Meditation is a concept seldom used in Christian fellowship or teaching. This is partially because meditation has a connotation built into it that people want to stay away from. It seems to have come out of Eastern religions and does not look like it has an application within the Christian faith. But we are missing something if we do not gain an understanding of meditation. When we eliminate meditation and waiting for the Lord because of terminology, it becomes a problem because then we are eliminating the discipline of our time spent before Him to receive what we need to have imparted to our spirits.
Everything about Yeshua (Jesus) when He was in the flesh as the Son of Man was done by what God poured into Him. He was not freestanding to do things on His own initiative—even with the calling and anointing that He had (John 5:19). He received everything from the Father in the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures use the terminology “wait for the Lord”[1] or “wait on God.”[2] These Scriptures all have a similar meaning and message that is trying to convey something to us. We tend to focus on prayer. We talk about prayer, teach about prayer, and some even talk about a prayer of listening. Obviously, we do not want to only be telling God what we need and what we would like to see Him do. Instead, God needs to be speaking to us and filling us; therefore, we must provide time for listening and waiting on Him.
Meditation is very biblical. Joshua was told to meditate: “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8). Joshua was able to be strong and courageous because he meditated on the Lord. He meditated on His Word. He sought the Lord with his heart and his mind until his mind became conditioned to God’s ability and God’s enabling. The things that God has provided for us come to us as we meditate on His law, on His Word, and on Him day and night.
This idea of meditating on the Lord is so important. I encourage you to take a concordance and look up the word meditation; see how many times the Scriptures talk about our meditation. Look up the mind of Christ and see how our mind is to be focused on Him until we are able to draw all that He has provided for us. It is there for us. But do we really know how to appropriate these things and have them become our reality? Yeshua did it as a man, so the door is open for us in our human lives to learn to walk in the Spirit of God. By our meditation we lock into God and download all that He has provided for us. He has provided all things for life and godliness, but do we know how to download these provisions? I have faith that we will learn and seek the Lord with all our hearts until we are able to hear His voice and know His will and walk in His ways.
[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995). See Psalm 27:14, 33:20, 37:9, 34, 40:1, 130:5–6; Proverbs 20:22; Isaiah 8:17, 40:31; Zephaniah 3:8, Micah 7:7.
[2] See Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 62:1.
Listen to this entire message: GIG151 Meditation and the Mind of Christ