily Devotion: Letting Go of Mental Clutter | Wednesday
What if the way back to calm is not doing more, but releasing more? We slow down with a short, focused practice anchored in 1 Peter 5:7—cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you—and walk step by step from mental clutter to quiet tr...
Daily Devotion: Living the Renewed Life | Tuesday
What if the most courageous move you make today is to stop? We set aside a few quiet minutes with Pastor Robert Young to explore a simple, restorative practice: choosing stillness and trusting that God will meet us there. Instead of chasing pea...
Renew Your Mind Day 30 | God Will Carry It To Completion
The finish line isn’t the end—it’s the door you walk through. As we celebrate Day 30 of the Renew Your Mind Challenge, we reframe “completion” as the beginning of a deeper, steadier kind of change. Instead of chasing quick fixes or a single bre...
Renew Your Mind Day 29 | You Were Never Meant to Carry it Alone
What if the very thing you’re avoiding—asking for help—is the key that unlocks your healing? We dig into a countercultural idea drawn from Pastor Robert Young’s Renew Your Mind Challenge: some forms of restoration are designed to happen with an...
Renew Your Mind Day 28 | Week Four Wrap-up
Ever feel like the weight of the day is telling a story you didn’t choose? We step back and lift our eyes to a larger promise: heaven is home, and we are passing through. That single shift changes how we face stress, how we measure success, and...
Renew Your Mind Day 27 | Who Will You Tell?
Ever feel like you don’t quite fit here? We explore why that tension isn’t a flaw—it’s a calling. Anchored in John 17, we walk through Jesus’ prayer over His followers: not of the world, sent into it, sanctified by truth, and protected from evi...
Renew Your Mind Day 26 | Raised Incorruptible
What if death doesn’t get the final word? We turn to 1 Corinthians 15:51–58 and trace a line from Paul’s mystery of transformation to the everyday places where grit, hope, and love are tested. The passage announces a future when the corruptible...
Renew Your Mind Day 25 | Pilgrims of a Better Desire
Longing shapes life more than willpower ever could. We explored how 1 Peter 2:11–12 reframes our daily choices by naming us pilgrims—people on the move who carry a different appetite. Rather than pretending we don’t feel earthly pull, we acknow...
Renew Your Mind Day 24 | Eagerly Awaiting
Hope lands hardest when the body hurts, and that’s where we begin: with Paul’s promise that our true citizenship is in heaven and that Jesus will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. We explore what it means to live from tha...
Renew Your Mind Day 23 | Getting An Upgrade
Mortality is a hard teacher, but it can also be an honest guide. We open 2 Corinthians 5:1–10 and sit with Paul’s striking image of life in an “earthly tent” and the hope of a God-made, eternal home. From the first line, the contrast is clear: ...
