A Mind of Meditation
In almost every religion a form of mediation is practiced. Hindus, Buddhists, Islamists, New Age, as well as Christians have meditation as a fundamental discipline enhancing and expressing their faith. But, sadly, many Christians are ignorant of the wealth of blessings attained through biblical meditation. As Christians, we need to discern and acknowledge that meditation is instructed in Scripture for a clear and beneficial purpose that enrich the life of faith with renewal and refocus.
Let’s discuss some basic principles about meditation. The soul purpose of meditation (in all forms of religions) is focus. What your focus is determines what religion you are associated with. While it would be interesting to talk about the various techniques of meditation in other religions, I want to stay on track about discussing what the believer is to focus on in Christian meditation. What does Scripture teach us about meditation?
“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law He meditates day and night.” Psalms 1:2
“I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways.” Psalms 119:15
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” Joshua 1:8
“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises.” Psalms 119:148
These are only a few of the many Scriptures urging and welcoming us into meditation. If we go back to the soul purpose of meditation, which is focus, these verses reveal exactly what our focus is supposed to be: Scripture; God’s Word; His precepts; His awesome works.
This is what brings focus: God’s Word, the renewer of our minds and the center of our souls.
Christian meditation is simple and shouldn’t be made too complicated. I will share some of the ways I meditate on Scripture, not as the rule but rather how the Lord has guided me to implant this discipline in my life. I would encourage those who don’t regularly practice biblical meditation to ask the Lord for ways He wants you to specifically cultivate this.
In my morning quiet time, I choose a verse (and sometimes just a part of a verse) and write it down in a journal. I then write my thoughts, feelings, or convictions underneath the verse. Writing about something helps me remember it more. I then try to think (meditate) on that verse several times throughout my day. You could choose times around breakfast, lunch and dinner, or when you wake up and before you go to bed. The goal is to think about the Scripture several times throughout your day to help refocus your mind and heart on God.
Biblical meditation washes your mind with a pure truth, smoothing out false thinking, motives, or world-views contrary to Scripture, replacing darkness with marvelous light.
We need this discipline of meditation. Our minds are a battlefield and Scriptural meditation is a faithful weapon.
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Filed under: Devotional Life, Reflections, Scripture on August 4th, 2008
Welcome. I'm Kaysie, 22. Jesus follower. Loves sunshine, trees, hot tea, books, music, family and the gospel. Also has a weird fascination with paper. 
I will admit that I definitely need to meditate more on the Word of God. Sometimes I fall into the habit of just reading and then I later realize that I can’t even recall what I read earlier in the day. It would be a good discipline for me to stop and think about it for awhile – just like a Selah in the Psalms. Thank you for your encouragement, Kaysie!
I need to practice meditating more… growing up (even in a Christian home) the word came with negative connotations… even though it is biblical. Thank you for your suggestions regarding examples of meditation, I am really looking forward to putting it into practice!
what a wonderful reminder!
I’m glad you posted this! For a long time, I never really heard of Biblical metitation and didn’t even know what it meant. Your example is very helpful!
Personally, I like to meditate using the Bibilical Names of God; it’s simpler and more to the point in allowing us to absorb those Biblical characteristics. For example, “Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-Shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.” [Judges 6:24] Therefore, Jehovah-Shalom for peace.
Wow! Great post. I just got back home from a wonderful weekend with meditation as one of my goals. I’ve been just thinking about the verses throughout the day, and in the morning doing this little routine my Pastor showed me.
If you were meditating on “The Lord is my shepherd” you’d say, out loud, “THE Lord is my shepherd, The LORD is my shepherd, the Lord IS my shepherd, The Lord is MY shepherd, The Lord is my SHEPHERD” and you do that with the whole verse. It’s really great for cementing the verse in your memory, you end up repeating it so many times!
Thanks for your post!
Thank you so much for sharing your how-to (even though everyone is different). I really appreciate knowing what other Christians are doing so that I have a good jumping off point. This makes a lot of sense and I completely share your interest in knowing how other religions meditate.
Hey Kaysie, how do you choose which verses you read? Is it random, or just what you are reading next?
Camille
Hey Camille, great question. Right now I am “mediating” through Psalms 139. It is great to think about. I normally go through the Psalms and pick a chapter to go through one verse at a time.
I’m going to go meditate right now!
I like your site.
You have a new header photo since last time I was here… I like it!
Thanks for sharing this post. I’m still working on making meditation a regular habit; your encouragement inspires me!
Oh wow, Kaysie, I can’t tell you how much I need to hear this! I need to work on meditation…on doing it regularly and without rushing through so that I can check it off my “to-do list.” I so appreciate you sharing how you meditate. I also appreciate that you made the point that meditation doesn’t have to be complicated. I over-complicate my quiet time a lot and your points really encouraged me to stop worrying about “doing it right” and to just do it…in whatever way God leads me to.