Spiritual Triathlon - Part 4

My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes. Psalm 119:48

Today we are going to look at the third “event” in our Spiritual Triathlon, Meditation. Since meditation is often associated with eastern religions you may be wondering if meditation is an activity that Christians should participate in. The answer is yes – it is Christian and it is biblical. Meditation is mentioned several times in the Bible; Isaac is recorded meditating in Genesis 24:36, Joshua is commanded by God to meditate in Joshua 1:8 and the Psalms are full of references to meditation.

Christian meditation is different from the eastern religion type of meditation. The goal of eastern meditation is to empty the mind and create a vacuum. Unfortunately nature abhors a vacuum and your mind will quickly be filled with something worldly. Christian Meditation is the emptying of the mind and filling it with something from God.

For our Spiritual Triathlon we will be meditating immediately after our Prayer and Scripture Reading, so we will be meditating on the Scripture we just read. So how do you meditate? Well if you know how to worry then you know how to meditate. Worry is meditating on our problems (not productive), Christian Meditation is “worrying” on God’s Word (very productive). There are many ways to meditate on God’s Word, I have listed some of my favorites for you;

1. Memorizing Scripture is an excellent way to meditate on The Word.

2. Re-read and concentrate on those portions of scripture that caused you discomfort or confused you.

3. Imagine the story read and recreate it in your head. What did it look like to someone watching? What did it smell like? What did it sound like?

4. Play “If you were there” what was going on in the persons mind when he/she was involved in the events described? What did they see and feel?

Try meditating for 5 min after you prayer and Bible reading – you are now spending just 15 minutes of your day intensely focused on God, easy. Tomorrow we are going to talk about something that must be present in all three events in order for them to be the most effective. Keep praying for me as I pray for you.