MEDITATE ON GOD’S WORD
1. When a person makes Christ Lord of his life, he gets born again, born from above. John 1:12; John 3:3,5; I John 5:1
a. At the new birth, God puts His very life and nature into a person’s spirit and unites that person to Christ. John 1:4; 5:26; 15:5; I John 5:11,12; II Pet 1:4; Heb 3:14
b. The life of God in that person makes him a literal son of God and begins the process of conforming him to the image of Jesus Christ.
2. It is God’s plan that, as His sons and daughters, we accurately represent Jesus (both His character and His power) in this life. John 14:12; I John 2:6; 4:17
3. It is God’s plan that as His sons and daughters, we reign in life through Christ. Rom 5:17
a. Reigning in life does not mean problem free living. John 16:33
b. It means that in the midst of problems we have victory. It means that we experience all the Cross of Christ has provided. And, it means that we experience power to accurately represent Jesus.
4. We were created to be the companions of a supernatural God. Christianity is supernatural from start to finish. We are supernatural beings.
a. Supernatural = of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible, observable universe. II Cor 4:18
b. Supernatural = a departing from what is usual or normal, especially so as to transcend the laws of nature, i.e., miracles. Mark 4:39; Mark 16:17,18; Acts 3:6-8
5. However, many Christians live like natural men — as opposed to supernatural men.
a. Natural = of or relating to nature; conforming to the laws of nature or the physical, material world.
b. I Cor 3:3–For you are still (unspiritual, having the nature) of the flesh — under the control of ordinary impulses. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?(Amp)
c. Spiritual = of the spirit; nonmaterial, invisible; carnal = fleshly, earthy, material.
6. These Christians at Corinth were living like mere men when they had the very life and nature of God in them, when they had the power to live like Jesus.
a. That’s how many Christians live today — like mere, unchanged men dominated by their minds, emotions, and bodies, and dominated by their circumstances.
b. We are taking some time to learn how to live like what we are — supernatural men and women, sons and daughters of God who are being conformed to the mage of Christ and who have the privilege of representing Jesus (His character and His power) in this life.
a. We must become aware of the fact that we are spirit beings who now have the life and nature of God in us. II Cor 5:16-18
b. We must become aware of the fact that we are members of an unseen, spiritual kingdom, and those unseen realities must become as real to us as the things our senses tell us. II Cor 4:18; II Kings 6:13-17; Luke 2:13-15
2. The Holy Spirit has been sent to help us become spirit conscious. John 14:16,17,26;15:26; 16:13-15
a. The Spirit of truth has been sent to guide us into all truth or reality.
b. He has come to guide us into the reality of spiritual (unseen) things.
c. I Cor 2:9-16–The Holy Spirit has come to unveil spiritual (unseen) realities to us so that they will become as real to us as material (seen) things.
d. The Holy Spirit is here to help us become spirit conscious.
3. The Holy Spirit does this work through the Bible as we spend time in His Book.
a. God wrote the Bible to give us access to the unseen realm, to the unseen kingdom of which we are now a part.
b. We must spend time in (with) God’s word and give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to teach us, to reveal the unseen realm to us, to help those things become as real to us as material, seen things.
4. I realize that when someone says: You are going to have to spend time in the Bible to be all that God wants you to be and to have all He wants you to have, it raises some issues:
a. I don’t have the time. I don’t understand the Bible. It’s boring. I don’t know how to read it.
b. But, reality is, we will make time for what is important to us and for what we believe will help us.
c. For many Christians, sense information is much more real to them than God’s word — that has to change if you want to reign in life.
d. For many Christians, the Bible is overwhelming to them. They don’t know where to start or how to use it.
e. In this lesson we want to deal with some of those issues.
1. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. The Living Word, the Lord Jesus, is revealed to us in and through the Bible.
a. Our contact with God is through this Book. Meditation in the word is like a visit with Jesus.
b. John 6:63–All the words through which I have offered myself to you are meant to be channels of the Spirit and of life to you, since in believing those words you would be brought into contact with the life in me. (Riggs)
2. If Jesus Christ were to suddenly appear to you, He would say what is in this Book. He’d say nothing which would contradict this Book.
3. This Book is our contact with, our source of reliable information about the unseen realm. This Book is more reliable than supernatural experiences. Luke 24:25-27; II Pet 1:16-21
4. This Book feeds our inner man, our spirit. Matt 4:4
a. This Book works in us and builds the life and character of Jesus into us.
Acts 20:32; II Cor 3:18; I Thess 2:13
b. We become Christ like in this life to the degree that this Book prevails in our lives.
5. God works in our lives through His word. What God says is. What God says becomes. God confirms His word. Mark 16:20; Jer 1:12; Isa 55:11
6. Our attitude toward the Bible, God’s word, determines the place God holds in our daily lives. He dominates our lives to the degree that His word dominates our lives.
7. God has given us the key to victory and success in this life. It is meditation in His word. Josh 1:8; Ps 1:1-3; John 8:31,32; 15:7; II Tim 3:14-17
a. To meditate means to think and say — to mutter.
b. Thinking on and speaking God’s word is a Bible theme. Ps 63:5-7; 77:12; 119:97-99; Phil 4:6-8; Col 3:1-4
8. God’s word has to dominate our minds. What God says must have a greater reality to us than anything the senses tell us.
a. If Jesus Christ stepped out of the unseen realm into this room and spoke to everyone here who is sick or in pain, He would say:
1. I bore that sickness and pain for you. You are healed. I Pet 2:24
2. When I rose from the dead for you as you, I left every curse of sin behind, including sickness. You are healed. Eph 2:5,6
3. The same Holy Spirit who reanimated my physical body once the price for sin was paid, is in you now, quickening your mortal body. You are healed. Rom 8:11
4. I have given you the authority to cast off the works of satan. Tell that disease to leave. It has no right in your body. You are healed.
Matt 28:18,19; Mark 16:17,18
b. These facts have to be so real to you that even when sense evidence contradicts God’s word, you aren’t moved.
c. I know what the Bible says, but = you are sense ruled and living as a mere man.
9. But, if you will begin to meditate on God’s word, that will change.
1. We need to meditate primarily on what Jesus has done for us through His death, burial, and resurrection.
a. It is through the Cross that God fulfilled His plan to have sons and daughters conformed to the image of Christ. Eph 1:4-7; Rom 8:29,30; Gal 4:4-7
b. The Holy Spirit has been sent to guide us into the reality (realization) of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. John 16:13-15; I Cor 2:9-16
c. He has been sent to do in us all that Christ did for us on the Cross. Titus 3:5
2. It is important that we understand several things about this subject.
a. We have to get teaching from the Bible so that we know what Christ did for us.
b. It takes time to learn the facts we need to walk in victory. There are no ninety
day wonders in the kingdom of God.
c. We have to study things that don’t seem to directly relate to our life and needs.
3. Our meditation should focus on these general categories:
a. What God in Christ did for us through the Cross.
b. What God through the word and the Spirit did for us at the new birth.
c. What God is doing in us now through His word and Spirit.
d. What we are to the Father through Christ.
4. Included in those general categories would be these more specific areas of meditation:
a. The absolute integrity and reliability of the Bible. Heb 6:18; II Tim 2:13
b. The redemptive work of Christ — what He accomplished through the Cross.
Col 1:12-14
c. The new creation — the fact of receiving the life and nature of God in our spirits.
II Cor 5:17,18; II Pet 1:4; I John 5:11,12
d. God is the strength of my life. Phil 2:13; 4:13; I John 4:4
e. Surely He has born my sicknesses and carried my pain and with His stripes I am healed. I Pet 2:24
5. Meditation in the word can seem overwhelming until you realize that meditation is actually chewing spiritual food, the Bible. Matt 4:4; Jer 15:16
a. How do you chew food? You take small bites of one type of food at a time. You chew it thoroughly until you can swallow it.
b. We should take one scripture or one phrase from a scripture and go over and over it for a period of time.
c. We aren’t talking about taking two hours a day to do this.
1. We’re talking about turning the TV on fifteen minutes later than usual. Use that time to eat.
2. We’re talking about meditating on that phrase, that scripture, throughout the day as you live your life.
6. We’ve given numerous examples in previous lessons (and we’ll give more before we are finished), but here are some examples to give you the idea of what we mean.
a. I am what God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do. II Cor 5:16
b. I am God’s workmanship created through my union with Christ. Eph 2:10
c. God is in me. The Greater One is in me, working in me that which is well pleasing in His sight. Heb 13:21; I John 4:4
2. Renewing your mind until it is dominated by God’s word, building your spirit until it dominates your soul and body, will not happen automatically, nor will it happen over night.
3. But, it will happen if you take the time and make the effort to meditate on God’s word.