In the sermon today, we heard an important reminder from Joshua 1:8 —
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
I gave several suggestions to help you meditate on scripture that I’ve listed again here:
- Listen to a sermon. Send time listening to God’s word being taught and discuss it with your family or small group.
- Post scripture. Write scripture on cards and place them in places where you spend a lot of time during the day so that you are reminded of scripture throughout the day. Post them in your car, by the kitchen sink, at your desk, in your wallet.
- Talk about scripture. When you are with family or friends, enjoying a meal or on a walk, read a verse of scripture. Take turns reflecting on the verse together.
- Listen to scripture. There are lots of great ways to listen to scripture. You can listen to verses being dramatically read at a number of online sites including Bible Gateway. Listen to songs with the words taken directly from scripture from groups such as Seeds Family Worship, Sons of Korah (Psalms) and Forever Grateful Music. Another great site with musical and visual art to help people meditate on scripture is The Verses Project. Calvary Kids has put the book of James to music and teaches through a chapter each year on Wednesday nights. It’s a great way to learn scripture along with your kids.
- Select scripture randomly. If you don’t know where to start, let God direct you. Choose a random number between 1 and 66 (or use an online site) and read the book of the bible that corresponds to that number. For example, 15 would be the book of Ezra. Ask the question, “Why would God have chosen this passage for me today?”
- Discuss scripture. Ask your family, friends or small group these questions, “If you were to hang a scripture verse on the outside of your door for everyone who passes by to see, what scripture verse would you want to hang up and why?” “If you were going to hang a Bible verse on the front door facing inside so you would read it before you left the house, what would that scripture verse be and why?”
- Memorize scripture. Don’t outgrow the power of memorizing scripture. Our verses for this series, Joshua 1:8-9, were some of the first verses I memorized as an adult. It’s a great place to start. Try memorizing a verse every day for a week and see what happens.
Meditating on scripture — it’s challenging, but it’s simple.
Blessings,
Jim