meditate
Showing posts with label meditate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meditate. Show all posts

Meditating on Scripture

Meditating on Scripture 

I read a statement the other day in a devotional book by Robby and Kandi Gallaty that was simple, yet powerful. It said, “prayer is the most effective tool we have against any opposition or temptation we face, both in our personal lives and in our church today.” I truly believe prayer is vital for the life of the Christian and for the church. Because of this, I believe that understanding what prayer is and how to pray is also vitally important. There is a spiritual discipline that is a vital step before prayer that many Christians tend to leave out, and that is meditation on the Scripture. At its most basic level, meditation on Scripture is getting the truth of the Word of God from your head to your heart. Meditation literally means to “mutter”, to work out, or to work through. Doing this allows the Word of God to become real to you and allows you to commune with God at a deeper level.


Timothy Keller, in his book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy With God, gives some helpful questions to ask when approaching the Scriptures that allows you to work through the Scriptures and move it from the head to the heart.


  1. Is there any example for me to follow? 
  2. Is there any command for me to obey? 
  3. Is there any error for me to avoid? 
  4. Is there any sin for me to forsake 
  5. Is there any promise for me to claim? 
  6. Is there any new thought about God himself? 
  7. Am I living in light of this? 
  8. What difference does this passage make? 
  9. Am I taking this seriously? 
  10. If I believed and held to this, how would that change things? 
  11. When I forget this, how does that affect me and all my relationships? 
Over the past couple of weeks, I have done my best at working through these questions and it has really helped my understanding of the Scriptures. I hope this helps you as well in your pursuit of seeking after God.  
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Psalms - Jesus’ songbook

Kindergarten graduation for Joshua, Jessica, and Brandon Hochstetler.
I don’t remember much when I was five, but one thing I do remember was my kindergarten graduation. I remember putting on my extremely large white graduation robe, the nervousness of speaking in front of my family and friends, and how much fun it was to play with the tassel on my cap. In preparation for the graduation, I had to do a lot of memorizing. There were a few songs that I vaguely remember memorizing and I remember memorizing the poem “What Can I Give Him”. There is one thing that stood out from this graduation that has stuck with me ever since, and that was memorizing Psalm 23. As a five year old, I was extremely nervous about reciting the Psalm, but I had gone over it so many times. I remember putting the Psalm to music and rehearsing it over and over again. So, with an extremely high and "chipmunk like” voice, I quoted all of Psalms 23 in front of all those people and didn’t even mess up!

Twenty years later, I have never forgotten that Psalm. It has often been a source of encouragement to me when going through difficult times. For me, and I can assume that for many of you, the Psalms hold a special place in your heart. The reason for this is that the Psalms were not written just for theological instruction; "they were written to be prayed, recited, and sung- to be done, not merely read.” There is a certain poetic nature to the Psalms that penetrates deeper than mere theological facts. The Psalms help us see God in a rich and real life way. They lead us to commitment and not just understanding about God, but having a relationship with Him. When read in the context of the entire Bible, the Psalms point us to Jesus. The Psalms were, in a way, Jesus’ songbook. Even more significantly, Jesus not only sang and recited the Psalms, they were about Him.

With the understanding of why the Psalms were written, we should be challenged to included the Psalms in our daily life as Christians. We have examples going back to the Israelites of how they were used. The Psalms were the hymnbook for the public worship of God in ancient Israel (I Chronicles 16:8-36). The early Christians sang and prayed the Psalms (Colossians 3:16; I Corinthians 14:26). Theologians and and church leaders have always advocated that Psalms should be used and reused in the Christian’s daily life.

I have been challenged this week to make the Psalms a daily part of my life. I don’t want to just read the Psalms. I want to mediate on them, sing through them, memorize them, pray them, and commit to acting out on the truths they convey. I have included a few resources that I have used in helping to do this. I believe it is Biblical and important to do this. As Timothy Keller says, “Psalms, then, are not just a matchless primer of teaching but a medicine chest for the heart and the best possible guide for practical living.”

Resources: “The Songs of Jesus”: A year of Daily Devotions in the Psalms by Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller.

Psalm Songs, Vol. 1 by The Corner Room. https://open.spotify.com/album/4yYPJ5dAnpHHpSuuM4BwEC

In Christ,
Brandon H.
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