Meditating on the Word of God – Dr. Charles Stanley

Start your day off right with

the Free In-Touch Devotional.

Subscribe today.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

male announcer: “In Touch,” the
teaching ministry of Dr. Charles

Stanley, reaching the world
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Next on “In Touch,”
“Meditating on the Word of God.”

Dr. Charles Stanley:
I remember before I preached

the first sermon in my life, my
mother came in the bedroom and

she said, “I have a verse of
scripture I want you to read.”

I said, “Okay.”

And so, she pointed out
this verse in Joshua.

“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; then you

will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have success.

Have I not commanded you to be
strong and courageous!

Do not tremble or be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with

you wherever you go.”

What an awesome promise that was
to me because it was in my home

church and that’s the worst
place in the world that a young

fellow can start out his
ministry, because everybody

knows you.

They know all the good things
you’ve done, they all know the

things, mischievous things
you’ve done.

Let’s put it that-a-way.

But anyway, somehow, I remember
when I got to, I know exactly

where I was standing, at the
light pole on the corner of the

street and the church is right
across the street.

And I opened my Bible and I read
that verse one more time.

“Have I not commanded you to be
strong and of a good courage!

Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed, for the Lord your God

is with you wherever you go.”

And you know, when I walked up
there and just let go and just

preached my heart out.

And I’d never preached before
in my life.

Naturally, that verse became
precious to me.

But it wasn’t very long
after that.

And I came across a word in this
eighth verse that says, “This

book of the law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall

meditate on it day and night.”

And I thought,
“What’s meditation?”

I didn’t have any idea
what meditation was.

And so, I thought, “I’ll look
that up and see what it is.”

Well, over a period of time when
I began to understand what it

meant to meditate on the Word of
God, I can honestly say this.

That my most favorite thing in
life is to open the Word of God

and to meditate upon a passage
that He lays upon my heart,

because He becomes so real.

And the Word of God just
unfolds right before you.

And I think a lot of people read
the Bible and pray and talk to

God, but they never think about
meditating upon the passage.

And so, what I’d like to do in a
particular passage is I’d like

to give you an idea of how to
meditate upon the Word of God.

And I think once you start,
you’ll agree that just reading

the Bible is not enough.

And many people read the Word,
and many people pray, but most

people, I’m afraid, do not put
them all together.

It’s talking to God, listening
to God, but, listening to Him

through His Word.

If I want clear direction,
it isn’t that I think it up.

If I want clear direction, I’m
going to His Word and say,

“Lord, show me what are
you trying to say.”

And what you’re going to find
out is this: You begin to hear

God speak to you in ways you’re
not going to hear any other way.

Because you see, quickly reading
the scripture on your way

somewhere else, that’s not
meditating.

To meditate upon it means more
than just reading it.

So, let me just say first of
all, it involves several things.

If you’re going to meditate upon
the Word of God and you’re going

to get the most out of reading
the Bible, you’ve got to shut

the world out.

In other words, you can’t, watch
this, you can’t listen to

television and meditate upon the
Word of God.

That doesn’t work that way.

Or talk to your friends
on a phone.

Or talk to anybody else.

You shut the world out and
what do you naturally do?

That is, you shut
yourself up to God.

It’s just you and Him alone.

And then, what you do is you
focus your attention on a

passage of scripture, asking God
to speak to your heart, show you

what He’s trying to say to you.

But, meditation isn’t something
you all do together.

My private meditation is
something that you do between

you and God.

That’s your conversation, you’re
listening to Him, you’re talking

to Him.

You’re reading His Word.

You’re seeing what He’s saying.

And you see, there’s a
difference in praying and

reading the scripture
and just praying.

Praying, reading the scripture,
then God has, He has the

privilege of saying something
to you that you need to hear.

And so, when I look at that
passage that God spoke to

Joshua, “Meditate upon this Word
day and night,” because He knew

that Joshua needed to get this
deep down inside of him,

“Meditate upon this Word
day and night.”

And what He had told him was
that He would be with him, he

could trust Him, He would take
him through, He would give him

guidance and direction for the
whole nation of Israel.

He wanted it driven into his
heart so that he could not

forget it.

And haven’t you read some
scriptures that you wanted

driven into your heart?

That you’d not forget, because
you knew in your heart God was

trying to say something to you,
just casually reading the

scriptures is not meditating,
it is reading the scripture,

talking to God,
listening to Him.

It’s all three things together.

So that requires four things.

And one of them is simply this.

It’s got to be a priority in
your life.

If you don’t make it a priority,
you’re not going to do it.

The devil hates to see God’s
children meditating upon the

Word of God because he knows
when they’re meditating upon the

Word of God, they are absorbing
into their spirit, their soul.

And the meditation that you and
I receive from God’s Word

becomes a light to us.

It becomes a guiding
vision for us.

God shows us oftentimes, He
in meditation will give you

a warning about something’s
going to happen that very day

or something that’s
coming in your life.

And sometime it’s a word of
comfort, sometime it’s a word

of warning.

Sometime it’s just a blessing
to listen to God say what He

happens to be saying in
that particular passage.

So, it’s got to be a priority.

Then you’ve got to have a place.

If I’m going to meditate upon
the Word of God, I have a place

that, that’s where
God and I meet.

Now some place in your home,
you and the Lord can set aside

for meditation.

It doesn’t have to be a big
place, it’s just you and God.

You can’t say, “Well, the family
and I,” no.

That may be a
family Bible study.

We’re not talking
about Bible study.

We’re talking about a personal,
intimate relationship that you

have with God.

And I can tell you, if there’s
no meditation, there’s not going

to be any personal relationship
that’s intimate.

That you and the Father become
friends in a level that it’s not

normal and natural for somebody
to say, “Well I’m just going to

read the Bible and pray and
I’ll, I think that’ll do it.”

No, it’s a priority.

You need a place and you
need you need to settle

on the purpose.

In other words, many people read
the Bible so they say they can.

But my purpose for meditation
is I want to hear from Him.

I want Him to speak to my heart.

I want to be able to talk to Him
in a way that I know that what

I heard is not
something I made up.

It’s something that God
has said to me.

You ask the Lord to show you
what He’s–for example, if

you’ve got some question going
on in your life, what do you do

at this point in your life or
how do you carry out this.

He is more than willing to give
you clear direction, but it

takes time alone with Him to
concentrate upon His Word.

And so, that’s why I would say
the next thing, not only

a purpose is a plan.

You’ve got to have a plan.

As I say we need a place and a
time you set aside that you’re

going to spend time with Him,
listening to Him and asking for

direction in your life.

And sometime while you ask Him
for direction in one area of

your life, He’s going to give
you direction in some other area

as well.

And I can say to you, to me
personally, it’s the most

precious time in my life,
reading His Word and knowing

that Almighty God, the Sovereign
of the universe who’s created it

all, is willing to speak to me
personally through His Word.

And I can tell you in all the
years that I’ve been listening

to Him, He’s never led me wrong.

He’s never failed to
keep His Word.

So, what I’d like to do is I’ll
take a short passage, if you’ll

turn to the book of James.

Take a short passage and I just
want to read it with you.

Through this passage and say
this is the way I would meditate

upon a word, on a part of Word
of God; a particular passage.

And I won’t tell you everything
I might say, but we have enough

time for me to give you
an example.

So, look in James chapter one,
verse one, “James,

a bond-servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve

tribes who are dispersed abroad:
Greetings.

Consider it all joy, my
brethren, when you encounter

various trials, knowing that
the testing of your faith

produces endurance.

And let endurance have its
perfect result, so that you may

be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.”

I read those first four verses
and I know that first of all,

I need to observe what is it
saying.

What are these four verses
saying to me that the Lord has

led me to read?

What is it saying to me?

Well, first of all, it
identifies me the author, James,

probably the brother of Jesus.

A bond-servant, considering
himself a servant here,

of the Lord.

“James, a bond-servant of God
and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And then to whom is it written?

Now listen carefully at what
I’m going to tell you.

You listening?

Say, “Amen.”

The Bible was not written
to you and me.

It was written to the people of
that day, but it was written to

them, but also written for us.

God knew exactly how many
generations of people would be

living before Jesus Christ
came back.

So, he wrote it to them,
but he wrote it for us.

And if you’ll think about it,
how awesome God is that this

Book written to people thousands
of years ago is still just as

applicable if it were
written yesterday.

So, he says, now, “to the twelve
tribes who are dispersed

abroad.”

So, I could say, “Well that has
nothing to do with me because

that was written
to those folks.”

No, it was written to them,
but it was written for us.

And these twelve tribes are, you
remember when Stephen was stoned

to death and the church began to
scatter from Jerusalem and so

this is who he’s talking to.

So, interpretation.

So, how do I deal with this?

He says, “Consider it all joy,
my brethren, when you encounter

various trials.”

I’d think, “Okay, Lord, You
know what kind of trials that

I may face.

I don’t know what’s out there.

You do.”

And all of us have faced those
sudden things we did not expect.

And so how do you respond
when you face them?

He says, “Count it all joy.”

That means of what I’m not to do
is I’m not to be resentful,

hostile.

“God, why have You let this
happen in my life?”

But, “Lord, since You’re in
charge of my life and I’m your

son; and You promised to meet my
needs and You promised to answer

my prayer.

I just want to thank You that
for whatever You’ve got coming,

I want to thank You because I
know it’s going to be for my

good, because that’s
who You are.

You’re a good God.

You’ve promised to meet our
needs, rejoice our heart,

bless us.

You did not promise it
would always be easy.”

So he says, “Count it all joy.”

Then he uses a word, if
you’ll notice, he says.

“Knowing.”

Now, what in the world has that
got to do with it?

“Knowing that the testing of
your faith produces endurance.”

Knowing says you can be
confident.

You can know this.

You can be confident
and assured of this.

“I’m going to walk with
you through this.

I’m going to help you.

I’m going to answer your need.

I’m going to answer your prayer.

I know what’s on your heart.

I know what your need is.

I know better than you do what
you think your need is.”

So, knowing, he says, “Knowing
that the testing of your faith

produces endurance.”

So, “Testing of your faith,”
does what?

It produces endurance.

It strengthens us.

It makes it possible for us to
stand strong in a storm.

So, he says, now, “Consider it
all joy, my brethren, when you

encounter these things, knowing
that the testing of your faith

produces endurance.”

What else produces endurance?

When everything is going our
way, that doesn’t, that doesn’t

strengthen us at all.

God wants us to be strong.

He wants us to be able to face
difficulty, trial, temptations,

all the things that we face.

He wants us to be able to face
those and be strong in the

process, and not weak, not
yielding, not surrendering, not

giving up.

And not walking away from the
will of God, because he says,

“Look, you can expect it.”

“Consider it all joy.”

Not if they come,
but when they come.

“When you encounter them, these
various trials,” you can know in

your heart that you have the
promise of His presence.

That no matter what you and I go
through, we have this promise.

He is with us.

“Knowing,” he says, “that the
testing of your faith,” God’s

got a purpose in mind.

This isn’t just some incident.

“The testing of your faith
produces,” he says, “endurance.”

Now, the test here is not a test
in order to defeat us.

Because the word he uses here
and just reading it, for

example, and meditating upon it,
you wouldn’t necessarily know

all the meanings of the words
unless you chose to look

them up.

But this is a test that means
to test, to test for approval.

Not to test to see if, because
God already knows how you and I

are going to respond to every
single circumstance.

So, he says when these tests
comes, God allows us to be

tested to do what?

Strengthen us, encourage us,
help us to be able to endure.

Not ever to defeat us.

God would never send a test to
defeat us, but always to enable

us to grow in our
Christian life.

And if you’ll notice, he says,
“Testing of your faith will

produce endurance.”

And then he says, watch this
word, “let,” when he says,

“let,” here, what he’s saying is
give it permission.

When he says, “Let endurance
have its perfect result.”

That is, let God accomplish His
real goal at this point.

And what is His goal?

“Let endurance have its perfect
result, so that you may be

perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.”

And he does not mean perfect,
as far as sinless.

But he says God’s got
something in mind.

He says, watch this now, don’t
try to short-circuit God.

I’m going to get out of this
situation no matter what.

But he said, “Give God time and
let,” as he says, “let it have

its perfect result.”

That is, God’s result.

If God allows you to go through
something that’s difficult and

trying and you say, “Okay, God,
I want You to accomplish

whatever You’ve got in mind.”

Here’s what he says, “Let
endurance have its perfect

result, so that you
may be perfect.”

Doesn’t mean perfect, sinless,
but it means complete,

strong, mature.

That’s the best word.

Mature and complete,
lacking in nothing.

That is, your faith is strong.

Your endurance is strong.

Your sense of
direction is right.

Your faith is getting stronger
and stronger.

Now when most people read that,
they say, “Oh my goodness!

Trials and difficulties, mm-mm,
I’m going to the Psalms and

reading something sweet.

That’s where I’m going.”

But you know what?

To do that, here’s
what it’s like.

It’s like coming to a stop sign
in an intersection, you say,

“I don’t like stop signs.

I like go signs.”

So, you just run
right through it.

And more than likely,
you’ll have a problem.

So, it’s not just reading the
Word of God, it is doing just

what we’re doing, and that is
we’re focusing on it and we’re

meditating upon it.

And it means that I would read
it more than once.

In fact, I’d probably read it
two or three times before

I tried to figure out anything.

And just say, “God,
what are You saying.”

That’s observation.

What we’ve just done
is interpretation,

here’s what it says.

And then the third step
is application.

If there’s no application, then
I’m missing something.

So, instead of complaining and
moaning and groaning about it,

I’m going to ask God, “Lord,
what are You trying to say to me

and what opportunities
are coming?

What do You see coming in my
life that You’re equipping me

for by giving me the truth
of this passage?”

So, I want to keep my focus
on Him, rather than on

the trial itself.

So, when he says, “Count it all
joy brethren, when you encounter

various trials.”

My focus isn’t the trial,
but on God.

And I think if we just remember
that whatever comes into our

life, our focus is not to be
just absolutely consumed by

what’s going on, but it’s to be
consumed by God.

“Lord, in this trial, thank You
that I’m in Your hands.

Thank You that I’m surrounded
by Your love.

Thank You that Your power and
Your grace and goodness and love

is going to bring
me through this.

I’m going to be
stronger through it.”

And I can think of some trials I
had, have had that I didn’t like

any of them.

I tell you I didn’t.

I didn’t like them,
but you know what?

I wouldn’t take anything in the
world for them, because I can

look back and see each one did
something to me that couldn’t

come in anything easy.

And so, if you want to grow in
your Christian life, you do it

God’s way.

And that is, you keep
persevering and watch Him

perfect your life.

And remember this: whatever
He allows you to go through

is for your benefit.

It’s for your benefit.

Now it may be a very difficult
trial and test, but if you’ll

remember that everything He
allows you to go through, as one

of His children, it may be
something somebody does to you

or some situation and
circumstance you had nothing

that you could put your finger
on, but He allows it

in your life, why?

Because He loves you.

And that love includes testing
and trials and disappointments

and heartaches and all the kind
of things that we like to avoid.

If you’re going to grow and be
godly, you can’t avoid it.

Now, you can just read the Bible
and keep going or you can

meditate.

You can choose the passage.

You could, you could go, for
example, to First John, and the

whole passage in the very
beginning here, that talks

about sin.

You can turn to First Peter and
about suffering and turn to

James, you can turn to John, you
can turn to the Psalms.

You can turn to most any place.

But the same, if you use the
same pattern, the same pattern

each time, here’s
what’ll happen.

Reading the Bible will become
a fantastic fascination.

Because I want you
to think about this.

Can you tell me anything any
more gratifying, any more

rewarding that you open the Word
of God and God speaks to you

crystal clear about something
that you’re facing in life?

You know you’ve heard, not from
a friend, you’ve heard from the

sovereign of the universe who
controls all things and who had

that written before you were
ever a thought.

But He had us in mind.

That’s the kind of awesome
God He is.

If you’ve never been saved,
you don’t have this privilege.

It’s just you and the world.

But if you trust the Lord
Jesus Christ as your personal

Savior, and receive Him into
your life, into your life comes

the Holy Spirit who is the One
who will help you interpret

rightly the Word of God, to give
you guidance and direction and

empower you and equip you and
strengthen you for the task.

Then life changes and all of a
sudden you have a relationship

with a Holy God who will guide
you through the last moment

of your life.

The question is: Do you want God
to do His best in your life,

which you and I have to allow
that to happen or not?

Do you want to grow and be the
person God wants you to be?

This Word is the key.

So, don’t just read it.

Don’t just pray.

But read the Word of God,
meditate upon the Word of God,

whatever passage He leads you to
read and look at and ponder

in your heart.

Watch Him work.

God works in the heart of the
person who’s meditating

upon His Word.

And Father, how grateful we are
that You make it so simple.

That if we’ll just listen
carefully, You answer our

prayers, You answer
our questions.

You take us through difficulty,
pain, hardships, and trials.

You never fail to
keep Your Word.

And we just want to say thank
You, thank You, thank You that

You’re a trustworthy God.

In Jesus’s name.

Amen.

♪♪♪