Intimacy with God: Be Intentional Part 5

Our working definition of intimacy is a warm, personal, private friendship developed through a long association.  

The question we are working to answer in this blog series is this: What does intimacy with God look like?  

As I state each week, while this is not an exhaustive list, I believe intimacy comes through our times in prayer, worship, reading the Word, meditating on God, and soaking in the Lord’s presence.  

Over the past two weeks we unpacked the topic of worship. Today I want to look at meditating on God. 

Meditation is defined: to engage in contemplation or reflection. Biblical meditation then can be defined as: pondering the Word in our hearts, preaching it to our own souls, and personally applying it to our own lives and circumstances. It is how we sanctify our thinking and bring it into submission to Christ—taking every thought captive.i 

We know that Jesus is the Word made flesh. John 1:14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV) When we meditate on the Word we are then meditating on God.  

Why is meditation on the Word important? 

First, we meditate on the Word to grow into a familiar friendship with Jesus: intense intimacy and awful reverence.ii Revelation 3:20, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. (NLT) 

As we meditate on the Word, we begin to grow more familiar with the Savior. This familiarity should lead us into a deep intimacy while at the same time develop in us a holy fear and reverence for God.   

Secondly, we meditate on the Word to guard our hearts and minds. Proverbs 4:23, Above all else, guard your heart, or everything you do flows from it. (NIV)  

Psalm 119:11, I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (NIV)  

Joshua 1:8, 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 good success. (ESV) 

Third, we meditate on the Word to build up our faith. Romans 10:17, So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself). (AMPC)  

As we read the Word and meditate on it our faith begins to grow taller. We, being reminded of the mighty works of the Lord, begin to trust Him in new and deeper ways.   

Finally, we meditate on the Word to increase our ability to hear God’s voice and obey His Word.iii 

John 10:27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (ESV)  

Isaiah 30:21, And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (ESV)  

As we mediate on God’s Word, we will become quicker at identifying His voice as He speaks. It is important to remember, God will never say anything to us today that contradicts His written Word.   

Now that we have identified why we need to mediate we can look at my 4 R’s of Meditating on the Word: Read, Ruminate, Respond, Remember. 

First is read. None of us would consider going for days, weeks, or even months without feeding our physical bodies, unless we were fasting under the Lord’s leading, however, many Christians do just that with our spirit. It is necessary for us to ingest the Word. To take it in daily to feed our spirit man.  

I love to do a Bible reading plan on the You Version Bible App ®.  I love to listen to it while I crochet or do housework, or to sit down when it is quiet and read it for myself.  This is a great way to get the Word into our spirits. However, it is also necessary to take a deeper look at passages of scripture, allowing Holy Spirit to illuminate daily revelation to us. This is where meditation on the Word comes in.   

Begin by choosing a passage to meditate on. The passage you read could be one section of a book you are reading through; it might be a scripture you look up because of a situation you are facing (I.e. If you are struggling with having love for a coworker you might read 1 Corinthians 13.), or maybe a scripture you hear on the radio, in a sermon, or from a friend sticks out to you.  

Once you have chosen your passage read through it a few times.  Read it slowly and intentionally, asking Holy Spirit to give you new or deeper revelation into the passage. If you are a journaler, this is a good time to begin writing.   

Second, after reading through the passage a few times, we now begin to ruminate, to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually or slowly.iv We allow it to begin taking deep root in our spirit, thinking about it as we go throughout our day. It might be helpful to write the passage on an index card to keep in our pocket or place on our desk at work.  I like to put scripture on the mirror in our bathroom or on the kitchen window over my sink.  Keeping it intentionally before us is important.  In Deuteronomy 11:18, God commands the Israelites to, ”Put ye these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and hang ye them up for a token, or a sign, in your hands, and set ye them betwixt your eyes.“ (Put ye these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind ye them for a sign upon your hands, and set ye them before your eyes forevermore.) (WYC) 

Next, we begin to respond to the passage. We begin to apply it to our daily life.  Using the example of needing to have love toward a coworker, we read through 1 Corinthians 13, we ruminated on it, thinking about it throughout our day(s). Now we need to begin to put it into practice.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 

We begin looking for ways to demonstrate patience and kindness toward that coworker. Maybe we offer to assist them with a project or cover for them if they need time off.  We also intentionally remember not to become irritable or keep a record of their wrongs toward us.  When they are rude or offensive, we choose to respond with kindness and a gentle answer (Proverbs 15:1).  We do not allow ourselves to rehearse their offenses toward us in our minds but instead choose to forgive and release them into the care of Holy Spirit.  (I am not saying this is easy, however, it is Christlike!)  

Finally, we remember the truths we gleaned from the passage and the ways we applied it to our daily life. As we being to intentionally remember what we have learned, this new and/or refreshed revelation becomes a tool in our Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14)  

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 tells us that, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.” (NIV) 

Reading, ruminating on, responding to, and remembering the Word helps us to grow into a familiar friendship with Jesus, to guard our hearts and minds, to build up our faith, and to increase our ability to hear God’s voice and obey His Word. Meditating on the Word is a vital part of our spiritual growth and is a key component to maintaining our spiritual health! 

Works Cited:

i https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/explore-the-bible/meditating-on-god-s-word.html 

ii Foster, R. J. (2018). Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth. HarperOne. 

iii Foster, R. J. (2018). Celebration of discipline: The path to spiritual growth. HarperOne. 

iv https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ruminate