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
341 episodes
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 ...
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4:59
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...
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3:35
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...
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4:07
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...
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4:01
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...
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18:00
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...
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5:10
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...
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5:53
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...
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6:36
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...
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5:26
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...
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4:45
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: ...
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5:43
Renew Your Mind Day 21 | Week 3 Wrap-up
What if your purpose isn’t something you find, but something you practice? We close our week on worship with a focused reflection on why praise isn’t a side ritual—it’s the center of a clear, grounded, joyful life. Pastor Young unpacks how turn...
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2:13
Renew Your Mind Day 20 | Worship Shapes How You Live
What if worship didn’t start with a song but with your next choice? We open Colossians 3:17 and take it off the page, asking how a life—every task, reply, errand, and pause—can be done in the name of Jesus. Instead of chasing a feeling, we lean...
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2:15
Renew Your Mind Day 19 | Worship is Gratitude
When life speeds up, worry gets loud. We slow the moment and return to a simple anchor: give thanks in all circumstances. Drawing from First Thessalonians 5:18, we explore how gratitude is not about denying pain but about recognizing God’s stea...
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2:05
Renew Your Mind Day 18 | Worship is Surrender
What if the most courageous move you make today is to stop striving? We open Psalm 46:10—“Be still and know that I am God”—and step into a practice of worship that looks less like effort and more like surrender. Instead of pushing harder, we ex...
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2:20
Renew Your Mind Day 17 | Worship Renews the Mind
What if focus was not a fight, but a return? We open Romans 12:2 and walk through a simple, repeatable worship practice that draws scattered thoughts back to center. Instead of wrestling with distraction on its terms, we lift our gaze and let t...
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2:04
Renew Your Mind Day 16 | Worship Begins with Awe
If your days feel noisy and your soul feels rushed, this short, guided moment offers a gentle reset. We open with Psalm 95:6—“Come, let us bow down in worship”—and explore how reverence begins when we slow our pace and finally notice God’s beau...
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2:29
Renew Your Mind Day 15 | Worship is Your Identity
Start with the life-changing claim of 1 Peter 2:9: you are chosen, royal, holy, and set apart to declare the One who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. That identity reshapes everything. We walk through confession, praise, and pra...
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11:24
Renew Your Mind Day 14 | Dual Citizenship
Power does not need to shout to be real. We walk through a focused recap of five shifts that help us live with heaven’s instincts in a world addicted to noise, climbing, and control. Drawing from John 18:36, we start with origin and authority: ...
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5:50
Renew Your Mind Day 13 | New Standard of Justice
Ever feel like your spiritual life is a treadmill you can’t step off? We take a close look at Ephesians 2:8–9 and the simple, liberating claim that salvation is a gift—grace received through faith, not wages earned by our works. That shift chal...
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2:06
Renew Your Mind Day 12 | New Standard of Thinking
What if the pressure to fit in is the very thing stealing your clarity, peace, and purpose? We open Romans 12:2 and get practical about resisting conformity and embracing genuine transformation by the renewal of your mind. This isn’t about with...
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2:12
Renew Your Mind Day 11 | New Standard of Love
The urge to hit back feels natural, even fair. But what if the most powerful move you can make against harm is the one that refuses to mirror it? We walk through Matthew 5:43–44 and explore a hard but freeing practice: loving your enemies and p...
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2:15
Renew Your Mind Day 10 | New Standard of Security
Anxiety feeds on the lie that security comes from what we can hold, hide, or hoard. We open Matthew 6:31–33 and face that lie head-on, contrasting the world’s scarcity script with Jesus’ promise that the Father knows our needs and adds what mat...
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