Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Kindle
$9.99

Available instantly

Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial

Paperback
$12.99

Audio CD
$24.04

Buy new:

$12.99

List Price: $18.00

Save: $5.01 (28%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, March 25 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Select delivery location

In Stock

$$12.99 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$17.77
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: solomonsminebooks

Follow the author

David W. Saxton

Follow

God's Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation Paperback – December 7, 2020

by David W. Saxton (Author)

4.7 407 ratings

See all formats and editions

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

View Kindle Edition

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$12.99","priceAmount":12.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"EnZvKnd8SLIhy%2FzG6%2FmFXP1KAzl4GanRQ8nAVNKADtIvuRvV2REnYYmb58b20SyC6bDuoDDcpGX1d8BkqGVEBO31Sj%2B3jQ%2B14T7kZH5dTsUbrLhgLKQL941UxwOrnFcMMCgrSy%2BibuX%2Bp4rA2iyq8Q%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

During the seventeenth century, English Puritan pastors often encouraged their congregations in the spiritual discipline of meditating on God and His Word. Today, however, much of evangelicalism is either ignorant of or turned off to the idea of meditation. In God's Battle Plan for the Mind, pastor David Saxton seeks to convince God's people of the absolute necessity for personal meditation and motivate them to begin this work themselves. But he has not done this alone. Rather, he has labored through numerous Puritan works in order to bring together the best of their insights on meditation. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Saxton teaches us how to meditate on divine truth and gives valuable guidance about how to rightly pattern our thinking throughout the day. With the rich experiential theology of the Puritans, this book lays out a course for enjoying true meditation on God's Word.

Table of Contents:
1. The Importance of Recovering the Joyful Habit of Biblical Meditation
2. Unbiblical Forms of Meditation
3. Defining Biblical Meditation
4. Occasional Meditation
5. Deliberate Meditation
6. The Practice of Meditation
7. Important Occasions for Meditation
8. Choosing Subjects for Meditation
9. The Reasons for Meditation
10. The Benefits of Meditation
11. The Enemies of Meditation
12. Getting Started: Beginning the Habit of Meditation
Conclusion: Thoughts on Meditation and Personal Godliness

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Reformation Heritage Books
Publication date

December 7, 2020
Dimensions

6 x 0.4 x 8.9 inches
ISBN-10

160178371X
ISBN-13

978-1601783714
See all details

Frequently bought together

God's Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation

$12.99

Get it as soon as Monday, Mar 25

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

$24.22

Get it as soon as Saturday, Mar 23

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

+

Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans (Prayers of the Church)

$17.49

Get it as soon as Saturday, Mar 23

In Stock

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Try again!

Details

Added to Cart

Choose items to buy together.

Nate Pickowicz
564
Paperback
65 offers from $3.05
Robert Elmer
1,040
Hardcover
69 offers from $15.62
Tim Chester
53
Hardcover
46 offers from $9.78
Donald S. Whitney
2,473
Paperback
120 offers from $5.08
Randall J. Pederson
254
Imitation Leather
24 offers from $13.23
Joel R. Beeke
231
Hardcover
54 offers from $34.45

Editorial Reviews

Review

The popular conception of meditation has become so badly misshapen by mysticism, New Age influences, and Eastern religious notions that some otherwise sound Christians today seem to recoil from any mention of meditation as a necessary spiritual exercise. But nothing is more vital or more beneficial for understanding the truth and growing in sanctification than quiet, careful, focused reflection on the words and the meaning of Scripture. That's what the word meditation means in the Bible. No less than six times in Psalm 119 alone, the psalmist says I will meditate on the precepts, promises, and principles of God's Word. The Puritans had much to say about biblical meditation and the important role it plays in a sanctified thought life. Dave Saxton has written an extremely helpful and encouraging digest of some of the best Puritan teaching on the subject. You need to get a copy, read it, put its principles into practice, and be transformed by the renewal of your mind. --John MacArthur, pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California, and president of the Master s College and Seminary

From the Back Cover

During the seventeenth century, English Puritan pastors often encouraged their congregations in the spiritual discipline of meditating on God and His Word. Today, however, much of evangelicalism is either ignorant of or turned off to the idea of meditation. In God's Battle Plan for the Mind, pastor David Saxton seeks to convince God's people of the absolute necessity for personal meditation and motivate them to begin this work themselves. But he has not done this alone. Rather, he has labored through numerous Puritan works in order to bring together the best of their insights on meditation. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Saxton teaches us how to meditate on divine truth and gives valuable guidance about how to rightly pattern our thinking throughout the day. With the rich experiential theology of the Puritans, this book lays out a course for enjoying true meditation on God's Word.

"The popular conception of meditation has become so badly misshapen by mysticism, New Age influences, and Eastern religious notions that some otherwise sound Christians today seem to recoil from any mention of meditation as a necessary spiritual exercise. But nothing is more vital or more beneficial for understanding the truth and growing in sanctification than quiet, careful, focused reflection on the words and the meaning of Scripture. That's what the word meditation means in the Bible. No less than six times in Psalm 119 alone, the psalmist says 'I will meditate' on the precepts, promises, and principles of God's Word. The Puritans had much to say about biblical meditation and the important role it plays in a sanctified thought life. Dave Saxton has written an extremely helpful and encouraging digest of some of the best Puritan teaching on the subject. You need to get a copy, read it, put its principles into practice, and 'be transformed by the renewal of your mind.'" John MacArthur

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Reformation Heritage Books (December 7, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 160178371X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1601783714
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.4 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #50,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #203 in Devotionals
- #554 in Christian Devotionals (Books)
- #1,610 in Christian Spiritual Growth (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.7 407 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

Important information

To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

David W. Saxton

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

407 global ratings

2 star

0%

1 star

1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

C

Place your thoughts on eternal things

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2024

Verified Purchase

I quite enjoyed this book. In a society filled with the now and present anxieties of life, this book challenges you to think on God and His word. A thoughtful and smart encouragement to the believer.

Helpful

William D. Perkins

A needed corrective with practical helps to the unbiblical forms of contemplative prayer being practiced by Christians today.

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

In our day, Christians are much more apt to be familiar with Yoga and eastern meditative practices than with biblical meditation. While some discerning Christians can utilize the positive benefits of Yoga without becoming involved in unbiblical forms of meditation, few really know how to engage in biblical meditation.

When I researched the subject of biblical meditation several years ago, the best I came up with is some good material by Edmund Clowney (Christian Meditation, Reagent College Publishing) , but I did not find anything that helped me overcome some of the hurdles in beginning a regular practice of biblical meditation. Well, now I have it. The Puritans give me exactly what I need and what you need to know and to engage profitably in the practice of biblical meditation.

The author’s goal in writing this book is “to convince God’s people of the absolute necessity of personal meditation.” His aim is to motivate and to teach people how to do this in a biblical way. He draws heavily on the scriptures and on the “rich spiritual experience of Puritans who were committed to practicing spiritual meditation.”

Chapter 1 covers the importance of recovering the habit of biblical meditation. Drawing on the Puritans he says “Divine meditation has a multifaceted value. It provides us spiritual discernment; improves our Bible reading and prayer lives; applies the general truths of the Bible personally and specifically; strengthens our hearts by focusing on spiritual truths; and provides lasting benefit from dwelling on the truths we know.” In this and later chapters he adds much detail to these values.

Chapter 2 covers unbiblical forms of meditation. “Modern Christians have neglected the biblical practice of meditation to such an extent that many believe the entire practice is based in a pagan or Far Eastern religious concept. Certainly, when people speak about meditation today, they usually are not referencing the biblical practice. Thus, this chapter will identify and explain the common false notions of meditation.”

Chapter 3 defines and examines biblical meditation in the Old Testament, the New Testament and in the Puritans. I counted 42 Puritans in the Bibliography, so this chapter is well documented with a generous number of quotes to clarify the Puritan view.

Chapters 4 and 5 give definition to Occasional and Deliberate Meditation and spell out the benefits, dangers and proper use of each.

Chapter 6 is one of the most useful chapters in the book. As the Puritans were always quite detailed in their examination of things, so too are they in spelling out how to practice meditation. What follows is an outline of chapter 6.
The Best Time of Day for Meditation
The Best Place for Meditation
The Amount of Time Necessary for Meditation
The Importance of Consistency in Meditation
Steps in Beginning Effective Meditation
Praying for the Spirit’s Help for Fervency
Choosing a Scriptural Thought by Bible Reading
Questioning, Considering, and Examining Oneself
Concluding with Personal Application, Resolution, and Prayer

Chapter 7 has extended discussions on important occasions for meditation.

Chapter 8 provides needed help in choosing subjects for meditation.

Chapter 9 is a very convincing chapter exploring the reasons why each believer should be regularly meditating upon God, His Word, and His works.

Chapter 10 considers eight benefits and blessings of cultivating a life of meditation.

Chapter 11 identifies the impediments and hindrances to meditation and gives suggestions for overcoming them.

Chapter 12 gets you started in developing the habit of meditation.

In the Conclusion author David Saxton takes a look at how the practice of meditation in the Christian life becomes a joy rather than a burden.

The Bibliography is a wonderful resource of primary and secondary Puritan Sources.
One of the strengths of this book is its fair and detailed handling of unbiblical forms of meditation, particularly Roman Catholic Spirituality, mysticism and contemplative prayer. While the following quote is rather long, it is worth reading.

“One further caution should be made regarding a more recent, popular movement within broad evangelical circles called contemplative worship or prayer. Similar to traditional Roman Catholic mysticism, contemplative prayer is an unbiblical form of meditation that seeks a spiritual experience through some kind of existential encounter with God apart from His written revelation. Though not a new danger, many evangelicals have begun to fall prey to the false idea of maintaining spiritual communion with the Lord apart from His ordained means of the Bible and prayer. The contemplative prayer movement seeks to experience God’s voice apart from His written Word. This movement is a product of a larger evangelical departure from an absolute conviction in the sufficiency of Scripture. It does not use Scripture alone to address the spiritual needs of the inner person. These various fads of spirituality that minimize Scripture have come and gone over the centuries, but truth remains the same: “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day” (Ps. 119:97) and “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). We should heed the counsel of Thomas Manton: “Do not try to pry further than God hath revealed; your thoughts must be still bounded by the word. There is no duty that a fanatic brain is more apt to abuse than meditation…. Do not leave bread and wine and gnaw upon a stone.””

As the publisher says: “With the rich experiential theology of the Puritans, this book lays out a course for enjoying true meditation on God’s Word.”

33 people found this helpful

Helpful

Milton Quintanilla

A lost art....

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Biblical meditation has become a lost art today. Yet it is prevalent throughout Scripture as a necessity for Christians. Why? because how we think affects our actions and feelings. And due to our sinful flesh, we are prone to meditate and act on what is sinful (i.e lust, anger, etc). So biblical meditation is needed to help us grow spiritually. And that’s what David Saxton’s seeks to address in this book.

Saxton seeks to reconcile biblical meditation, demonstrating the Puritans example in doing so. This book is chock full of Puritan quotes, demonstrating their vast knowledge on the subject. Books and sermons were written so that biblical meditation would develop as a daily practice. Some of the main goals is to develop deeper fellowship with God and put God’s Word into action.

What I enjoyed about this book is the great emphasis the Puritans made on biblical meditation. They made the effort to meditate on Scripture in their every day walks. Quite the contrary, today’s Christians can’t even spend 5 minutes in God’s Word, much less meditate on it. Reading this book would make one repent from such complacency.

Aside from defining and addressing the importance of biblical meditation, application is also stressed. For instance, choosing a time every day to meditate and try to do it at the same time. Also the length of meditation, which the Puritans split twofold: 1) spontaneous (throughout the day ) and 2) deliberate mediation (planned/set time). It is suggested in studying a verse Scripture then creating application . It’s best to consider context first lest the verse or passage is taken out of context. Additionally, the benefits and obstacles to meditation are addressed.

Overall, this book is probably the best book I’ve read on biblical meditation. One cannot help but desire to meditate in reading this book. Is it easy? No. That’s the challenge since we face distractions every day. Yet biblical meditation must not be neglected but emphasized as much as possible. It is more than random thinking but how the Scripture applies to our lives? As Christians, we must take that into consideration.

Highlights

“What does it mean to meditate? It means to think personally, practically, seriously, and earnestly on how the truth of God’s Word should look in life.”

“Why is meditation so neglected when it is so important and delightful? Simply put, meditation is difficult work—work that is opposed by the distracting spirit of our age, our adversary the devil, and the carnal raging of our hearts. Since modern Christianity stresses an instant, easy kind of spirituality, it is not difficult to see why the practice of meditation is so often neglected.”

“Without a return to the delightful duty of biblical meditation, the believer will continue to handle God’s Word merely intellectually. He will fail to digest the Scriptures to make them his daily walk and practice.”

“Why have the past few generations of believers not focused on biblical meditation? Although we could answer this question in different ways, the primary reason is a lack of confidence in God’s Word to sufficiently deal with the issues, problems, and temptations that believers face.”

“Just as there would be no true healing from a surgery without a serious commitment to physical rest, so there is no spiritual healing without a commitment to meditation.”

“Without meditation the truth of God will not stay with us; the heart is hard, and the memory slippery, and without meditation all is lost; meditation imprints and fastens a truth in the mind…. As a hammer drives a nail to the head, so meditation drives a truth to the heart. Without meditation the word preached may increase notion, not affection.”

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

love it so much

Reviewed in India on May 8, 2023

Verified Purchase

This book really helped with my battle with prayerlessness. I’m so thankful to the author who has beautifully and concisely included the work of the Puritans in his book.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Practical

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2019

Verified Purchase

Nothing airy here: it's a 'go, do' sort of book with lots of examples and (even better, to my mind) oodles of references. The language is (mostly) modern and reads smoothly. If the size of this book intimidates, but the subject appeals, go find Joel Beeke's pamphlet on the same subject.

One person found this helpful

MandyKay

Excellent reference book

Reviewed in Australia on January 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

An informative handbook on meditating on Gods truth. It is well written and you come away with a better understanding, and why it is important to include meditating on Gods Word in our daily lives - a much overlooked practice in our modern world. Highly recommended.

Paul Dirks

Great Survey of Puritan Teaching on Meditation

Reviewed in Canada on April 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

Great and helpful survey on the Puritan's teaching and practice on scriptural meditation. You don't get much from the author himself, but perhaps this is not a bad thing. It seems like three quarters of the book is quotations. As far as a topical survey of a highly important discipline among those who had experience in practice, it succeeds admirably. I have been blessed in my own walk with the Lord Jesus through this book and have been led back to original sources and great secondary readings.

Erica

Good selection of Puritan work on biblical meditation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

I was expecting more from the book than just passages from other authors put together. But it helped a lot with my essay on meditation.

See more reviews

Buy new:

$12.99

Return this item for free

Other Sellers on Amazon

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

God's Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation Paperback – December 7, 2020

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Similar items that may ship from close to you

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the author

David W. Saxton

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Prime includes:

Buy new: $12.99

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the author

God's Battle Plan for the Mind: The Puritan Practice of Biblical Meditation Paperback – December 7, 2020

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

Similar items that may ship from close to you

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the Back Cover

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Important information

About the author

David W. Saxton

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$12.99