How often do we read a Bible verse and just hours, or a day later, find that we can’t recall much about it? It happens to every one of us from time to time. We read God’s Word, but we don’t always think about the next steps to living it out in our lives.
Dr. Charles Stanley: How
often do you pick up your Bible,
you read a passage of
Scripture, you lay it down,
and very shortly you’ve
forgotten everything you read?
Amen?
That’s–isn’t that true?
That’s true a few of you.
Let’s be honest right up front.
That’s true, isn’t it?
Yes, it is.
So, you read it and you’ve
fulfilled your promise to maybe
pray or to read the Bible all
the way through in a given year,
or whatever it might be,
whatever your goal is.
And so, you have the assurance
that God’s going to bless you
because you read His
Word, which He will.
But what about the
application of what you read?
When you read the Bible,
do you apply the truth?
You say, “Well, sometimes
I don’t understand it.”
I understand that.
But most of the time you
understand at least of something
of what He said to you.
And if you ask Him, “Lord, speak
to my heart,” then He’s going to
lead you to a passage that
He has something to say.
Does that mean that
you’ll understand
everything that you read?
No, probably nobody can
say I understand
every single thing I read.
And so, the whole issue of
meditation upon the Word of God
is far more involved
than most people think.
Most people think that
meditation means I read it
quietly and then I go on my way.
That’s not what meditation is.
Meditation is one of the
most important things.
That is, Biblical meditation.
Now, there’s an Eastern
meditation that believes
all kind of stuff.
But we’re talking about
meditation upon God’s
Word, which I’ll explain.
When you read it, would you
say that you meditate upon it,
that is, you think about it?
You ask questions like:
Lord, how am I to apply
this to my heart?
Lord, what are you saying to me?
Lord, is this a
word of encouragement?
Is this a warning?
Am I to be careful?
Am I to be sensitive
to somebody around me?
Or am I to give something that I
haven’t thought about giving?
What are You saying to me?
In other words, meditation
isn’t just reading
a passage and moving on.
Meditation is
thinking, asking, giving,
praying, whatever God
may be saying to you.
And so, it involves far
more than just reading it.
It involves
prayerful, listen,
it involves prayerful
application.
Lord, what are You
saying to me personally?
I can’t imagine anybody coming
to church and hearing a whole
sermon for thirty or
forty minutes and saying,
“God didn’t say a thing to
me,” unless you didn’t
come in with an open heart.
So let’s just think right now.
Wherever you sit and whoever
you are and wherever you are,
why don’t we just
agree right now
we’re going to listen to God.
We’re going to believe
that God’s going to speak
to us in this message.
We’re going to listen to Him and
we’re going to do our best to
apply it to our heart,
because I’m sure God
has something to
say to all of us.
So, the Scripture says in
the hundred and fourth Psalm,
“Let my meditation be
pleasing to You, oh God.
Let my meditation
be pleasing to You.”
So that’s what I want to talk
about: the power of meditation
in the life of the believer.
So, I want you to turn to the
hundred and nineteenth Psalm.
Now, I know what you’re going
to be thinking for a moment,
so I’ll get to this in a minute.
You say, “Well, that was
written thousands of years ago.”
Well, who had it written?
Almighty God.
Did He not know what
was going on today?
Yes, He did.
So that none of
us can say, “Well,
you know, God
doesn’t speak today.
He spoke long time
ago, but not today.”
Yes, He does.
Because He’s given us His Word,
He’s preserved His Word so that
every generation from the time
He spoke it can hear it from
someone or read it today
or listen in some fashion.
So, this hundred
and nineteenth Psalm,
listen to what David is saying,
beginning in verse ninety-seven,
“O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation
all the day.”
Which is David’s way of saying
I think about it all the day.
“Your commandments make
me wiser than my enemies.”
That’s a promise.
His commandments make us
wiser than our enemies,
“for they are ever mine.
I have more insight than all
my teachers,” because you’re
listening to God, “for your
testimonies are my meditation.”
That is, meditation I’m thinking
about what God is saying to me.
“I understand
more than the aged.”
In other words, age has
nothing to do with understanding
necessarily, “because I
have observed Your precepts.”
That is, because I’m observing
and attempting to do what You
ask me to do,
Lord, in this passage,
I understand what You’re saying.
“I have restrained my
feet from every evil way,
that I may keep Your word.
I have not turned aside
from Your ordinances,
for You Yourself have taught me.
How sweet are Your
words to my taste!
Yes, sweeter than
honey to my mouth!
From Your precepts I
get understanding;
therefore, I hate
every false way.”
And look at this
hundred and fifth verse,
“Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.”
Let’s say that one together.
“Your Word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.”
Now, if I really and
truly believe that,
I’m going to be in this Word.
I’m going to be reading the
Word of God and believing it and
applying it to my heart,
“Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.”
So I ask this question.
If the Word of God is
not a lamp to your feet,
a light to your path, what is?
I can tell you what is.
The other stuff
that people read,
the other things they
watch on television,
the other things
they hear people say.
But he says, “Your word
is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.”
All of us, watch this carefully,
all of us are following
something in some
fashion, to some degree,
to what we see and what we hear.
This is what makes
our economy go.
What you see and what you
watch on television,
if you listen and you watch
and you listen and you watch,
and next thing you know, you
bought it because they have
programmed your
thinking into thinking
you must have this product.
You’ll be more
beautiful, you’ll be richer,
you’ll be–you’ll–on and
on they go with promises.
And so what happens?
You go out and buy some.
Isn’t that true?
That’s true.
You go out and buy it because
somebody said to you:
this is what’ll happen to you.
You’ll be better looking.
You’ll feel better.
You’ll look like a
million dollars.
You’ll prosper in your job.
You’ll get ahead of–in other
words, on and on and on they go
with promises from man that
most of the time are not true.
Now, when you come
to the Word of God,
which is all true, “Your Word
is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.”
The direction I’m
going in is going to
be according to God’s Word.
So ask yourself the question:
Do I walk and do I talk and do I
live according to the
Word of the Living God?
Am I more attune to my
advertisement and propaganda on
television than I
am the Word of God?
They say you’ve got to have this
and you’ve got to have that,
you’re more beautiful,
you’ll be much more successful.
Do you believe that or you
believe the Word of God?
We’re all believing
something, right?
We’re all listening to somebody.
And we’re all responding
to something or somebody.
And I’m simply saying to you
the Word of God is the most
important book in the world.
And the guidance from the Word
of God is the most important
guidance because, listen,
you’ll choose wise friends,
you will not get into debt, and
on we could go of the promises
that God makes and the,
listen, and the response you’ll
experience in your life,
when the Word of God
becomes your guidebook.
Meditation is the process by
which you and I learn to listen
to God, apply these principles
to our life and watch Him work.
You can’t read the Word of God,
apply the principles of the Word
of God to your life
without them having an effect.
You say, “Well, how
do you know that?”
I’ll tell you why.
Because the day you trusted
Jesus Christ as your personal
Savior, the Holy Spirit came
into your life to seal you as a
child of God and to
empower you, enable you,
and to teach you to
believe the Word of God,
and therefore direct your life.
So, we have God’s divine
direction to every one of us.
And somebody says, “Well,
but that’s not everybody.”
Well, who does He leave out?
Only people who
refuse to listen to Him.
The Word of God is applied to
your heart and my heart by the
same Holy Spirit, but the Holy
Spirit applies the Word of God
to your life and my
life according
to the need of the moment.
Not according to
somebody else, according
to the need at the moment.
So the needs of the
moment change all the time.
God gives direction in every
circumstance of life to those
who are listening and
believing what He says.
“Teach me Thy way,
oh Lord, my God,
that I may walk in it.”
So meditation is your
thinking about the Word.
It’s the application of the
Word of God in your life
to give you direction.
And so when people say, “I
don’t believe the Bible,”
here’s what that’s like.
It’s like being in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean,
no compass, no map, nothing, in
a sailboat, or the oars that you
had, you threw those away,
and you finally tossed the sail
away, and there you are.
Where would you be,
where would you go,
what direction would
you have for your life?
You wouldn’t have it.
You’d float around
till finally you sank
or something happened to you.
Many people are living
without a guidebook.
Many people are
living without THE guide.
And many people are living
their life out according
to what the world says.
That’s why they miss
the best part of life.
So, I want you to
listen carefully.
What we just read
is the promise,
“Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path.”
Now, what do we mean
by meditation
according to the Word of God?
It’s important enough
that you write them down.
You may say, “Well, I’m
not even a Christian.”
Write them down anyway,
because you may get saved
by the time this
message is over.
And if not, at some
point you may.
So what we’re
talking about here,
we’re talking about
what meditation is.
First, it’s focusing my
heart on God and
shutting out everything else.
That’s meditation.
Not reading
the–watch this carefully.
Now, don’t get upset
and don’t get mad.
Don’t get angry.
It isn’t reading the Bible
with a television set on.
Unless you’re reading what I’m
preaching while you’re watching.
That’s the difference.
But it’s not I’m going to do
my devotions while I’m
watching my favorite program.
No.
Meditation is shutting
out everything else.
Think about this.
You’re talking to
omniscient, omnipresent,
omnipotent, Almighty God who
loves you unconditionally.
Why would you want
to be listening to,
watching anything else when you
are talking to Holy, Almighty
God who has over–who has
power over all of your life?
So it’s shutting
out everything else.
Secondly, it’s more
listening than talking.
Meditation is more
listening than talking.
Lord, what are You saying?
And in any given time, you may
go through lot of emotions when
you’re talking to God as He
brings things to your mind.
Thirdly, it’s the most
important activity in the life
of a follower of Jesus.
Now, you may have been a
Christian a short period of time
and nobody’s ever
said that to you,
but I want you to
listen carefully.
Meditation, reading, and we’re
going to talk about what that’s
involved, reading
the Word of God,
meditating upon the Word of God
is the most important activity
in your life because that’s
where you get clear direction
about what to do,
who to talk to,
who to listen to, what
to buy, what not to buy.
Meditation, you’re
focused in on the One God,
Jehovah God, who has the answer
to every question you have,
and secondly, who is there,
willing to give you direction
and guidance in your life
if you’re willing to listen.
Now, think about that.
You don’t have to make mistakes.
I’m not saying you never
will, but in other words,
you shouldn’t have to
make any spiritual mistakes.
And on your job, is
God listening to
you in your vocation?
Absolutely He is.
When you trusted
Him as your Savior,
He became involved in every
single area of your life.
So if you want the best, then
you make meditation a priority
in your life, which says the
most important thing I can do is
listen to God, either through
reading His Word or if God sends
somebody to me who is
giving me wisdom for my life,
and that can be true at
times, most important
thing in your life.
Then I want you to turn to
two passages of Scripture.
Let’s turn, first of
all, to Matthew fourteen.
And I’m sure you
know these by heart,
but I just want
to emphasize them.
Matthew fourteen, and
you’ll recall that Jesus
has just fed the five thousand.
And they’ve just about
worn Him out talking to Him,
and imagine what He did.
So listen to this, “There were
about five thousand men,”
and women, “besides children.”
And so what happens?
When He finished
feeding everybody,
“Immediately,” now, there’s
a reason for immediately.
He was worn out,
physically speaking.
“Immediately He made the
disciples get into the boat and
go ahead of Him,” He
didn’t get in there with them,
“go ahead of Him
to the other side,
while He sent the crowds away.”
He’s says I’ve got to
have some time by Myself,
“After He’d sent
the crowds away,
He went up on the mountain by
Himself,” to get away from it
all, “to pray, and when it was
evening, He was there alone.”
Jesus got tired.
He had to be refreshed.
Imagine if there were five
thousand people plus
children and so forth.
Imagine what was going
on in His mind and heart.
So, He needed time
to be refreshed.
So do you.
So do I.
Jesus, who was the Son of
God, who had all power,
had that human part of Him that,
when He was tired and worn,
to get away, and not just to
get away and take a break,
but to go up in the
mountain and do what?
Went up in the
mountain and prayed,
separated Himself
from them, to pray.
“And when it was
evening, He was there alone.”
If meditation was
important to Jesus,
it’s very important to us.
It’s where we get refreshed.
It’s where we get a good,
new sense of direction.
God is always speaking
to His children whether
we are listening or not.
But He’s willing to give
you direction in every
area of your life.
And so, if you want to
turn one more passage,
and just so you’ll be
familiar with them,
in Mark one thirty-five,
and listen to what He says,
“In the early morning, while it
was still dark,” ’cause He knew
better than to wait
till eight o’clock,
“In the early morning,
while it was still dark,
Jesus got up, left the house,
went away to a secluded place,
and He was praying there.”
Think about this.
Jesus, the Son of God, felt it
necessary to spend time away
from everybody and
be alone with God.
And so, the most important
thing you and I can do for
our life is spend
time meditating.
You say, “Well, how long?”
That’s between you and God.
But giving God at least some
portion of your day to be alone
with Him, shut everything
else out and just ask God
to speak to your heart.
You say, “Well, I don’t know
that God will speak to my heart.
Why don’t you think so?
Maybe you have guilt in your
life, sin in your life, and
you think, “Well,
God wouldn’t speak to me.
You may be the one
He’s really working on.
So, you can’t say God won’t
do this and He won’t do that.
You set aside, or you say, “God,
I just need You in my life.”
God is there to give
direction for your life whether
it’s for confession of sin,
repentance, or just simply
saying, “Lord, what do I do
about this opportunity I have?
Here are three choices.
Lord, I don’t know
which–what am I to do?”
He’s there to help you.
So, that’s what
meditation’s all about.
It’s the most important thing
in your life–think about this.
Who else can direct you in such
a way to live your life that you
live it out the best,
you live it out the fullest,
you live out the happiest,
you live it out for
the most profitable?
Who can direct
you other than God?
Nobody knows your
life like God knows it.
He knows why He created you.
And He’s–He knows what purpose
He has for you and your life.
And what the Word of God
demonstrates in this passage, or
all these passages and
throughout the Scripture,
He is willing and ready to
give direction to those
who are willing to listen.
And so once you trusted
Christ as your Savior,
that opens the door.
Until you trust
Christ as your Savior,
you have no promise that God
will speak to you except to
convict you of your sin.
When you trust Him as
your personal Savior,
God begins to speak to
your heart immediately.
And so we have the privilege
of meditating upon the Word,
receiving direction and divine
guidance about any question,
any situation, any
circumstance we face.
We have the promise
of His assistance,
“Ask and it shall be given you.”
If I need to know
what to do here,
He will direct me,
whatever it might be.
So, when we learn to
meditate, what will happen?
It, listen, it’s a way of life
that we live in relationship to
God whereby
meditation, waiting upon Him,
having those times
in our life we shut out
everything and listen to Him.
So what can you
expect to happen?
Jot them all down.
First of all, it’ll
quieten your spirit.
You’re troubled.
You come home late.
The traffic was horrible.
Everybody around
you was sort of,
you know, saying things and
doing things that you didn’t
like or you didn’t feel
comfortable on your job.
Quieten your spirit.
That is, meditation
will calm you down.
When you get before
God and say, “Lord,
You know what a day
I’ve had,” and so forth.
Or maybe you had some bad
news, whatever it might be,
God will quieten your spirit.
He’s promised that.
Secondly, He will enlighten your
mind to think the way He thinks
about what concerns you.
When you begin to think the way
God thinks about what concerns
you, there is an immediate sense
of–or degree of peace because
your Heavenly Father has
said to you and shown you,
made it known to you,
“I understand and I know
what to do and I’ll direct you
and I’ll give you guidance.
So don’t worry, you trust Me.
Don’t worry, just trust Me.”
The third thing that’ll happen
is it’ll increase your energy.
You say, “What’s that got to
do with all–” everything.
And there have been many times
when I look back over the years
that I’d wake up on Sunday
morning and just get on my knees
and say, “God, You’re going
to have to help me, Lord.
I don’t–I’m not going
to be able to preach.
You have to help me.”
But I didn’t have
an associate pastor,
and so it was me or nobody.
And they’re
expecting it, and I just,
I could hardly
get out of the bed.
At some point between there, at
that moment, and the right time,
“God, get me up, get me
dressed, get me ready.”
Looking over the message,
get me excited and preach
like nothing ever happened.
I can tell you, God
knows how to give us
the kind of energy we need.
Because He knows
what the need is.
Now, watch this, “My God will
meet all of your needs according
to His riches in glory,”
and certainly His timing.
What I want you to see
is God’s a personal God.
He’s not just something
up in Heaven somewhere,
God is an intimate,
personal being who,
the moment you received
Christ as your Savior,
He entered your heart
through the Holy Spirit.
He promised it.
And one of the things He
promises is to give direction
and peace and quietness and
godliness in our heart when
we’re willing to listen to Him.
And so, there’s
going to be an energy.
He knows when we’re worn out.
And He knows when we
need divine energy.
And one of the
wonderful things about God is,
think about this, He knows what
you need and He’s unlimited to
give you exactly and
everything you need,
whatever you’re
going through in life.
But meditation just
means, watch this,
you and God have a relationship
more intimate than a
relationship between a
husband and a wife because,
with God, everything is right.
You’ll always have the truth.
You’ll always know what to do
when you’re listening to Him and
waiting upon Him
and obeying Him.
You’ll always do
the right thing.
At least, you have
the capacity to.
Now, you can disobey Him,
but He will give you wisdom
to know exactly what’s right.
He will increase your energy.
You’ll be able to do things
otherwise you couldn’t do.
I’ve preached at times when
every cell of my body was crying
out no, no, no, no, no.
God knows what you need.
He knows when you need
it, how much you need it,
why you need it, so that every
day you should spend a little
time talking to
Him, listening to Him.
Don’t do all the talking.
You can’t listen if
you’re doing all the talking.
And I’ve heard a few
people pray–
that’s as far as
I’m going with that.
I’ve heard a few people pray.
God didn’t have a chance to
say a thing because soon as they
finished praying,
they’re up and gone.
I’m saying God loves you.
Give Him time to
express that love,
whatever that love is
needed in your life.
Don’t–if you’re waiting
for somebody to cheer you up,
sometimes you’re not
going to find anybody.
God’s always there.
And listen, He knows
exactly what you need.
When you come to
Him and say, “Lord,
You know that I’m needy today.
I don’t exactly know everything
I need but I’m just needy.”
You don’t have to
define your need to God.
He knows exactly what you need.
He knows exactly how
to fulfill that need.
He’s a wonderful God!
And then, think about this also.
Meditation purifies your heart.
What do I mean by that?
Simply this.
The Holy Spirit within
you will expose,
expose sin in your heart.
You think, “Well, God,
nothing’s working right.”
God knows why it’s not.
And here’s what we do, watch
this, we call our friends.
We call our friends whom
we know will agree with us,
who will feel sorry for us.
Oh my goodness, I’m so
sorry you’re not doing good.
And so, we love to be pitied and
we love to hear our friends tell
us, “Well, you’re a Christian,
and certainly God–“
on and on and on we go.
No.
God knows how to
purify our heart.
We need to come to Him
saying, “Lord, here I am.
I don’t understand why this
is going on in my life,” or,
“Lord, I do
understand and I’m needy.
I need You to help me, Lord.”
And He will show you whatever
there is going on in your life
that should not be.
He will always point you
in the right direction.
And the right direction is,
first of all, to Him, to ask
Him, “Lord, forgive me of my
sin,” if that’s an issue.
“What–show me
exactly what to do.”
This is why He says, “If we
confess our sins,” listen to
these words, “Faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins,”
and to do what?
“Cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.”
That’s a promise we have.
And when I think about
how He purifies our heart,
He promises
unmistakably if we–
confession means
I agree with Him.
“Lord, here’s something
in my life’s not right.”
“If we confess our sins,
He’s faithful and just.”
That means yes, He will.
Every time?
Every time.
“But you don’t
know what I’ve done.”
I know what–I know this.
When Jesus went to
the cross, watch this,
that made it
possible for God to say,
“If we confess our sins, He’s
faithful and just to forgive us
of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.”
And so, purifies our heart.
It also enlarges
our view of God.
When you’re praying and you’re
meditating upon the Lord and
you’re listening to Him
and you’re reading the Word,
what’s–what happens?
You get a–this
enlarged view of who God is.
I don’t mean size, I’m talking
about capacity of a loving God
who’s able to forgive you.
And how many times have I
heard people pray when we talk
together and they say,
“Well, you know what?
I don’t even
deserve forgiveness.”
Surely you don’t, nobody does.
It’s not a matter of deserving.
It’s a matter of God exposing
our heart and helping us to see
what’s there and
enlarging our view of God.
In other words, when you get
down to pray and you pray and
you pray and you pray and you
pray and you pray and you pray
and you pray and you
pray and you pray
and pray, and nothing happens.
Then don’t look
around somewhere else.
Look right here.
Because there’s
something going on in
your heart that’s not right.
Well, let me give
you some assurance.
It won’t take you long to
find out if you ask Him,
“Lord, what is it in my
life that’s holding me back?
Whatever’s in my life
that’s causing me
not to have answered prayer?
Lord, why am I so miserable?
Why is nothing please me?
God, why am I in such a mess?”
He’ll show you, if
you’re willing to listen.
Because remember this.
That every act of, watch this
one, every act of God to
His children is an expression
of the love of God.
Every act, even the chastisement
is an act of love from God.
So, what happens is when
you meditate upon His Word,
it enlarges your view of God.
You begin to see things
about God that you–before
you–in other words, “How could
God be interested in this?”
How many times have
I heard people say,
“Well,” when I’ve
said to them, “Well,
if you want direction, ask God.”
“Well, how–God’s
not interested.”
Yes, He is.
You’re spending
money, God’s interested.
You’re living in sin or
sinning against–in other words,
go right–listen, for A to Z in
the alphabet, God is interested.
So when you say, “Well, God
couldn’t be interested in me.”
Yes, He is.
He created you.
He created you.
You have a soul.
You’re going to spend eternity
somewhere no matter how
long or how short life is.
In other words, is God
interested in you personally?
Yes!
He knows the day you were
born, and you before you
were going to be born.
He knows the day and the moment
when the clock ticks your last
second, click, you’re gone.
Does He already know that?
Yes, He does.
He’s this awesome, wonderful,
Holy God who has our best
interest at heart, and the best
way to live your life is to live
it and make meditation,
your relationship with Him,
a vital part of your life.
Listen, it determines
everything.
It determines everything.
Either I’m going to live a
life of obedience or not.
I can explain it away.
Well, you know, I
didn’t have this.
Listen, if somebody says,
“Well, I just didn’t have the
privileges other people had.”
Forget it!
I didn’t have any
privileges either.
My mom and I lived in
one room for a while.
Before I went to
college, I had no money.
I had seventy-five dollars,
and I told somebody
I was going to college.
“How much money do you have?”
“I have seventy-five dollars.”
Well, they said, “You
can’t go to college
on seventy-five dollars.”
What they didn’t know
is, a few months later,
I’m standing on
the street corner,
a pastor that I hardly
knew walks by and,
as a result of me meeting him,
gets me a four-year scholarship
University of Richmond.
That–you–don’t
underestimate God.
I didn’t even know this pastor.
I’d just started to that
church a few months before that.
Don’t underestimate God.
Don’t think about–well,
when I look back and I think,
“God, I had
nothing to do with it.
I just told my friend what I
needed, and my friend had to
tell the pastor, and the pastor
had to tell somebody else.
And finally, everything I
needed, Lord, You provided.”
Was that an accident?
No.
Was it an answer to my prayer?
Yes.
Because I’d been
praying and praying,
“God, I know You’ve
called me to preach,
but how am I going to school?
Here’s what I want you to see.
God is not only perfectly and
eternally interested in your
life and every aspect
of it, He can handle it.
All He wants you to do is to be
willing to spend time with Him,
listen, how can you know
what to do without God?
You may guess a few things, but
you’ll make wrong decisions in
your life, and think about
people who have made wrong
decisions and come to me
crying and weeping and saying,
“You tried to tell me
but I didn’t listen.”
Yeah, God tried to tell
you and you didn’t listen.
This is the kind of
awesome God–in other words,
here’s what happens, we get a
whole different perspective
of God when we start
meditating upon His Word
because here’s what
you’ll discover.
You can’t bring up anything
God doesn’t already know.
He knows everything.
In other words,
whatever you bring up to Him,
He doesn’t have to say,
“I’ll think about it, mmmm.”
That’s not God.
Watch this, God instantly has an
answer because He had an answer
before you asked Him.
But He oftentimes will wait
until we’re wise enough to
acknowledge we don’t have the
answer and we do need Him
and need His direction.
Purifies your heart.
Enlarges your view of God.
Increases your love for God.
Here’s what happens:
when you read the Word of God
and you get it in your
heart and you read such–
I think, for example,
and this probably
stirred up more love for God.
I believed Him, but I think this
verse probably stirred up more
love for God for me
than any other one.
When Joshua’s asking for
direction and here God had told
him he was to
take Moses’s place,
and he had a lot of questions,
and here’s what He said to him,
“Have I not commanded you
be strong and courageous?
Do not tremble or be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go.”
He didn’t tell
him–He didn’t say,
“Well, look, we’re going to
knock down a Jericho wall.”
No, here’s what He said.
“Have I not commanded you
to be strong and courageous?
Do not tremble or be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go.”
That verse of Scripture, before
I preached my first sermon.
And naturally, I was
a little bit uptight.
In fact, I was
probably very uptight.
And it was in my home church,
and that’s–nobody believes you
when you’re a kid and you say
God’s called you to preach.
But I had a chance to preach.
My mother came in the
bedroom and she says,
“I want you to read this verse.”
That verse of Scripture gave me
the courage and the realization
it didn’t make any difference
how well I did or didn’t do,
or what they
thought of me or not.
God said, “Be strong
and of a good courage.”
He promised to
help me through this.
And I’m saying to you:
here’s the key to meditation.
If you will meditate
upon the Word of God,
there will be times
that arise in your life
or situations and circumstances
that God will take you back to a
passage that you read and
you say, “Yes, Lord.
Thank You, thank
You, thank You.”
Because at that moment, you
shut out everything else,
you remembered or listened and
read again what God said to you
and your faith skyrockets.
Meditation is a
concentration upon God.
We believe what He says.
We expect Him in any
moment of our life,
whatever we need, He’s
going to be there to
give direction for our life.
You say, “Well, but
suppose I’m living in sin?”
Well, here’s what’ll happen.
You get down and you say, “Lord,
I know I haven’t been doing
what I ought to do, but I
need some direction.”
And God says, “Hmmm.”
God’s not promised to answer our
petitions about anything as long
as I’m living in willful,
known disobedience to God.
You say, “Well,
doesn’t He know all about?”
Yes, He does.
Think about this.
If God let us get by
with living in sin,
you know what we would do?
We’d keep sinning.
So what does He do?
He shuts Heaven down until we’re
willing to submit to His will,
until we’re willing to
listen to Him and do,
first of all, what’s necessary:
be confessing of that,
repenting of it, and saying,
“God, okay, I’m just laying
my life before You and I’m
going to trust You.
He’s a loving God,
willing to help us
at any moment in our life.
Then of course, it will
increase our sensitivity to the
authority and power of God.
Meditation will increase
our–in other words,
we’ll become more and
more aware of what?
Of His authority and
power in our life.
I wouldn’t dare walk up here on
a Sunday morning and open the
Word of God and propose to
preach a message unless I knew
it was all of God
and none of me.
This is why pride
is so devastating.
Pride says, “I can do it.”
Pride is devastating
in any area of life.
Pride is devastating.
It’s humility, it’s the
awareness that we need Him,
and it’s the awareness
that being in need,
my God shall supply
all, not most of,
all your needs according to His
riches in glory means according
to what He possesses.
A person is foolish not
to meditate upon God.
It’s the key to everything.
Then, strengthens our faith.
When you watch God
answer your prayer,
you watch when
everything else is looking bad,
everything else is stormy,
it looks no other way.
And I can think of times, many
times in my life when I thought,
“God, only You can handle this.”
Very critical times, “God,
only You can handle this,
but I’m trusting You.”
He, listen, He’s willing to come
to your rescue in any situation
if you’re walking in His will.
He’s willing to, why?
Because it gives
Him glory and honor.
You say, “God, only
You can do this.”
You’ve glorified God in
expecting and then anticipating
and then watching God
do His work in whatever
situation you’re faced with.
And one other thing here.
Strengthen your
faith naturally
and it’ll increase
your awareness
of the presence of God.
Now, nothing does that
any more than meditation.
When you set aside time to
read the Word of God and talk
to Him, what does it do?
It increases your awareness
of His presence
and the possibilities.
And you look at the
Scriptures and how did
God work in David’s life?
How did He work
in Joshua’s life?
You go right through
the Word of God.
And then the last
one, I would say,
is in–it infuses us with joy.
When you have spent time
meditating upon the Word,
reading the Word
and listening to Him,
watching Him work in
your life, what happens?
There’s a joy that’s there.
Why is there such a joy?
Because you have this awesome
sense of awareness that whatever
happens, God’s in control.
If I should ask you: Do you
believe God is in control of
your life, what would you say?
Well, about ten of you would.
Now, I’m glad you
didn’t answer that.
Because that means a
lot of you are not sure.
So let me ask you this.
You don’t have to say anything.
I won’t get too personal.
If God’s not in control
of your life, who is?
Who is?
Is your husband?
Is your wife?
Or your children?
Or your parents?
Or your boss?
Or the doctor?
In other words, we can
go right down the line.
If God’s not in
charge, then who is?
So that’s why I take the
time to go through
all these simple points.
Because whatever
else in life you face,
you will face it depending upon
the influence or your response
to the time you gave
God in meditation.
You say, “Well, I just
don’t have time for it.”
Then you know what?
You reap the results.
And the results is
confusion, indebtedness,
lack of love, sickness, we
can go right–in other words,
go right down the line of
all the things that happen to
people, and most of
the time you say,
“Well, when’s the last
time you talked to God?”
“I don’t talk to God.”
So, I want to say this to you.
The most important event in
your life in any given moment,
at any time since the
moment you’re saved
is your time you spend alone
with God either reading His
Word or just talking to Him.
It’s very important to be
reading the Word of God.
In other words, nothing
is so important as
shutting the world out.
You and God get alone.
In other words, it’s like this.
Physically it’s like you
getting in this closet.
They’ve already put a strip
on the bottom of the door.
There’s no light.
You’re in pitch-black darkness,
absolute pitch-black darkness.
When you learn to
meditate upon God,
it’s like being in this
room, total light.
God opens the door and
shows you things you
won’t see any other way.
You know what the issue is?
Do I value my relationship with
God enough to spend time with
Him than I’m spending doing
something else or listen to
something else or
watching something else?
God is so awesome.
And the truth is, there are
lots of times I feel totally
inadequate to tell
you how awesome God is.
I can best do that by giving you
one illustration after the other
of how God works in our life.
He–listen, God’s
not prejudiced.
And He does not play favorites.
You say, “Well, pastors this,
that, and the other.”
No, no, no, no, no.
Being a pastor has
nothing to do with this.
What has to do with it is
it’s the truth of God’s Word
applicable and available
to every single person.
Godly meditation is a
powerful, fruitful,
exciting habit that
we should develop
because it changes everything.
Amen?
Father, we love
You and praise You,
not because of what You do,
just because of who You are.
And I pray that You’ll sink this
message into the heart and life
of every person
who hears it today,
now, tomorrow,
and years to come.
It is the truth.
It is the most
important area of our life,
because it determines
everything else.
Make these truths crystal clear.
We love You and we praise You.
And I pray God make
this message stick,
cement it, glue it,
fasten it, Father,
in every heart who hears it.
In Jesus’s name, amen.