Meditation Workshop

59:49 Teaching begins

Notes

I would like to encourage you to pursue your relationship with God in His word. God gives His life through His word. This is a big part of learning to endure until God fulfills His great promise.

I’d like to show you how I meditate. I found I don’t meditate like other people. But at least I can give you a place for you to start.

1. I want to start by explaining that meditation is how you inwardly receive God’s word.

A. You might be nervous, like we’re going to sit around and chant “om”.

1. That’s Eastern meditation. That is supposed to kill the mind and empty it so something else can take its place. It’s not biblical.

2. God invented biblical meditation and it’s healthy and good for you. We are supposed to love the Lord our God with all our mind. So we use our mind and fill it with His word and think on it.

B. Biblical meditation is like digestion.

1. You chew food and swallow it.

2. Your body adds enzymes and acids and breaks down the food into the simplest elements.

3. Then your body absorbs those elements and they become part of you. You really are what you eat.

C. One of those simple elements that you absorb is glucose, blood sugar. That’s your fuel.

1. How you absorb that is complicated. Your body releases a hormone called insulin that tells your cells to take in the blood sugar.

2. There is a disorder where your body stops making insulin. Nothing else has changed. You still chew and swallow. Your body still digests perfectly. Your blood system is full of blood sugar. Without insulin the cells do not take in all that blood sugar. It stays in the blood stream and it is destructive to the body. So the kidneys filter out the blood sugar and you urinate it out.

3. When that happens it’s like you never ate at all. Your fuel didn’t go into you, it went right through you. You starve to death.

4. At this point you have to start injecting insulin into you to get the blood sugar into your cells. You have to complete the last step bringing the fuel into the deepest part of you or you will die. There is no other way to do this. There is no substitute for insulin.

D. Here is how this affects us. It’s possible to read the Bible and feel like you haven’t read it. You study it, chew it up and swallow it. You can intellectually grasp what it says. But it still doesn’t change your life because it only goes through you and not into your heart. Have you ever felt like you don’t get anything out of the Bible? This is frustrating and discouraging.

E. The good news is, you are not broken. You complete the last step of receiving the word of God into your heart by meditating on it.

2. So how do you meditate?

A. Pick a book of the Bible. Meditate through it. Pick another book. Meditate through that. Do that for the rest of your life. Don’t worry about making a mistake in choosing a book. You can pray and ask God to guide you. Just don’t pick Song of Solomon for your first book.

B. Read it to become familiar with it.

C. Then take the first verse or section of verses and think on it. You can make this simple or complicated. Some people pray through the scriptures, like Georg Müller. I seem to be a little more complicated. I can’t meditate on something I don’t understand. I can’t think on “bla bla.” What does that mean?

D. So all I can do is tell you what I do and then you see if it helps you get started.

1. I write down what I think in a notebook. It helps me focus. It helps me clarify what I’m thinking. You can see patterns of meaning as you write them. The pen is the scalpel of the mind. You can really grasp things as you write about them. Typing into a keyboard doesn’t do the same thing. They’ve done studies that show you don’t process things with a keyboard like you do when you write with a pen. Plus I can see what I’ve thought and pick up the thread the next day. I have a record of what I’ve thought. It’s really helpful.

2. I like to look up words in a dictionary. I can’t think about a word when I don’t know what it means. My thinking is fuzzy. A dictionary sharpens my thoughts and helps me to grow in understanding. Even if I think I know what a word means I look it up. There might be something that I’ve never considered. Who knows? This is an ongoing education.

3. I ask questions. What’s that mean? What is that there for? Why say it that way, negatively instead of positively? Why is that a question and not a statement? I write that down. And eventually I get answers.

4. I pray. Meditation is like praying. You talk to God, you listen. You get an insight, you praise God. You thank Him, you worship Him, you pray for yourself and for others. It happens naturally as you meditate.

5. I meditate on a verse until I feel like moving on to the next verse. There’s no need to rush through this. In fact, it’s really fun to spend time with God and not worry about rushing. I have time limits, everybody does. But for a little while it’s like there is no time and I’m on vacation. It’s like taking a vacation every morning.

6. If I am reminded of another scripture then I might look that up and write it down. I might even meditate on that for a while. That’s why you don’t have to worry about which book of the Bible you pick. You’ll probably be led to other parts as well. It’s all part of the exercise to think through God’s word.

7. I do this everyday because I want to continually receive from God. That’s what it says in Psalm 1—you meditate in the law of the Lord day and night. I meditate when I go on vacation. I want a break from work but I don’t want a break from life. Sometimes I get distracted from meditating. I’ll read something other than my Bible, jump on the internet, lose my morning. Okay. That means the first thing I read in the morning is my Bible.

8. I don’t do this because I’m a pastor. Or because I have to do a study. I do it for me alone. I do it because I’m a person. I did this before I became a pastor. This is “me” time with God. I need God! If I had not meditated I would have quit and probably died. I know this will give you endurance and encouragement.

3. How do you start?

A. Start out small. You don’t run a marathon your first time running. Try five minutes every day. If you can do that try ten minutes. As you do it everyday you are practising learning, humility, self-denial, and humility.

B. The devil will try to discourage you. If you meditate he knows he will lose. So all hell will break loose in your life. Don’t let anything keep you from meditating. I used to quit all the time. Then I got convicted that I needed to meditate so I’d get back to it. I finally said, “Help me meditate or kill me.” Either way, I win. So now I meditate.

C. Along with meditating read through the Bible. You read to become familiar with the Bible. You meditate in order to understand it. The more familiar you are with the Bible the more the Holy Spirit can lead you to areas that can give understanding. If you haven’t read it, He can’t guide you. I read two chapters of the NT in the morning and two of the OT in the evening. That means I read the NT twice a year and the OT once a year. In ten years I’ll read the NT 20 times and the OT 10 times. It helps to become familiar with the Bible. And even while you read the Bible can start talking to you. Just stop and listen, and meditate. When God speaks I want to listen.

D. Don’t worry about receiving powerful revelations from God. He speaks in a still small voice. My daughter was beginning to meditate and she said, “I’m not getting anything, Dad.” “Well love, don’t worry about it. Just keep going.” And I pray: God! Please help her! One day she said, “Dad, I got something from God.” “Great! What was it?” “It wasn’t anything big.” “Well, what did He say?” “He told me that He loved me.” That’s important. You can hear all day that God loves you and it doesn’t mean anything. But when God tells you He loves you, you believe it.

E. Our problem is we know lots about God but we don’t believe it in our heart. When we meditate on the Bible God will write the truth on our heart with His finger and it is permanent. It changes and transforms us. So wait on God. Depend on Him to speak. Pray for a listening heart.

4. Then you will be like a tree.

A. The word of God will be a source of wisdom, insight and understanding. You are putting what is true and certain in your heart, where your fears and doubts live.You will change from trusting in yourself to trusting in God. That builds your endurance.

B. There will be an overflow from your life to others. You will be able to tell people what you have learned and experienced with God. When you build up yourself you can build up others so they also endure. That overflow of life to others encourages you and brings joy.

C. Psalm 1 says as you meditate on the word day and night, whatever you do shall prosper. You will endure.

I’m done. Are there any questions?