Fundamentals of Faith II: Meditate the Word

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

Joshua 1:8, AMPC

Have you ever let the Bible get in the way of what you believe? In other words, have you ever run across a truth from God’s Word that contradicted your previous patterns of thinking? What happened? You had a choice to make at that moment: what did you do? Did you push aside the fresh revelation from the Bible and continue on believing and doing what you were doing before? Or, did you soften your heart, accept God’s Word as fully true, and courageously turn from your previous habits and fully embrace the reality of the Bible with faith?

If you are like me, you’ve probably been here many times, and I’m the first to say that I haven’t always hit the bullseye–at least not the first time. Sometimes when a new truth from the Bible contradicts my (admittedly comfortable) way of life, I am slow to change. Other times I am lightning fast to change. It happens!

For me, this concept of believing and speaking in faith took some time to settle deep into my heart and become part of my persona. Usually when something takes a little while to sink in, it’s because I am “wrapping my head around it”. And that’s usually the problem. You know that the natural man cannot receive the things of God, for they are foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). This means that revelation from God will not come through your mind. It comes through your spirit.

Meditating the Word

We must allow the God-kind-of-faith (faith that receives His promises and produces Bible results) to settle deep down into our spirits so we can live and operate with the power, love, and life that Jesus died for us to have.

Notice the interesting language God used in Joshua 1:8,

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

Joshua 1:8

Meditating on the Book of the Law (the Bible) results in a prosperous way, wise dealings, and the promise of good success. I’d say this is an important concept to focus on! There is much to this verse, but I want to focus your attention on the practice of Biblical meditation. What does it mean to meditate the Bible? What connection does this have with our discussion on the Fundamentals of Faith?

The way to get something down into your spirit is through Scriptural revelation and meditation. Revelation means unveiling something hidden. The Holy Spirit unveils the truths of God’s Word to us as we consume the Word of God through study, prayer, and meditation.

Meditation simply means “chewing on something” long enough until it becomes part of who you are. You can read the Bible all you want with your mind, but without truly meditating on God’s Word, you will never allow the spiritual nutrients of the Bible to sink deep into your spirit and become part of your spiritual DNA. Meditating on the Word of God does for your spirit what eating food does for your natural body.

The Pineapple Study

Let’s do a quick thought experiment: picture yourself taking a pineapple and setting it on the table in front of you. You begin to study the pineapple, writing in your notebook every little thing you notice about its appearance, smell, and feel. You take it in your hand and begin to turn it all around, stopping every few seconds to record your observations in your notebook. You even knock on its tough skin, taking note of the hollow sound it produces. Taking a knife, you cut it open and make detailed notes about your slice of the fresh, sweet smelling fruit.

This kind of scientific approach to a pineapple certainly has its benefits; you are able to describe the pineapple and have developed a rudimentary understanding of how this particular fruit looks, feels, and smells.

With this approach, however, you do not receive any of the pineapple’s nutrients into your body. You only feed your mind with information; you don’t feed your body. You will walk away from the table just as hungry–if not more so–than when you sat down!

Meditating the Word of God extracts spiritual nutrients that simply cannot be extracted through an external (though heartfelt) reading or discussion in the Bible. The same is true of listening to a good sermon or message from your pastor. While he is indeed anointed of God to preach and teach the Bible, you must take the truths of God’s Word into your heart through personal revelation–time, prayer, and meditation–in order to reap the benefits. Your pastor may present a buffet for you, but he will not eat for you. This is one of the most essential elements of God-faith: faith comes when you meditate the Word of God for yourself.

How Exactly Does Faith Come?

We are talking about Faith That Receives, or faith that produces results. But how exactly does that faith come? Do I automatically have great faith because I am born again? Does it come because I go to church? Does it come because I am obedient and faithful in paying tithes? Does it come by prayer? By spending enough time in worship? By having someone more spiritual than you lay hands on me?

No, a thousand times no–to all of the above. We may need to adjust our perspectives, but let’s allow the Bible to teach us something today.

According to God’s Word, faith only comes from one place.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Romans 10:17, NKJV

The ability to believe God for something He has promised (to operate in God-faith) comes only through the Word of God. Let’s explore this fundamental further.

Faith comes by hearing

In Romans 10, the Holy Spirit describes the glorious truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Paul. He makes the simplicity of the Gospel unmistakable in verse 9 and 10,

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:9-10, NJKV

What a glorious truth! What could be more exciting than this?!

I am so excited writing this – I have to take a quick moment. If you cannot say for 100% certainty, “I am saved, and I know that all my sins are forgiven, and I am going to Heaven,” then, friend, now is the time for you to get saved. Just read those verses again and follow God’s direction: confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead after eradicating your past sinful nature. With your heart you simply believe that God provided your righteousness through Jesus (Just believe God took care of that for you!) and with your mouth, simply make the confession before Heaven and earth that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. Praise God forevermore.

Friend, if you just received salvation, I am jumping up and down with you right now. I would love to hear from you about it! If not me, you’ve got to tell somebody. You just experienced the greatest miracle possible; greater than any healing or financial miracle. Your spirit was just born again. Made brand new. You are as righteous and holy right now as Jesus is.

Even you, fellow believer, take a moment and just rest in the goodness of your salvation. God has made us clean! White as snow! Sinless! Spotless! Perfect in His sight. No wonder why the rare Greek word for gospel in the New Testament can be translated too good to be true news.

Back to the faith conversation. Wow, I am excited. I think someone just got born again. I’m hardly able to sit down. Breathe, breathe. Okay.

In Romans 10:17, the Holy Spirit summarizes His revelation about how saving grace comes to a person, Jew or Gentile, by explaining that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Similar to our pineapple experiment, it is entirely possible (and quite popular, unfortunately) for people to talk the talk about faith without having an intimate, personal relationship with the power of God that Jesus made available to us. In other words, we must eat the pineapple to experience its nutrients. We must consume the Word of God for faith to come. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

The Greek word for word of God is one of my favorite words in the whole Bible. This word is rhema, or the spoken, uttered, or living word of God. The Holy Spirit’s word choice here is very significant. If He would have used the word logos (the written Word) instead of rhema, we would conclude that faith comes by studying the Bible, only. But since He used rhema, we know that revelation, meditation, and ENCOUNTER with Jesus are now required in order for faith to come. In other words, faith comes by an active hearing with a person’s heart; not an intellectual study with one’s head.

Closing Thoughts

I want to close today by honoring your (yes, you reading this!) commitment to the Word of God. You may be thinking that your daily Bible reading practice is lacking, or that you aren’t walking in this meditation business, but I am here to encourage you – your commitment to hold fast to the Bible is worthy of honor and respect. Even if you’ve only been a child of God for thirty seconds, you have chosen to stand for what is right, to draw a line in the sand and say to the world, “Come hell or high water, I am standing on the Bible. The Bible is not outdated or obsolete; it is the inspired Word of God. I will have what it says I can have, and I will be who it says I am to be.”

Meditating the Word is an essential fundamental of faith. God promises that meditating and acting like the Bible is true (the simple definition of faith) always results in a prosperous way, wise dealings, and good success. This is the way of Biblical faith. This is what God wants for each and every one of His precious children. This is what Jesus came to earth to produce for His Beloved.

It’s not enough to know just enough Scripture to rattle something off when faced with a mountain that needs to be moved. No, acting on Bible faith that manifests from your spirit–remember, faith comes by hearing the Word of God– will produce Bible results. Once you read something, you need some time to meditate that truth until it becomes intricately and irrevocably woven into your DNA. When that happens, you will begin to flow in God-faith as a lifestyle, and others will see it and recognize that you have “been with Jesus.“

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash