How Do I Meditate on the Word of God?

Executive Summary

To meditate on the Word of God as it tells you to do in Joshua 1:8, what you basically do is say it quietly to yourself for an uninterrupted period of time. Day and night means at least twice a day. You need to keep muttering the promises and commands of God without pausing, so Satan and your own thoughts cannot interrupt what you are writing on your heart through speaking. Yes, we need to talk the Word of God to ourselves. When we hear our own voice, we tend to believe it more than if we hear someone else saying it. That is why it is always good to hear yourself saying God’s truth. It will ultimately cause you to believe it, and this PLEASES GOD. God is pleased when we believe in what He says enough to say it to ourselves. You don’t have to say the exact words of Scripture all the time when you meditate on the Word. You should also say what the Scriptures imply for you. For example, you could mutter to yourself: “My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory.” (Philippians 4:19) Then you could add: “My God is supplying all my needs according to His riches in glory. All my needs are supplied by God. My needs are supplied. Thank God my needs are supplied” and so on. This is perfectly legitimate because all these sayings are in harmony with what the Word of God is promising to an obedient, believing disciple of Jesus who is walking in love and is “in Christ”. The statements made in the example I give above are inferred by the Scripture in Philippians 4:19. 

What you need to try out is this: pick a promise and keep saying it as much as you can. Also you might be led to say related promises out of other verses of the Bible you may know. Keep stating the promise and the conclusion as it applies to you. Talk, mutter and think about what this means – when you talk the promise, you cannot simultaneously dialogue with your fears and entertain the opposite conclusion. By feeding on the Word like this, your heart, mind and believing will change and the results will become evident sooner or later – often very soon.

The Biblical Meaning of Meditation

There are actually two different Hebrew words translated meditate in the Old Testament. One is found in Psalm 119:78, ” but I will meditate in thy precepts.”. The word for meditate here is siyach (Strongs Hebrews 7878). This word means to “to muse, meditate upon, study, ponder”. It can also be used of talking, singing or speaking. At its root it means to ponder. This is an important kind of meditation, but not the only biblical kind.

Then there is the meditate of Joshua 1:8 (see below). This is the Hebrew word Hagah and it has quite a different shade of meaning. It means to “moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, meditate, devise, plot, speak“. It is basically mostly about muttering the Word. So if we are to  meditate (Hebrew H1897: Hagah) in God’s Word day and night it means we are to mutter it, utter it and speak it. In a way, we are “devising” and “plotting” with it when we do this. We are plotting a successful outcome, a God outcome, in the circumstances of our lives.

Both of these kinds of meditation are very important. The first makes use of the imagination more and considers a thing God says from different angles. It includes imagining the realization of God’s Word. It is a part of sanctified living. But the second kind (hagah) is the kind of meditation which cannot be done without using your mouth to speak it. This kind of meditation, if practiced using God’s Word, steers our life into prosperity and success.

Avoid Pagan Meditation Practices – Mindfulness, “Breath Prayers” etc

Don’t be fooled by teachers of contemplative spirituality, who might encourage you to engage in a kind of “meditation” which the world itself endorses and promotes. It is not God’s will for us to blank out our minds in order to relax, or to meditate on everything we are experiencing “now” as if being conscious of our own breathing or every little thing around us was the key to being like Jesus. Many of these forms of meditation are not biblical at all. They are connected to Buddhist, Hindu and New Age spirituality and no matter how they may or may not seem helpful in relieving stress, they will ultimately lower your defenses against deceiving spirits from Satan who can mask their true identity by appearing as “angels of light” – even though their true agenda is to deceive, destroy and torment you forever. Don’t get into it. We need to begin to meditate with our minds and mouths full of God’s commands, not thoughts of our own breathing or the ends of our nose or whatever the current fashion is in “mindfulness” seminars. After a while of meditating on the Word, our minds may get very quiet and we may be able to focus our attention on the Lord in hopeful expectation and silence. This can be very powerful, as long as we have entered into this state of silent waiting in the right way, by way of God’s Word. God can move in our lives in these times, but it is His initiative that counts here. In general, we should meditate on the Word itself – God’s commands and promises.

God’s commands (especially the commands of Jesus) will fill our born again spirits with joy. They will lead us on to victory and true godly success.

And we need godly success, because the alternative is to fail in the things of God, or in the things of life. And that is not God’s best.

Success is Promised if you Keep Muttering God’s Word at least twice daily

 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate (Hebrew H1897: Hagah) (mutter) in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8, NKJV)

There is nothing wrong with having the kind of success God wants us to have. God wants us to have good success. He is not wanting us to succeed at doing the wrong things, but the right things. The Word of God will direct our thoughts, words and actions towards the RIGHT things – things that lead to godly blessings.

Successful people talk to themselves. But they talk life to themselves, not fear. A lot of people psychologically program themselves to fail by talking and thinking their fears, worries and anxieties. God does not want us to do that. One remedy for that kind of harmful thinking and self-talk is to bridle our own tongues by forcing ourselves to speak the Word of God – especially God’s promises about the situation we are facing.

However, to be successful as a child of God we need more than a positive mental attitude, or even an expectation that God will do great things. The reality is that we need OBEDIENCE to God. We need that – especially if we want to be successful, rather than under continual painful discipline for disobedience. So how can we have the kind of faith that leads to corresponding actions, to heartfelt obedience?

Mediation on God’s Instructions Leads to Obedience

“meditate (hagah) on it … that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it [God’s Law].” (Joshua 1:8)

This strongly implies that without speaking God’s instructions and commands to ourselves, we are not going to do them either. 

Speaking something to ourselves drums it in in such a way that we will eventually change. There is power in the words we speak – even power to open the door to the power of God’s Word to transform our own lives. But we need to DO IT.

Ask around. Why is it that so few of the people who claim to be Christians in the world actually do the things Jesus commanded? One reason would be: few enough can even tell you what it is that Jesus commanded. Satan always tries to take those instructions from our mind. One way to get the words of Jesus to stick in us is to speak them to ourselves again and again. How many of us do this?

Tell yourself what God told you to do. If you do that more often, you will obey more often. Being obedient to God, you will love God and others much better. You will then abide in Christ, His Word will abide in you, and you will get your prayers answered! (John 15:7)

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7)

This is a New Testament version of Joshua 1:8. How do we get Jesus’ words to abide in us? We can do it the way Joshua was told to do it – by meditating on them – by muttering them to ourselves. We can even do it by singing these words to ourselves. I know I took many of the commands and words of Jesus and put them to music, using catchy tunes God gave me. These are some of the methods we can use. I believe the best one is to meditate on what Jesus said and say it to ourselves. The most important commands even of the Old Testament Law were to love God with all you’ve got and to love your neighbor as yourself. How can we get these commands to shape our thinking, our agenda, and our lives? By deliberately meditating on them regularly. It won’t be enough to just say it once or twice or a few times a year. These things need to be etched into our spirits and souls deeply. They run counter to the natural and carnal inclinations of our own lives. We can be changed by meditating on God’s Word, so that we obey the Lord.

Eat the Word of God as Spiritual Food for Strength and Joy 

“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (1 Peter 2:2)

I used to think this verse was only for baby Christians. What I now see is that it is telling us to desire the pure milk of the Word as much as a baby desires its mother’s milk. Desure it that much! It is best if we can have a feed every few hours. How can we do this? I believe it is by chewing on the Word, especially by saying clearly understood promises and commands from the Bible over and over to ourselves. Somehow this internalises the Word in us. It says we will grow thereby. We will grow in strength, in joy, in faith, in peace and in all ways, depending on how well we do this.

Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; (Jeremiah 15:16)

If we learn to really “eat” God’s Words, rather than merely letting them wash over us (which is also helpful I might say). If we learn to EAT God’s Word it will be joy and rejoicing in our heart. A great cure for depression! “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). If our joy is lacking, feed on the Word through meditation on the good things of God until joy comes. Of course, if God is speaking to us in the process about changing our lives or priorities, we need to take heed and do it. We cannot have fullness of joy while we resist God’s will.

How to Meditate

This is an individual thing – and there is no rigid formula. The Holy Spirit will guide you, bringing commands and promises from the Bible to mind. Say them to yourselves both quickly and slowly. Say the parts of these verses that speak to you again and again. Do this for 10 minutes straight, or even longer if you can. Believe that you will do your part and God will do His part. Do not pause to wait for your own contrary thoughts or the thoughts of evil spirits to have their say. If you trust God, then just keep speaking and muttering His words and promises. God will use it to have a supernatural power in changing your mind, your heart, the spiritual atmosphere around you, and even your circumstances in the end. Believe that through meditation (muttering) of God’s Word, the power of God will bring change and blessing and success into your life.

Additionally, you can also contemplate the results of God’s Word being fulfilled. You can ask yourself, “What would it feel like if I was totally forgiven, justified, or totally healed, or whatever it is that you are meditating on and believing for. Doing this kind of exercise is a different form of meditation, which works alongside the meditation of speaking the Word.

God bless you as you do these things.