Meditation involves studying, which is a step higher than reading. The word of God is not meant to be read alone, but to be meditated upon. It is PRIMARILY meant for us to encounter.
Meditation is the practice or act of pondering (focusing) on a written or spoken discourse. It means expressing considered thoughts on a subject.
Wikipedia defines meditation as ‘a practice where an individual uses a technique –such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity –to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.’
If you want to meditate, the basic things to do, includes:
1. SUSTAINING THE APPROPRIATE POSTURE
It was Apostle Edu Udechukwu that said that “the feedbacks you get from the scriptures, is dependent on the posture that you sustained before approaching it.”
Psalms 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth, and the MEDITATION OF MY HEART, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
If your heart must receive divine revelation, the state of your heart must sustain the appropriate posture of: “entering the scriptures in the spirit, encountering the word beyond the mind, and interacting with the Spirit of the Word.”
With that in place, you will not be distracted and, your mind, body and spirit will be aligned and ready to meditate on the Word.
II Timothy 2:15 (NASB): “BE DILIGENT to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling (expounding) the word of truth.”
Diligent meditation will create pictures of the events that happened and what led to it.
By this, you will have insight and understand the contextual meaning of the passage.
If the appropriate posture is not sustained, you certainly will have problem with meditation.
You will look mechanically into the scriptures, but will not be able to BEHOLD the person of Jesus Christ.
You will be unable to apprehend divine realities in your spirit. You will be far from COMFORMING to the image of Christ. This is what leads one to explain scriptures only with the natural human intellect.
2. CONSIDER THE CONTEXT
“Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” 2 Timothy 2:7
Your mind and heart must be exercised to gain insight that is embedded in the scriptures. This is what the above scripture entails.
You have to consider by meditation, before the Lord will give you understanding. You ca not get right understanding of scripture (by the Spirit) until you consider by medication.
Considering the context of scripture is necessary for application. It is wise to ask questions such as these:
To whom was it written? By whom?
What were the circumstances?
What are the precise meanings of the words in the original language?
What related scriptures might provide additional insights?
With the following questions, you will see yourself digging deep and understanding it through the help of the Holy Spirit.
Psalms 8:3 “When I CONSIDER thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained.”
From the aforementioned verse, David –The Psalmist, was meditating on the handiwork of God, and that led to what he said in the next verses.
“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet” Psalms 8:4,5, 6.
Reading without meditation, is what causes misconception.
Misconception of scriptures leads to misinterpretation, and misinterpretation leads to misapplication of scriptures. This is how some heresies come into the body of Christ.
3. PERSONALIZING THE PASSAGES
Personalize it by rereading it in the first person; using I, me, and my.
For example, John 3:16 could be personalized by saying,
“For God so loved ‘ME‘, that He gave His only begotten Son, that if ‘I‘ believe in Him, ‘I‘ will not perish but have everlasting life.”
Colossians 3:16 could be personalized by saying, “Let the word of Christ dwell in ‘ME‘ richly in all wisdom.”
When you personalize the scripture, it becomes a living expression within your heart. This is also an aspect of meditation.
After that, read the personalized verse repeatedly. That will make room for better understanding of that
verse.
However, this method is not applicable for all scriptures because not every scripture is meant to be personalized.
MANTRA MEDITATION
Mantra in this context refers to a phrase REPEATED to assist concentration during meditation.
You can do mantra meditation by repeating a verse, phrase, or a word in the scripture. For example;
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in ME richly in all wisdom.”
Do some ‘figuring out‘ in your spirit to substantiate the passage. You can do this by representing some items in a coded way which only you may understand.
As you continue meditating, your understanding of the verse deepens, your illustrations will expand.
While asking yourself questions, you can give answers to them by introspection. You can be linked to other related scriptures, you will get to know a verse from other passages, it will widen your understanding and enable you to balance the context of scriptures.
When you have done your diligent meditation of a particular verse, chapter or book, then you will be able to illustrate and summarize the main concepts found within the passage(s).
Philippians 4:8: “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.”
While you diligently read and meditate, the Holy Spirit will drop a message(s) in your heart.
When this happens, you will able to discover where you had ignorance and deficiency in accurate Understanding.
Apply them accurately in the areas they are required.
David Chikwado Caleb
KOINONIA ART 