ICS Daily Devotions
Meditate on the Word of God
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate 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.
There is a high tendency for the thoughts in our mind to spin like a dynamo when we are under tremendous stress. We are thinking of the all the possible scenarios and most of the time they are the worst-case scenarios. We would have lost our joy, peace and hope once we continue to think of the negative and the worst-case scenarios. We need to prevent ourselves from spiralling into depression from hopelessness.
As Christians, we should be able to maintain peace, love and joy in the midst of the perfect storm in life. Let us allow the joy of the Lord in our hearts to be our strength. The key to maintaining peace in our heart and mind is to meditate on the Word of God, especially on those verses that are relevant to the situation that we are facing for the moment. Meditation begins by being still, and it takes time to be still in the midst of a fast pace society. Our mind needs time to slow down or be still just like it takes quite a few meters for a car traveling at 100km/h to come to a complete stop after you jam your brakes.
Biblical meditation calls for the filling of one’s mind with God’s Word of truth and life. Meditation can be done by bringing the scriptures to mind over and over again. We should be thinking about the scriptures so often that it ultimately becomes a part of our lives. Faith will then be developed on the word of scriptures that we are meditating upon because we are so convinced by the truth, as it has been digested in our mind and heart.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that HE IS, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
One of the suggestions for meditation is to remind ourselves that He is God. There is nothing too difficult for Him and He made faith the very condition of our mutual relationship. It is impossible to move the hand of God except through our faith in Him. In fact, the only way to please God is to have faith in who He is.
How many professing Christians are living their lives as though God were neither living nor existing? We have a tendency to take things into our own hands, and at times, it might make matters worse. It is easy to say that we trust God but it is not easy to walk in faith when the time comes for us to have absolute trust in Him. It is especially true when there is nothing placed before us that enables our senses to rely on. We are not used to living in this kind of lifestyle. Our faith in God is built upon the character of God and the promises that are found in the Word of God.
Let us approach God by faith in our daily living and especially so when we are in a stressful period of our lives. There is no other choice except to have faith in God because whatever that’s stressing us out is beyond us anyway. Having faith in God helps us to refocus or move our thought life away from the problem and direct us towards God and His divine solution for anything that our lives are facing.
Sermon series: Meditating on the Names of God
