Joshua 1:8 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; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Prov 4:20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body 23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
Meditation means “the act of focusing one’s thoughts: to ponder, think on, muse, reflect, contemplate, babble, mutter, imagine .Some synonyms would be contemplation, reflection, rumination, deep thinking, or remembering in the sense of keeping or calling something to mind for the purpose of consideration, reflection, or meditation.
To murmur; to converse with oneself, and hence aloud; speak; talk; communication; mutter; babbling; roar; mourn; to study; pray; imagine. This turns the logos written word into the rhema spoken word .From head knowledge to personal experience.
Meditation is going over and over something in your mind, drawing the truth from it. As time goes on, because of the constant repetition, your brain learns that this is something important to you, and stores the information instead of shredding it.
Meditating on the word of God is interacting with the Spirit of God. If you don’t repeat the Word regularly then your brain will not treat the revelation you acquire as something that’s important or valuable to you. If that happens, you risk losing it.
I want to encourage you, if you want to benefit from encounters with God, write them down. Journal everything so that you can go back to it, review it, meditate upon it, and draw further revelation. You can also revisit the experience.
The more we repeat experiences, the more our brain learns to value and store those experiences, rather than forgetting and shredding the memories.
The word becomes a doorway to encounters with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, with our Father. It also becomes an anchor for experiences we have now and a platform for further experiences still to come.
The goal of knowing is not to gain information but to encounter the Holy Spirit and let Him give revelation knowledge into our hearts. Knowing must not be limited to left-brain (intellect) functions alone.
In meditation, we position ourselves to hear God’s voice and experience His presence. Meditating on the Word of God, causes that word to be firmly established in us and then we can live from it, this will enable us to prosper and have success in all we do.
God speaks to us in a flow of spontaneous revelation. He communicates through thoughts, pictures, feelings, and impressions which we need to pick up.
We need to be able to tune in to them; to see, feel, hear, and touch them. The Word of God is the basis for all this, but the word of God is the beginning of experience, not the end of it.
We can go to the word, and find out if there is a scripture which talks about aspects of our experience. That is what I mean by finding an anchor in the word. Not everything is specifically in the word.
Meditation turns the logos (written, fixed word) into the rhema word (spoken, to us, now), stirring faith from which we can live. It turns head knowledge into personal experience, and enables us to hear the voice of God.
In meditation, God can use a scripture to speak to us, sometimes completely out of context. He wrote it and He can use it however He wishes, to get across to us something He wants us to hear and understand.
What is the benefit of meditating on the written word of God? It washes us, cleanses us .Faith rises in us .Revelation truth flows to us. The Word is stored or memorized in our hearts.
Psalms 119:11 Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psa 119:15 I will meditate on Your precepts .23 Your servant meditates on Your statutes .27 So I will meditate on Your wonders .99 For Your testimonies are my meditation .148 I may meditate on Your word
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Eph 5:26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
By faith follow the process in your mind by entering the realm of the spirit. l choose to…. l step in, I open the door and come into agreement with the exercise process. God will honor your desire and willingness to participate and your senses will begin to become trained & tuned to the frequency of the spirit realm.
In Faith activation we use a physical engagement using things in the natural realm that we are familiar with. We use a Door or a secret place picture, to stimulate and activate stepping in and out of the realm of the spirit. We free our spirit to engage and receive revelation which flows into our imagination as pictures, into our mind as thoughts, impressions, and knowing.
John 10:27 my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Hearing God’s voice through His Word is the beginning of engaging in real living conversations with Him.
John 17:2 This is eternal life – that they may know God”.
John 5:19,20,30 Jesus demonstrated the ability of living out of constant contact with God, declaring that He did nothing on His own initiative, but only what He saw the Father doing, and heard the Father saying .Now that’s the way we are called to live!
God’s voice in our heart often sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts. Become still so you can sense God’s flow of thoughts and emotions within.
Psa 46:10 Let be and be still, and know that I am God.
Isa 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord shall change and renew their strength and power;
Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and powerful .Meditate on it in your imagination. A picture paints a- 1000 words. Use the word of God as a plumb line experience to experience it in the realm of the spirit.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me .
Hearing God’s voice through His word is the beginning of engaging in living real time conversations with Him.
Joshua 1:8 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; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
God wants our attention. Yes, we can relate to God in the busyness of life, but it is important for us to give Him quality time too. When we meditate, we repeatedly bring the things God has said into the forefront of our thinking.
Psa 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
Psalm 63:6 When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches,
Psalm 77:11 I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
Psalm 143:5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands.
What we repeat gets stored in our heart, in our subconscious mind; and what is in our subconscious mind triggers our conscious mind:
Prov 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he.
Luke 6:45 Out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks.
7 Steps to Meditation –
1 become God centered.
2 Lord cleanse & prepare my heart.
3 Lord give me a teachable attitude.
4 Lord I surrender my senses to You.
5 Lord open the eyes of my heart-imagination.
6 Lord I present my abilities to reason & imagine to you to fill & flow through.
7 Lord I focus my attention on what you show me.
LORD, CLEANSE ME BY YOUR WORD AND YOUR BLOOD.
Since receiving divine revelation is at the heart of biblical meditation, you prepare yourself to receive from the Holy Spirit by attitude of repentance and being cleansed of any defilement of spirit and flesh. You also need to be obedient to previous revelations from God (Matt. 7:6), and confess any sin in your life, so you are not cut off from ongoing revelation (Is. 59:1,2; I Jn. 1:9).
LORD, GRANT ME A TEACHABLE ATTITUDE: Revelation is given to those who maintain an attitude of humility, and it is withheld from the proud and the arrogant. So keep an open, humble attitude before God, allowing Him the freedom to reveal greater light on any ideas you currently hold and to alter them as He sees fit (Jas. 4:6; 2 Pet. 1:19).
LORD, I WILL NOT USE MY FACULTIES MYSELF: Jn. 5:19,20,30 You choose to do nothing of your own initiative but only what you hear and see by the Spirit .You do not have a mind to use, but a mind to present to God so He can use it and fill it with anointed reason and divine vision (Prov. 3:5-7; Rom. 12:1-2). If you use your mind yourself, it can be a dead work (Heb. 6:1-2).
LORD, I PRAY THAT THE EYES OF MY HEART (imagination) MIGHT BE ENLIGHTENED: Slow down as you read, think about the text over and over in your mind, constantly asking God to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17,18; Ps. 119:18).
LORD, I PRESENT THE ABILITIES TO REASON AND TO IMAGINE TO YOU TO FILL AND FLOW THROUGH BY YOUR SPIRIT:
Meditation involves presenting your faculties to God for Him to fill and use. These include your left-brain reasoning capacities as well as your right-brain visual capacities.
John 7:37-39 Look for the river of God , the Holy Spirit to flow to guide and fill both brain hemispheres, granting you anointed reasoning and dreams and vision.
2 Kings 3:15 But now bring me a minstrel.” And it came about, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.
Music can assist you, go through the meditation process.
LORD, SHOW ME THE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM I AM FACING:
Focused attention brings additional energies of concentration of heart and mind, which help release revelation.
For example, note the difference between a ray of sunlight hitting a piece of paper, and sunlight going through a magnifying glass to hit a piece of paper.
The focused energy creates a ray so concentrated that the paper bursts into flames.
Matt. 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
When you have a hunger to master a new understanding and discipline, that hungry and searching heart will cause you to see things you would not normally see.
THANK YOU, LORD, FOR WHAT YOU HAVE SHOWN ME:
Realizing that the revelation came from the indwelling Holy Spirit, give all the glory to God for what has been revealed (Eph. 3:21). An attitude of gratitude not taking things for granted.
Physical calm- Heb 4:9-11.
Focused attention- Heb 12:1-2.
Letting be- Phil 4:6-7.
Receptivity- John 15:4-5.
Spontaneous Flow- John 7:37-38.
Journal- Hab 2:1-2
Hab 2:1 I will stand on my guard post. And station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said “Record the vision.
Recognize God’s voice as spontaneous thoughts in your mind. Quite yourself so you can hear .Look for vision .Write down the flow of your thoughts to meditate on later.
Key 1: God’s voice in your heart often sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts.
Habakkuk knew the sound of God speaking to him (Hab. 2:2). Elijah described it as a still, small voice (I Kings 19:12). Listen for an inner voice, Usually; God’s voice comes as spontaneous thoughts, visions, feelings, or impressions.
Key 2: Become still so you can sense God’s flow of thoughts and emotions within.
Habakkuk said, “I will stand on my guard post…” (Hab. 2:1). Habakkuk knew that to hear God’s quiet, inner, spontaneous thoughts, he had to first go to a quiet place and still his own thoughts and emotions.
Psalm 46:10 encourages us to be still, and know that He is God.
There is a deep inner knowing (spontaneous flow) in our spirits that each of us can experience when we quiet our flesh and our minds. If we are not still, we will sense only our own thoughts. If thoughts keep come of things you have forgotten to do, Write them down and dismiss them.
If thoughts of guilt or unworthiness come (tactic of enemy), Repent thoroughly, receive forgiveness, putting on His robe of righteousness, seeing yourself as spotless before God (Is. 61:10; Col 1:22)
Matt 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]
1 Peter 5:7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
To receive the pure word of God, it is important that our hearts are properly focused on the source of the intuitive flow.
If I fix my eyes upon Jesus, the intuitive flow comes from Jesus. If I fix my gaze upon some desire of my heart, the intuitive flow comes out of that desire.
Key 3: Fix your gaze upon Jesus (Heb12:2), becoming quiet in His presence and sharing with Him what is on your heart. Spontaneous thoughts will begin to flow from the throne of God to you, and you will actually be conversing with the God.
Key 4: Journaling, the writing out of your questions and God’s answers, brings great freedom in hearing God’s voice.
God told Habakkuk to record the vision (Hab. 2:2). This was not an isolated command. The bible records many examples of individual’s conversations with God’s and His replies (the Psalms, many of the prophets, the book of Revelation).
Two-way journaling, is a catalyst for clearly discerning God’s inner, spontaneous flow. As you practice you will become able to write in faith for long periods of time, simply believing it is God.
What we have received from God must be tested. However, testing involves doubt and doubt blocks divine communication, so it is best not to test while we are receiving. We can receive in faith, knowing that when the flow has ended we can test and examine it carefully, making sure that it does not conflict up with the bible.
Journaling is a biblical concept .Don’t let doubt hinder you .God is present and is speaking to His children.
Heb 4:10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
Relax. When we cease striving and enter His rest, God is free to flow.
Sit back comfortably, take out your pen, paper, smile, and turn your attention toward the Lord in praise and worship, seeking His face.
After you write your question to Him, become still, fixing your gaze on Jesus. You will suddenly have a very good thought.
Don’t doubt it; simply write it down. Later, as you read your journaling, you will be blessed to discover that you are indeed dialoguing with God.
Knowing God through the Bible is a vital foundation to hearing His voice in your heart.
We need a Solid commitment to knowing and obeying the Scriptures.
It is also very important for your growth and safety that you be related to solid, spiritual counselors .All major directional moves that come through journaling should be confirmed by your counselors before you act upon them.