Titus 2 Men And Women

Meditation...God's Way
by Sharon Merhalski

I was attending a secular college during the second half of the 1960’s: When that hippie, drug infested, free-love,  Haight-Asbury sub-culture was disgustingly pervasive. The word ‘meditation’ was everywhere...as were gurus dressed in all manner of ‘weirdness’ and almost always wearing long flowing beards.  I was given a zillion pamphlets on meditation...especially Transcendental Meditation.  I was a very baby Christian at the time and I am so very thankful that the Lord kept me out of the whole 60’s agenda.

Because the word meditation was so negatively engrained in my vocabulary I have rarely used the word.  I have read it in the Bible--always with the memories of my college exposure to the word--and have just never made a Biblical study of meditation...God’s way.  For myself I have always had what I call a tent of meeting with God...my alone time to be quiet, consider and listen to God: Meditate.

 "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."  Psalm 19:14

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my king, and my God: for unto thee will I pray."  Psalm 5:1

In this verse God puts meditation in with our talking to Him and praying.  Verse 1 teaches that we can ask God to consider our meditation.

The word meditation comes from the same word we derive our term "chewing the cud/mastication" from.  I am sure most of us have seen a cow chew their cud?  They chew their food awhile and then swallow it into their stomach.  And then they bring that food/cud back up into their mouth from time to time and chew and swallow again.  The cow does this many times before their food actually stays down...before they are done chewing their cud.

The word meditation implies careful, un-rushed, prayerful and serious thought.  It also carries an expectation with it: In meditation there is to be outer communication with Someone in high authority over us.  This ‘Someone’ sets out to invade our thinking.  For this reason the Christian must make very sure they are not being deceived when they are quiet before God:  Great care must be taken to make sure it is the Holy Spirit who is invading our thinking with the Word of God and Himself.

In all worldly forms of meditation it is pre-requisite that the person meditating must clear their mind so that outer impressions can be received.  But as Christians we must remember that outer impressions can be deceiving spirits clothed as angels of light.  They can come with good thoughts, kind words, and syrupy sweetness....until the person meditating trusts them.  Soon after that trust is given the deception begins.

As Christians, we should have nothing to do with anything that requires us to clear our minds.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. "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." Philippians 4:7-8

In the Strong’s Concordance==sound mind means: self-discipline; self-control.  We cannot clear our minds and be in control of or discipline of ourselves.

Dennis Clark says, "Meditation is not for clearing our minds it is for clearing our hearts. The mind should not become a container storing up mere knowledge, but a filter, trying and testing all thoughts against the Word of Truth, and then letting them go down into our heart, or inner being.  Once there, knowledge turns into truth...once the Word takes over our behavior, it becomes Christ in us, the Living Word, the hope of glory.  Meditation is a time for us to filter what we know by testing all our thoughts against the Word of God...the Bible...asking the Holy Spirit to teach us and give us discernment. 

Meditation is for feeding...not for knowledge. "My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding."  Psalm 49:3

"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all."  I Timothy 4:15 

Psalm 49:3 tells us that meditation shall give us understanding as God speaks to us. (In the Strong’s concordance understanding is defined: intelligence, discretion, wisdom, reason) and those traits do appear to all and are profitable to those seeking answers and counsel.

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."  We are to "observe to do" so that would mean one of the purposes of meditation is so that we can put into action what we have learned .Joshua 1:8 God tells us we are to meditate on His Words day and night.  He then tells us in the next verse: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."  I know for me if I do not have my tent of meetings with God--my times of meditation listening to God-- on a regular basis I am not strong in courage, I am fearful and I get dismayed.  We have seen thus far that meditation is for feeding to get understanding of what we should do, should be, how we should act...wisdom/common sense/horse sense...as my daddy would have called it. 

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation."  Psalm 5:1

In an article entitled "Hearing God" by Lynn Renegar, she writes:

"How do we tune in?
If God is going to be heard clearly, we must live in a habitation of mediation upon His word. We must immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, basing our thinking upon His Word, filling ourselves with it; letting His Living Water wash our minds clean of the world’s distortions of reality. Then, when through His Word He speaks to us, we are in the right state of mind to receive what He says.

Hebrews 4:12  "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Those words describe Jesus’ dealings with us as the Word of God. The first test of whether I’ve really heard God speak to me is to check what was said against the written Word. The first two screening questions must be: does this add to the written Word of God? Does this contradict what He has already said? If it disagrees with the Scriptures, it is not of Him.

Paul wrote some harsh words to the Galatians. Galatians 1:8-9  "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

In verse 9 he repeats the same thing. Twice over in two verses. When angels come to visit, we aren’t to drop the Bible and receive them without question. Rather, we should say, "sit down, angel, let me check what you say with the scripture." God’s Word is the last word. If what we’re hearing doesn’t line up with the Word of God, it’s not His Word. There’s more out there than the Holy Spirit; we dare not walk in this world except in the Spirit. Without His protection we can get really weird; we can commit gross sin. Every confused and amateur Christian is in that condition due to ignorance or disregard of God’s written Word. Listening to God never means seeking extra-Biblical revelations. If what we hear really is God speaking in our hearts, it will be encompassed in a principle already written in the Word of God. He will be showing us a Biblical principle to apply to our lives today. Jesus was saturated in the Scripture; he quoted it continually. In this, as in all things, He is our model.

So does God ever speak outside of His written Word? Well, if you consider there are countries where no Bibles are allowed, I would dare say God has ways of speaking to His people who are in those dark places. They don’t have a Bible. But isn’t it interesting, that those people who first hear God without the Scripture, will risk their physical lives to lay hands on a Bible. God reveals Himself through His Spirit. In the actual experience of hearing God speak to us, He may speak to us in an inner voice, or while we are listening to teachers, or He may say something to us deeper or not even connected with the sermon we are listening to, but although He can speak to us through circumstances, collectively and individually, anything we hear which we attribute to Him must be in harmony with His objective and living Word.

God’s communion with us is ongoing. Within that on-going-ness there are moments when you don’t know where to stand or where to turn. As Isaiah says, "you turn to the right, you turn to the left; you hear this voice behind you saying, this is the way walk in it." Go on, walk in it. He’s telling you. This is the Christian walk.

Colossians 3:15 "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts..."

Finally, there is the confirmation of His Peace. Whenever God speaks, even if what He is saying to us is corrective, there will always be His peace with it. The peace of God acts as an umpire in your heart. This is how we know what we are hearing is from Him; there is a peace that accompanies it. Maybe there comes a time when an opportunity opens for you, but you don’t feel right about taking it. Just stop. Your peace is disturbed. Wait for His peace to tell you it is OK to go ahead; if you don’t receive it; don’t go. In walking with Him, in making decisions, keep consulting His umpiring peace."

"I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord."

Psalm 104:33-34

"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. Psalm " 119:97-99

Psalm chapter 1: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 119: 145-148 "I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord: I will keep thy statutes. I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

Joseph Hall’s Valuation of Meditation:

"It is by meditation that we ransack our deep false hearts, find out our secret enemies, come to grips with them, expel them, and arm ourselves against their re-entrance.  By meditation, we make use of all good means, fit ourselves for all good duties.  By meditation, we see our weaknesses, obtain redress, prevent temptations, cheer up our loneliness, temper our occasions of delight, get more light unto our knowledge, add more heat to our affection, put more life into our devotions.  It is only by meditation that we are able to be strangers upon the earth as we are commanded to be, and by this we are brought to a right estimation of all earthly things.  Finally, into a sweet enjoyment of invisible comforts.  Meditation alone is the remedy for security in worldliness, it is the best way to improve Christianity.  Learn if you can, neglect if you so desire, but he who does so shall never find joy, neither God, nor in himself."

As Christians we all know that Satan is very alive and very well.  I heard a series on the radio by Dr. David Jeremiah on New Age Medicine.  This is one area where I know that Christians are being deceived and are opening themselves up to ‘angels of light/demonic’ activity.  We need to especially be careful of those avenues that tell us to clear our minds for better health...to heal our bodies.  I actually saw advertised on television a thing we can put on our heads to change our brain waves.  We have got to be aware of what is happening in the world around us.

I don’t know who wrote the following but these steps to safe meditation were given to me by a friend who had them written from a sermon in the back of her Bible.

1. Make sure our hearts are cleansed from all sin. "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."  Psalm 19:12
   
   "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me."  Psalm 51:1-3
   
   "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."  Proverbs 28:13
   
   If there is sin confess it and forsake it immediately.  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."
   I John 1:8-10
   
   
2. Call upon God to reveal His truth to you.  The Holy Spirit was given to us as a comforter--a Parakleet which means "one who comes alongside to help."
   
   "Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."  Psalm 50:14-15
   
   "Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."  Jeremiah 33:2-3
   
   "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you."  John 16:13-14
   
   3.       Submit all the thoughts you receive while meditating to the Truth--the Scriptures.  Any thought which conflicts with the Word of God should be rejected.  The sign of truth is freedom.
   
   John 8:32-36 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" 
   
   We need to know the Word of God by:
   
   --Hearing--in the since of ‘hearkening’ which means hearing and obeying it.
   
   --Reading--so that we can learn truth which is the greatest tool in keeping us from error.
   
   --Study--"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  II Timothy 2:15
   
   --Memorize--"My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
   
   Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
   Proverbs 7:1-3
   
   These four paths will greatly enhance our meditation in the Word.  These paths will give us the foundation to filter our thoughts to keep them in check with God’s Word, His voice, and His perfect will for us.
   
   I cannot exist without my time of ‘being’ with God.  In my tent of meetings, my time of meditation I can crawl up on the lap of God and let him engulf me with his mighty wings as He speaks to my heart and allows me to nurse at His shad to renew my strength....hope....faith...and vision for my tomorrows.

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