MAYBE UNORTHODOX BIBLICAL MEDITATION WILL WORK FOR YOU!
If you want to be more than you are, meditation is a gateway to mental renewal.
That's the point I made in
last week's blog post. However, someone might rightfully ask, "if meditation is so good for you, how you do it?"
I will tell you what's worked for me. And it has
not been the traditional approach.
Orthodox Ways to Meditate
This is a summary of common approaches and instructions for meditating that I found on a reputable blog:
Five Ways to Meditate on a Verse:
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Picture it - Visualize the scene in your mind.
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Pronounce it - Say the verse aloud, each time emphasizing a different word.
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Paraphrase it - Rewrite the verse in your own words.
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Personalize it - Replace pronouns or people in the verse with your own name.
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Pray it - Turn the verse into a prayer and say it back to God.
These are all suggestions that are common in books and articles on biblical meditation, and many have found them helpful. And I think they have value. In fact, I have used all five of these methods on occasion.
Unorthodox Way to Meditate
However, none of these approaches were enough for me to become a serious meditator. They have been supporting help for me, but not primary help.
What has worked for me is an approach I learned many years ago in Gary Smalley’s book,
Change Your Heart, Change Your Life (a book I highly recommend).
I memorize a verse or passage so well I can say it as fast as an auctioneer. That is key. Otherwise your thoughts are limited by trying to
remember the passage. Until then, you don’t really own the passage.
You can take your time memorizing, though. Try reading the passage every day for 30 days before even attempting to memorize it, if you wish. That makes the memorization process much easier.
Then, I review the passage every day, simply saying it silently in my mind, or sometimes saying it out loud. As I do this, sometimes nothing happens in my mind or heart. I get no particular insights, observations, or inspiration.
Other times I'll go through the passage and something jumps out at me… an insight, observation or inspiration, etc. Another time I may go through the same passage and something
different jumps out at me. But, not every time. In fact, not usually.
I'm happy when something jumps out at me, but if it doesn’t, I am still convinced that I'm doing something very important because the repetition is burning the truth of Scripture more and more deeply into my
neural pathways, and more deeply into my subconscious.
This has two benefits.
First, the truth of the Scripture jumps into my mind more readily on a conscious level, which is very helpful on a practical, day-to-day basis.
Second, I know that that truth is sinking into my subconscious through repetition where it transforms my fundamental attitudes, values and behavior over time.
Sometimes, as I’m going through a day, a circumstance will arise that causes a passage to come to mind, and I will meditate on it right then, a time that I had not set aside for meditation. Of course, this would not have happened had I not reviewed the passage repeatedly before the circumstance arose.
At times, if I am still trying to be sure I have absorbed the passage, I will call on some of the traditional ways listed above. Particularly, I may rewrite the passage in my own words, replace pronouns or other words with my name (for instance, subsisting my name for the word “love” in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a), or pray the passage back to the Lord.
But, I do not use those ways regularly. They have occasional value for me, not regular value. That's not to say they aren’t valuable for others, because they clearly are. So if you find the list above to be helpful, by all means use it.
But if you don't find it especially helpful, then memorize, memorize, memorize so that you can say the passage as fast as an auctioneer.
Then review the passage at least once a day… more often is better (when you’re getting up, when you’re going to bed, when you’re driving)… and wait for the Lord to give you insights, observations, and applications to your life.
If nothing happens in a given day, however, take solace in the fact that the repetition is burning the truth more deeply into your conscious mind where it often helps you in the moment, and is driving it deeper into your subconscious where it changes your fundamental attitudes, values and behavior over time.
I have found that, because of the neurological principles I listed at the end of
last week's blog post, repetition has been the primary key to having Scripture transform my mind, not a list of various on-the-spot approaches.
It's unorthodox, perhaps, but it worked well for Gary Smalley and it has worked well for me. If you are not yet a regular meditator, I hope this unorthodox approach might be helpful and encouraging for you.
If you haven't already downloaded it, I've also created a short video,
Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You, that has some additional helpful tips on memorizing and meditating on scripture and is currently free to my email subscribers
by signing up here.
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