Meditating on God’s Word: Own It

Whatever you already enjoy, can become a way of thinking about and engaging with God’s Word because this is where we make it personal. Using the imagination and the senses allows us to process the information in a way that moves it from knowledge toward experience. We won’t fully experience the truth of the Bible until we put it into practice, which is what we will talk about in the next chapter.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.

 

Meditating on God’s Word: Tell It

After you’ve imagined the people and places, it’s time to put them in motion. Visualize yourself as one of the characters in the story. Putting yourself into the action makes it personal. It connects you at a deep level with the reality of the situation.

Write it out, if you want. It’s a wonderful way to make the Bible come alive—and it’s a technique I used in two previous books to help readers engage with the Bible character and understand the circumstances of his or her life better.

This is especially helpful with people like Jeremiah, whose personal story is scattered throughout fifty-two chapters and broken up by long sections of prophecy. After using your Bible dictionary and concordance to find all references to Jeremiah, you can piece together the events of his life. This is study.

Then, retell the events of his life as a story. This is meditation.

It takes you deeper.

It engages the senses.

It makes it believable.

It makes it personal.

When you see yourself in the story, when you put yourself in someone’s shoes, you see how God interacted with this person. This awareness helps you interact with God’s truth in a personal way.

Once you’ve told the story, try changing characters. Tell the same story from a different point of view to see what happens. Often you can gain additional insights because there is truth and significance hidden in each point of view. In my book, Best Friends with God: Falling in Love with the God Who Loves You, I told the story of the Prodigal Son from the older brother’s perspective. Changing the point of view can bring new insights to the forefront.

Try it a third time with a different character and compare the results. Have fun engaging the Bible. This is meditation.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.

 

Meditating on God’s Word: Personalize It

Another way of paraphrasing a Bible verse or passage is to insert your name in it and change it to first person “I” instead of “you” or “they.” Using your favorite Bible translation, substitute pronouns to put yourself in the text. You might combine personalization with the act of paraphrasing the text into your own words. Sometimes the personalization seems awkward, but it can reinforce ideas for us in a personal way.

Verse: “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

Personalized: “Christy, don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, Christy, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Verse: “For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned his back on them, but has listened to their cries for help” (Psalm 22:24).

Personalized: “God has not ignored or belittled my suffering. He has not turned his back on me, but has listened to my cries for help.”

Verse: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

Personalized: “[When I am filled with love] I am patient and kind. I am not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. I do not demand my own way. I am not irritable, and I keep no record of being wronged. I do not rejoice about injustice but rejoice whenever the truth wins out. I never give up, never lose faith, am always hopeful, and endure through every circumstance.”

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.

 

Meditating on God’s Word: Paraphrase It

Let’s start with an easy one. When you read a Bible passage, take time to study it a bit. Remember? Follow your curiosity on at least three things. Then work with the text on a more personal level by simply writing out the passage in your own words. Follow the original flow and meaning, but say it the way you would say it. You might find it helpful to imagine yourself telling it to a friend in a coffee shop.

Write it down. You could work your way through a book of the Bible (start with a small one like Philippians) and gradually write out your own paraphrase bit by bit. This simple act is more powerful than you might think. By putting it in your own words, you’ve made it personal. It puts you a step closer to experiencing it.

This is an excerpt from Sweeter Than Chocolate: Developing a Healthy Addiction to God’s Word. Used by permission.