Prayer:

Father God, please let the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart be accept now and forever in Jesus’ name. When I pray, Lord, help me to be open my heart to You in everything in my life. I pray that all who read these studies will do the same. Lord God, open the eyes of our hearts today, and Lord, help us to choose a time to spend with You, bless it to be a good quiet time with You. Father God, penetrate our hearts with Your Word as we meditate on Your Word, and as we study these studies. Bless our time with You every time we do set aside this time for You and Your Word. AMEN.

Scripture:         Psalm 119:15, 27; Psalm 143:5; Psalm 1:2, Joshua 1:8, Titus 3:3-4.

Lesson:    “How to Meditate on God’s Word”        

Let’s repeat this! It takes more than just reading the Bible to grow spiritually. When you learn how to meditate on the Word of God, you can move into a believing faith that always receives!

Let’s look at six steps on how to mediate on God’s Word:

1.     Meditate to Focus

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. (Psalm 119:15) Whether we read the Bible in the morning, over our lunch break, or before bed at night, our schedules and responsibilities tend to assail us with distractions. In fact, distractions are a tool the enemy of our souls uses to take our eyes off Christ and to keep us from hearing God clearly in his Word.  Aleph says in Psalm 119 that he fixes his eyes on God’s ways. As wayward humans with many pursuits, temptations, and people vying for our attention, we are greatly helped by meditation, which leads us to fix our eyes on the Lord and tune out distractions…even if only for five or ten minutes. Focusing on what we are reading in the Bible provides us clarity when we enter into prayer.

Meditate to focus on how God is speaking to you through his living and active Word.

2.   Meditate to Understand

Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. (Psalm 119:27)

When we meditate on the Word of God, we seek to understand how the God of the universe is speaking: about himself, about our world, and about our own hearts. We can begin our Bible reading by praying along with the Psalmist, “Make me understand your way!” God delights to answer this prayer.

Some questions to ask during meditation include: Why is this passage important? What do I need to know? What does it say about God? What does it say about me? How does this reading point to Jesus?

Meditate to understand what God is communicating to you through his Word.

3.   Meditate to Remember

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. (Psalm 143:5)

The whole Bible is one grand story that all the way through points to Jesus Christ. When we meditate on Scripture, we do so to remember all that God has done in his great redemption story and how he sent Christ to save a people from their sin. We ponder the work of God’s hands.

Remembering in meditation may also bring us to ponder all that God has done in our own lives: how he saved us in Christ, what opportunities he is giving us to share the Good News with others, and what we have learned about who God is throughout our days.

Meditate to remember all that God has done through the gospel of grace.

4.   Meditate to Worship

…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Once we have meditated to focus, understand, and remember, we will find our hearts inclined to worship! So we pause in meditation to lift our gaze to the excellences of Jesus Christ, to take our eyes off the world, and to express to him thanksgiving and adoration when we pray. Meditation leads to delight when the Holy Spirit inclines our hearts to understand how glorious our God is.

Because of sin and its effects, there will be times when our hearts do not feel like delighting in the reading of the Bible. During these moments, the temptation is to stop reading, lose focus, and move on to other activities. So meditation is also keys to exhorting our hearts to delight in God’s Word, which is necessary for our spiritual strength and joy!

Meditate to worship the God who deserves all our thanks and praise for who he is and what he has done in Christ.

5.    Meditate to Apply

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. (Joshua 1:8)

Finally, we are better able to understand how to apply God’s Word to our lives when we slow down to meditate on it. In meditating to understand we ask, What do I need to know? Here, in applying what we read, we ask, What do I need to do?

Here’s a brief example. Let’s say you are reading Titus 3:3-4:

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray…But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…

From this passage, you might be led to confess specific ways you have gone astray or been disobedient; you might praise God for providing his undeserved loving kindness in Christ for you; and you might ask for his help in loving someone who has hurt you with the mercy you’ve received in Christ Jesus.

Our desire in meditation is to “be careful to do according to all that is written” in the Bible. Then, we bring these points of application to God in prayer, asking for spiritual strength to obey, forsake sin, humble ourselves, and walk worthy of our calling in Christ.

Meditate to apply what you have read in the Bible to your daily life and to ask for help in prayer.

6.   Meditate by the Spirit

It is no accident that the Bible often speaks about the value of meditation and its purposeful placement before the act of prayer. Consider that our time in the Word is like running a race: Meditation is the warm-up, and prayer is our sprint to the finish line. We cannot be effectual in our praying apart from engaging in the warm-up of meditation.

So what do we do when meditation seems impossible, when our focus is affected by outside circumstances and our hearts feel dulled to God’s Word?

We ask for and cling to God’s gracious help, poured out through the Holy Spirit, and if we’ve not meditated before today, we realize it is never too late to begin! For it is the Spirit who helps us in our weakness, fixing our eyes on Christ, giving us understanding, bringing to mind God’s wonderful works, filling us with joy, and leading us to walk in the truth. He is our great help and hope that we are never alone when we seek God through meditation, and he effectively prompts us to pray in response.

When you meditate on God’s Word you can discern:

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

The Apostle Paul is saying, “Get involved in what you allow to happen in your mind.” Worry and anxiety can be exchanged for the peace of God through the powerful process of thinking the right thoughts.

Meditate on the right things, and you gain the best opportunity to overcome the evil things that the enemy would offer to distract us.

The best way to get rid of bad thoughts is to replace them with good thoughts by meditating on God’s Word.

Your Assignment:   Questions:

1).      Focusing on what we are reading in the Bible provides us with what?

2).     Read Psalm 117:27, and answer these questions (Why is this passage important? What do I need to know? What does it say about God? What does it say about me? How does this reading point to Jesus?)

3).     Spend some time right now and meditate on all the good things God has done for you.

4).     What is your favor worship scripture?

5).     What should be our desire in meditation?

6).     what do we do when meditation seems impossible, when our focus is affected by outside circumstances and our hearts feel dulled to God’s Word?    

7).     Read Philippians 4:8; name and explain everything we are to think on.

8).     What can be exchanged for worry and anxiety?

9).     How to overcome the evil things the enemy bring to our minds?

10).   Meditating on God’s Word helps get rid of what?

Setting aside a time: Week # 5

Daily Exercises:      Personal Time with God

Song:

Prayer:

Write down and meditate on one of God’s Characters:

Scripture Worship:

Scripture Memory:

Scripture Reading:

Daily Devotion Reading:

God’s Promise Today:

Spiritual Goal in life:

Ultimate Goal in Life:

Daily Goal Today:

Speak it Now:

Healing Confession:

The Lord’s Prayer:

The Lord’s Supper:

Read Psalm 23:

Read Matthew 18:18

Pray Matthew 18:18 for someone:

My Personal Confession Today:

Prayer Focus:

Ending Song:

Pause:

Record what God spoke to you: