MEDITATION: YOUR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (Joshua 1:8)
This scripture is your recipe for success. The Amplified version says: “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe {and} do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely {and} have good success.” Notice it didn’t say “God shall make your way prosperous,” but that “YOU shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely in the affairs of life and have good success.” But for this to happen, you must meditate on the Word.
This is what many haven’t learnt; the importance and power of meditation. The subject of your meditation should be consistent with the provisions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Meditating on anything else that’s not consistent with the Gospel will not produce lasting results. Meditating on God’s Word often, will make you deal wisely in the affairs of life. You’ll become circumspect and penetratingly perceptive; you’ll have extraordinary amplitude of comprehension.
The wisdom of God will function in you so much that when you make decisions or take actions on anything, it will be just right. Learn to consciously meditate on the Scriptures. In Psalm 119:97, David said, “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” No wonder he was so successful and dealt wisely as king over Israel. As you think through, talk and shout God’s Word in meditation, you’re programming yourself for the upward and forward life, and your success will be apparent to all.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEDITATION
For a long time, many of God’s children equated meditation with just thinking or pondering over the Word. However meditation is much more than thinking deeply on a subject. That is just one aspect of meditation; there’s more to it revealed in God’s Word.
Meditation is one of the Godly exercises that you must practice for a life of dominion and glory. It is a vital activity for every child of God, and its power cannot be overemphasized. In Joshua 1:8, the Bible says “this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate on it therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Three levels of meditation
The word “meditation” in the verse of scripture above is translated from the Hebrew word “hagar” which means to “imagine; mutter”. It also means to “roar”. This immediately tells us that there are three levels of meditation, each of which is vital.
1. The first level of meditation is to visualize God’s Word as you study it. This means to ponder or think quietly on God’s Word in pictures. As you keep these pictures in your mind, the Word will be driven into your spirit and will take root there.
2. The second level of meditation is to mutter God’s Word. This means to speak God’s Word under your breath, to yourself, over and over again. As you do this, the Word will become personal to you. It will go beyond the written page, beyond the reading of your mind and intellect, into your spirit. It will become God’s Word to you, and not some distant words written in the Bible.
3. The third level of meditation is to roar God’s Word! At this stage, you shout God’s Word out loud. In the book of Isaiah 31:4, the Bible says, “For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, like as the lion, and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them…”
In this verse of scripture, the Bible beautifully translated the same Hebrew word “hagar” as “roar”. The purpose of this kind of meditation is to drown every other thought in your consciousness, including thoughts that the devil may try to bring and cause the Word of God in your spirit to rise. When you begin shouting God’s Word to yourself like this, some other folks may think something is wrong with you, but continue. The Bible says “…for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”.
BE VORACIOUS FOR THE WORD
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified (Acts 20:32).
The Word of God gives you much more than a moral code of conduct; it builds, lifts, transforms you and catapults you to your inheritance and destiny in Christ. Proverbs 11:9 tells us that through knowledge—revelation knowledge of God’s Word—shall the just be delivered into their inheritance.
Thus, you have to know the Word, store it in you, and consciously put it to work in your life. That’s your guarantee of a life of ever-increasing glory. The Bible says, “...All things are yours” (1 Corinthians 3:21); that means there’s nothing you require today that hasn’t already been made available to you by God through the Word.
This is one reason you must meditate on the Word. Become voracious in your passion, hunger, and appetite for the Word. There’s no way of appropriating the blessings of God to your life without the accurate knowledge of the Word. We triumph by the Word. We reign in life through the Word. We win, excel, and prevail over the challenges of life through, and with the Word.
The more you study and meditate on the Word, the more inspired and excited you get about the life in Christ. The knowledge of God’s Word gives you an undeniable conviction about the transcendent life of victory, righteousness, success, and dominion that Christ has brought to us! Your victory is in the Word of God, so study it to know it, for only through the knowledge will you discover and enjoy your glorious inheritance in Christ.
Study the Word for what it does in your spirit. The Word in you goes into your spirit, soul, and body, and becomes part of your being; making you what it talks about. When you ingest and digest the Word, it becomes one with your spirit, thereby enhancing and improving the quality of your personality.
Bombard your mind with the Word of God, until it completely inundates your thinking, and your life will go in one direction only: upward and forward!
FIX YOUR GAZE ON THE WORD
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16 - 17).
Through the Scriptures, God reveals Himself, His Kingdom, His will, nature, and character to us. In addition, He lets you know who you are through His Word. You can’t know yourself better than God does. So, whatever He says about you His description of you in His Word is the reality.
Our lives are influenced by what we hear every day. The things you hear and give attention to control your happiness, your joy, the decisions you make, and everything about you. That’s why God wants us to rather hear, and give attention to His Word only, because that’s the only information guaranteed to make your life better; change you from glory to glory! The Bible says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Hallelujah!
It’s the reason studying and meditating on God’s Word is of great value. The Word is like an album; you just keep seeing pictures of you, and it gets better all the time. But if you take your focus off the Word, you start looking like everything else that you see around you.
Never take your focus away from the Word of God, because your glory is in the Word. Refuse to give attention or consideration to the negative circumstances which you can see with your natural eyes, for they’re subject to change. Rather, fix your gaze on the eternal realities in God’s Word.
BUILD ON A FIRM FOUNDATION
In architecture, the higher you want to build a house, the deeper the foundation has to be. The great buildings we see all over the world, were not built in a hurry or carelessly. The Lord Jesus highlights this same principle in Matthew 7:24-25, which states thus;
“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which buildeth his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
The foundation of a man’s life, determines how successful he will be in life. This simple, yet powerful principle, underscores the importance of the right foundation for the structure you want to build. It is applicable to whatever you want to build in life; it may be your career, business, finances, family and relationships.
The reason for the problem inherent in some people’s lives is the absence of a deep and firm foundation; and that is the Word of God. Paul said, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). And Jesus is the tabernacle of the Word of God in flesh.
Build a solid foundation for your life with the Word of God. Take time to meditate on the Word. Don’t speed-read your bible. Let the Word soak in your spirit. And use it to imbibe godly habits into your character. As you do this, you drive your roots deeper in God, and no amount of trials in the world can shake you because you are built on a firm foundation.