50 Days of Transformation - March 7th

It seems the winter weather has changed the schedules for our Transformation Series.  We will continue the series on Mental Health in NEXT WEEK’S DEVOTIONALS.  This week, let’s stay focused on transformation with some additional thoughts on Romans 12:2 and our SPIRITUAL and PHYSICAL transformation. You will find the questions from your Transformed book at the end which you can answer in the Notes pages or on the blank pages in the back of your Transformed book.

Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. (Psalm 119:27)

Transformation through Meditation

Sometimes as Christians we can be very good at 'playing Church.'  But God is not impressed with what we appear to be.  No, God is most interested in what we are like on the inside.  He wishes to change us – transform us - from the inside out.  His goal is to make us clean on the inside so that we would naturally be clean on the outside.  The application of God’s principles is not in surface obedience but in understanding of His ways.  One way He assures us we can be transformed is through meditation on His word. 

Perhaps meditation is one of the most neglected disciplines in the Christian life these days. Very few Christians have been taught how important it is to pay close attention to what they think about and how they think about it.  Some people are hung up on the middle-eastern aspect of meditation and only see it as wrong.  But the term meditate simply means to spend time in quiet thought for religious purposes or relaxation, to engage in contemplation or reflection, to focus one’s thoughts on: reflect on or ponder over.  That translates to think about it, dwell on it, be mindful of it always.

Our God is a jealous God.  He wants our full devotion – Body, Soul, and Spirit.  Knowing the Word of God is Knowing God and Christ as the Word.  Meditation is relationship building with God.

What is Christian meditation?

Meditation is the deliberate practice of turning our hearts and our minds to the full time task of bringing the Word of God to life in the daily activities of our lives.  As I said earlier, God wants to change us from the inside out.  He wants to renew our minds and hearts so they will become more like his own.  However, it is *only* by God's grace and power that this could ever happen.  We *cannot* change ourselves.  God uses a number of things to accomplish this but the primary tool He uses is His own word recorded in the Bible.  For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12). If we ignore it, He cannot work in us.  If we use it and put it to use, He will be able to enter into our lives and form us into what He wants us to be. Meditation on the Word of God allows its transforming power to renew our minds and change our hearts.  Only meditation can alter the core and fill that part of us that can change us because it goes to the heart.

Meditation is food for the soul/spirit

The practice of Eastern meditation and some forms of yoga begin with the emptying of the mind to seek a place of relaxation.  Christian Meditation is not the emptying of the mind but the filling of the mind with God’s Word.  It is the flushing of our mind as God’s Word pushes out the thoughts which destroy or inhibit us.  An open mind is an EMPTY mind and not what God desires.  We need to learn to apply the practice of meditation in order to “digest” the Word of God into our lives.  Meditation breaks down general truth to specific truths – it digests it.  When I meditate, I move the rational thought from my left brain to my right and create a concept, a picture or a vision which can be easily understood.  Reasoning makes decisions based on the moment.  Meditation connects our environment, heart, and mind to tell us where we are and who we are.  Meditation is a way God gives strength and power, sustenance, just like food for our bodies.  Meditation is “getting it.”  Then it begins to guide us.

Sometimes, because of our busy schedules, we don’t give God the time and attention He deserves.  It hurts Him, but it hurts us worse.  We need to take time to meditate; to be still and know He is God, and listen for His voice.  Make it a priority today to find time to meditate on God’s word and allow your life to be transformed.

Scripture to Claim:
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. Psalm 119:27

Questions and Prayer:

What Did You Hear?
What Do You Think?
What Will You Do?
Now Talk to God...