Meditating On God's Word

©       What Does It mean to Meditate on Scripture?

Meditate means:  to think, reflect, contemplate one’s thoughts on, to reflect or ponder over a thought…. A discourse intended to express or ponder on the Author’s reflections.

Hebrews 4:12-13 says “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  God’s word is alive an active – We need to first understand that meditation is first and foremost a living, growing relationship with Christ through the transforming power of His Word.  Meditating on scripture is not an intellectual study, it is pondering over the Author’s words.  This spiritual exercise involves the following components:

©       Select a Section of Scripture.

©       Read The Passage Several Times.

§  Read with your spirit, not just your mind.  What do I mean by this?  Let the Spirit guide your thoughts.  Wait upon him as you read the verse over and over.

©       Mark Verses Or Words That Stand Out to You.

§  As you read, the Holy Spirit will cause certain verses or words to stand out to you with special meaning.  Put a mark by these verses or words so that you can come back to them.

©       Focus/Emphasis On One Word at a Time.

§  There is a vast world of truth and meaning in each word of Scripture, because “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  II Tim 3:16

§  By focusing on each word in the sequences of the verse, we expand our understanding of its meaning and increase our ability to think God’s thoughts after Him.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Is 55:9

§  Where possible and appropriate, personalize the passage.  This is done by using the words I, my and me rather than he or they.

©       Use Scripture to Talk With God.

§  Lord your word says “in all things give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning - me so Lord while I am in this situation I am choose to thank you for it.  Your word also says you will use all things (including this) for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose.  Lord, I do love you and I chose right now to trust that you will use this very thing for my good.  Your word also says that heaven and earth will pass away before your word passing away – your word is truer than anything I am feeling or experiences right now.  I am choosing to believe your Word over my feelings or experiences.

©       Some Verses To Meditate on:

Phil 4:8  “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

Romans 12:2  “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

1 Peter 1:13- 16  “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.   But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

IS 26:3-4  “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.  Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD , the LORD , is the Rock eternal.

Lam 3:21-22  “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Matt 22:37  “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

2 Tim 1:7  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Discerning the voice of God

It should not be a surprise for me to say that I am learning to discern the voice of God in my life.

Recently, I have heard the Lord say several times that the church needs to be ready for a wedding.  I thought it was strange but I made a note of it in my journal.  My thought was that my local church needed to be ready to provide a wedding to a couple that may not be able to provide for themselves.

I was traveling home from a business trip and again felt the sense that we needed to be ready for a wedding.  I again made note of it in margin of my study and proceeded to do my bible study.

The topic of my study that afternoon was titled "God's interconnected voice" and the verse was Hebrews 10:24-25.

"Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching." 

The big Day represents Christ's wedding day when He return to take his bride (the church) to be with him.  How cool is that.  I thought to myself, confirmation that my church should be ready to put on a wedding.

The study went on to say...  "God speaks through the church.  When God allows you to see a need in your local church that tugs at your heart or continues to be a recurring thought, don't be afraid to take this to God for further direction.  If God is speaking to you through the church to accomplish His plans, you will notice a pattern in your Bible study and circumstances that point you in the same direction."

"Ok Lord, I hear you!" I thought.  As soon as the flight landed at the layover airport, I texted my campus pastor the following text message.  "Mike - you may think I'm crazy but I have been feeling the Lord say (for the past few weeks) that there needs to be a wedding at City Church.  I'm not sure which location so I haven't said anything and to be honest I thought I was crazy...  Anyway, I sensed it again today and my quiet time confirmed that I should share this with you.  Can you please pray about it and seek Him.  Please only act if God leads you to.  It is not my job to figure it out but just my job to listen and obey.  If it is truly form God, He will work out the details.  He will make Himself known and will be Glorified to please don't act unless He tells you to.  This is all about Him."

I proceeded to my next flight and sat in a window seat.  During my flight, the sunset was beautiful so I took my phone out and took a photo.  A little while later, we flew over NYC and I got this great photo too!

The next day I went to church and the sermon was about marriage and the role of the husband and wife.  My pastor used the example of an airplane and how men are the wings of a plane that direct the family and women are the body of the plane that provides safety and gives the husband a new view out of the window on their circumstances.  He then linked marriage back to Christ and the church and the big wedding day approaching.

How cool is that!  Needless to say, I cried... and then stood in awe of the voice of God in my life.

Promises...

I was on my way to work feeling tired, overwhelmed and discouraged...

I started to pray.  I prayed, "God, please give me strength to get through this day and the spiritual eyes to see you all around me.  I really need you to go before me and give me your favor at work.  Would you show me a glimpse of your Glory."  Before I could finish my sentence, I turned on to the Merritt Parkway and right in front of me was this rainbow. 

 

 

  

The rainbow stayed right in front of me, leading me all the way until it was my exit from the parkway.  The rainbow lasted approx. 4 miles!  God is so awesome!

All we need to do is ask...  He will show up!

 

Nine days later I would be told my career path would be changing.  As a result, I am on a ropes course of trust with God.  To be transparent, I tend to struggle to stay positive and when I do, I remind myself of the rainbow... That beautiful rainbow leading my path and reminding me that God keeps His promises!

 

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43: 18 - 19

Engrave God’s Word in our Hearts - part 2

Here is another cool "God story" I want to document.  This one took place last summer when I volunteered at a prayer tent during SoulFest in New Hampshire.  For three days, a group of volunteers prayed over people as they came in with prayer requests.

One young lady came into the tent looking for prayer but wouldn’t provide us any specifics on what she wanted us to pray about.  My friend started to pray and I sat in silence.  While she was praying, the thought of an engraved silver ring came to my mind.  I tried to dismiss the thought but it stayed in my mind and on my heart.  As a result, I opened my eyes and looked to see if this young lady had a ring on her finger.  I could see all but two of her fingers and I did not see a ring.  In fact, I didn’t see any jewelry on the young lady so I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my friend’s prayer.  Again, the thought of an engraved silver ring came to my mind.  This time I opened my eyes and thought maybe she has a tattoo.  I saw no tattoo.

When my friend finished praying she nudge me and asked if I had anything to share.  I said, “No.”  She said “Are you sure?” I said, “Yes.” but then immediately changed my mind.  I asked the young lady if she had a silver ring.  She said yes and showed me one of the fingers that was hidden.  I looked at the ring but didn’t see an engraving on it so I thought I was wrong.  My friend nudged me and I asked her, “Is the ring engraved?”  She said, “Yes” and flipped her hand over so that the palm was facing up.  There engraved on the ring was the word “Faith.”  I felt the Lord tell me to have her turn the ring so that the word “Faith” was visible for the world to see.  I then shared about my earlier post on “Engrave God’s Word in our Hearts.”  See the link below.  http://gigglesgiggling.blogspot.com/2009/01/engrave-gods-word-in-our-hearts.html

God is so awesome!  God is a live and He actively wants to talk to us!

Harsh words to live by...

1 Cor 5:11-13  says “...you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.”

I came across these verses while listening to a sermon by Andy Stanley called Guardrails.  Guardrails are there to provide protection and to keep us from veering off the road.  When I first heard him refer to these verses, I thought he was being harsh and misinterpreting what God had intended.  In his sermon series, he challenged me to stop flirting with disaster and establish some personal guardrails. 

Does God really mean that we must not associate and have absolutely nothing to do with someone who claims to be a brother or sister and participates in these types of behaviors?  God even goes as far as to say "do not even eat with such people!"  WOW!  Those are harsh words.  My heart wants to say, "But what about mercy?  What about grace?"

So I dug a little deeper...

• Sexually immoral - relations outside of marriage
• Greedy – having or showing a continual selfish desire
• Idolater - a person that admires intensely and often blindly one that is not usually a subject of worship
• Slanderer - to harm the reputation of someone else
• Drunkard - one who is habitually drunk
• Swindler - to take something from someone by using tricks and careful words

Does He really tell us to judge those inside the church?  If so, what are we to judge each other against? What are we to look for?  The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  What God is saying is that if we don’t see fruit, then these people really are not God’s disciples and we are to have nothing to do with them.  God says, you will know they are mine by their love.

I Cor 13 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.”

Harsh words that I honestly struggle to understand and live by...

Walls of Jericho

On July 16^th 2015, I woke up at 2:55 am by the voice of God.  I know it sounds crazy but… I very clearly heard the Lord tell me to circle my friend seven times like the wall of Jericho.  Each time I was to circle him, I was to say “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” and place my hand on his heart, then circle him again.  After the seventh time, I was to tell him that God wants him to know I was trustworthy.

Interesting I thought to myself but there is one problem...  My friend left the day before for a two week vacation to Greece with his sister.  Crazy as it sounds, I immediately texted my mentor and asked her what she thought.  She suggested I pray over it.

I started to pray and Ieven envision myself circling around my friend seven times, doing what God had asked me to do.  Without exaggeration, I must have prayed this in my head at least 30 to 35 times a day.  Still the relentless voice of God did not depart.  So I continued to pray.

When he returned from vacation, we met up and I teasingly told him about the “dream” and how I have been visualized myself circling around him when praying for him.  I told him everything except for the part where God said He wanted him to know I was trustworthy.  Instead, I told my friend God wanted him to know people were trustworthy.

Why was I not honest?  I was afraid.  Afraid of what he would think… Afraid of being misunderstood… Afraid of being vulnerable…  My pride got in the way.

I had massage appointment so we parted ways for about two hours.  As I lay on the table, I clearly heard the Lord say, “That is not what I told you to do!”  When we met up again, I immediately told him, I wasn’t completely honest about the dream.  God wants you to know I am trustworthy.  “Whew!” I thought to myself.  “I did it!  I am done!  I can now move on!”

That night as I was trying to fall asleep, I heard the Lord say, “That is not what I told you to do!”  I responded back, “Lord, are you actually asking me to physically circle him seven times.  You have got to be kidding me – that’s crazy!  Na, you are not really asking me to do that!  Are you?!?”

The following week, my bible study was based on hearing the voice of God and fully obeying His leading and the strongholds/lies that get in the way of following His voice. By the third day, I knew I needed to physically circle my friend.  I immediately contacted him and told him and he graciously responded, “Ok, let’s do it!”  We met up and I did it.  I actually circled him seven times!  I was nerve and to be honest, I forgot to place my hand on his heart each time and I forgot to tell him God wanted him to know I was trustworthy.

My friend has not confirmed that circling him like the wall of Jericho meant anything to him and I realizing it is not my job to figure it out.  It’s my job to listen and obey.  God just wants my full and immediate obedience.  With that said, two days later, I was finishing my week’s lesson and watched the video associated with the homework.  The study was about fully obeying God’s leading and replacing the negative thoughts/strongholds with God’s truths.  The video used the example of the “walls” tumbling down when we replace the negative thoughts, with God’s scripture.  I forwarded the video to my friend.  For me this was confirmation, that I heard the voice of God.

Here is the question…  Did my friend miss out on God’s blessing because I didn’t immediately respond, didn’t fully and immediately obey?

If God loves you enough to die for you... He loves you enough to talk to you!

I was in Grand Cayman on vacation.  My morning quiet time was based on the truth that God loves us enough to communicate to us.  "Great reminder" I thought to myself and moved on with my day of snorkeling, sun bathing and reading.

Within a short period of time, God put in front of me a heart shaped piece of coral.  I immediately thanked Him for the visualization that He loves me.

 

The next morning, when I sent snorkeling, I looked down and saw a heart shaped shell.  Another wonderful reminder that He loves me...

A short period later, I was heading back to the room and in the sand was a heart shaped shell.  I thought to myself, "You can't make this stuff!"  It was again, God reminding me that He loves me.  God loves me enough to talk to me!

God loves you enough to talk to you too!

 

Go ahead... I dare you! 

Ask God for the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear Him speak to you!

 

Don't be surprised when He does!