The Word: Psalm 119: 97(KJV)
97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
Dig Deeper: Psalm 119: 98(KJV)
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
Think about it
WISDOM THROUGH MEDITATION
Like we said; our focus this month is the word. The power, grace, virtue in the word.
Our text today tells us one the power of meditation.
There are about 5 ways to ingest the word:
1. Hearing / Listening
2. Reading / Studying
3. Confessing
4. Memorising
5. Meditating
Each one has an advantage for instance:
– Hearing is the barest basic. We can listen to the word in church, on cds / tapes. We should make an habit of always having the word around us. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The advantage for hearing is that the word sinks into your subconscious without you having to do much except just to listen. Anything you listen to all the time, you also believe. So hearing /listening is the basic minimum and it helps the word to be hidden in your subconscious.
– Reading takes more effort than just hearing. Studying is a deeper subset of reading. So we can just read without paying particular attention or we can study details. Study to show thyself approved unto God – 2 Timothy 2: 15. A nominal christian may just come to the church to listen but God expects a serious Christian to have a personal time of reading and studying. The Bereans Christians (Acts 17: 11) were referred to as noble because they not only received the word with an open mind but they searched the scriptures daily. Hearing is like a baby taking milk, Reading is like a baby starting to take a semi solid. Reading / studying is a sign of seriousness. Hearing gingers faith, Studying gets you grounded, so that you know yourself how to do certain things. There is a level of confidence and faith that will not come by just hearing, you need to read and study for yourself to get to that level. A christian who never studies the word will never be deep. He / she will go by political correctness or personal opinion. Reading gets us deep rooted
– Confessing is declaring what you have read. This book of the Lord shall not depart from your mouth – Joshua 1: 8. That is declaration or saying the word. What you say over and over again gets more into your subconscious. Words are spirits, Words are life, Words are creative, Words are powerful. What we say comes to pass. We create an atmosphere of the word for ourselves by saying it.
– Memorising is storing the word not only in our heart but in our brain. Memorising also makes use of confession but with the view to have it in our brain. When you confess all the time, you unconsciously memorise what you are saying. When you start to memorise, you gain more understanding of a scripture than what you had originally. In school the best way to learn is to understand but even with the understanding we are encouraged to memorise certain things like the times table so that our thought process can be faster. It is not only enough to have an understanding of God’s word, we must practise memorising.
– Meditation brings in-depth understanding. Meditation is turning over in our minds what we have heard, read, confessed or memorised. This book of the Lord shall not depart from your mouth but though shalt meditate on it day and night….. God expected Joshua to meditate at all times and that is the secret to prosperity….. The Psalmist had this to say about meditation:
Psalm 119: 99
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
If you see any man of God display great in depth of the word, I’ll tell you their secret now: They have not only being taking time to read and study, they have actually been doing a lot of meditation.
Psalm 119: 97
97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
You want a higher level of God’s wisdom. Meditation is the key
Nuggets:
Meditation is constantly being conscious of God’s word
Our memory verse for April 2018
Psalm 119: 130
130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
Let’s take a few moment to learn our memory verse for this month by heart. It can be memorised in 2 lines:
Line 1: The entrance of thy words giveth light;
Line 2: It giveth understanding unto the simple.
Once you say it a few times it will stick.
Prayer focus: Our next level prayers:
Lord help me to learn to meditate daily on your word
On the word: Recommended book
The Bible Study Methods – Rick Warren