Lesson Notes

We’re beginning an 8-week course that might sound dreadful or boring, but I promise if you do what we discuss will lead to great joy for you!

• Based on Don Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
• Hebrews 12: 14 – “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
  • In Christ, we are holy, but we’re also commanded to work throughout life to become increasingly  holy, knowing we’ll ultimately be holy when Christ returns.
  • Don’t wait for holiness – pursue it!
  • The Holy Spirit gives us new holy desires when we’re in Christ – hunger for the Word, desire to worship, to live without sin, to draw nearer to God, etc.
  • Whitney, “Anyone who is not striving for holiness will not see the Lord. And the reason he or she will not see the Lord in eternity is because he or she does not know the Lord now, for those who know Him are given His Holy Spirit, and all those indwelled by the Holy Spirit are compelled to pursue holiness.”
• 1 Timothy 4: 7-8, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it  holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
• The only path to Christian maturity and godliness is practicing biblical spiritual habits
  • Habits of devotion practiced by the people of God since biblical times
  • Activities intended to help us be like Jesus – done for the purpose of becoming like Jesus (not to feel good about ourselves or receive human applause)
  • Activities described in the Bible itself
  • Practices that take us more deeply into the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ
  • A means to an end – godliness; not the end itself
  • We won’t increase in godliness without these habits, but we can practice them in an ungodly manner if we don’t understand these things!
• Whitney, “So the Spiritual Disciplines are those personal and interpersonal activities given by God in the Bible as the sufficient means believers in Jesus Christ are to use in the Spirit-filled pursuit of godliness, that is, closeness to Christ and conformity to Christ.”
• Growth in godliness is a cooperative work with the Holy Spirit who gives us power as we seek to walk in step with Him through the regular practice of personal spiritual habits
• Personal spiritual habits set us free in our faith by strengthening our relationship with Christ. They help us truly enjoy Christ and the things of God.
• Course Overview:
  • Habit #1 is reading/studying the Bible – we spent 8 weeks on that in the last course: Understand & Study the Bible. Read daily.
  • This week – meditating on Scripture and memorizing it
  • Future weeks – prayer, public and private worship, giving, fasting, silence and solitude, serving, and sharing Christ

Scripture Meditation

• The stigma of meditation for Christians
  • Association with Eastern religions and New Age spirituality
  • Seems “weird”
  • We don’t know how to start or who to ask
  • Don’t reject something so richly and repeatedly praised in Scripture!
• What is Christian meditation?
  • Filling your mind with God and His truth, NOT emptying it
  • Constructive mental activity, NOT mental passivity
  • Focusing your thoughts on Scripture, NOT day dreaming
  • “Deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in Scripture, or upon life from a scriptural perspective, for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer.” – Donald Whitney
  • Imagine God’s Word is a tea bag, and your mind is like a cup of hot water. How do you change that water into tea?
  • It’s the absorption of Scripture that leads to the experience with God and the transformation of life we long for when we come to the Bible.” – Donald Whitney
• Why meditate on Scripture?
  • Ever read the bible, but later remembered nothing about it?
  • To get warm in the winter, don’t walk quickly by a fire and complain about still being cold. Stop and linger at the fire. If you want to be changed by God’s Word, you must linger on it.
  • By meditating on God’s Word, you’re likely to do God’s Word
  • “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. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” – Joshua 1: 8
  • Meditating on God’s Word is blessed by God – Psalm 1: 1-3
  • It provides stability, fruitfulness, perseverance, and prosperity
• How to Meditate on Scripture
  1. Choose a passage – usually the section, verse, phrase, or word that m ost captured your attention during your daily reading
     • Read your daily reading, then go back and meditate on a portion
     • “Read big; meditate small”
     • It could be the key/main verse
     • It could be what relates to your main concern that day
  2. Choose one of the meditation techniques I’ll introduce
     • I’ll describe 11 – the book has 17
     • Feel free to vary from da to day
     • Take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours as you desire
     • If you only have 10 minutes each day, spend 5 minutes reading and 5 minutes meditating
• Scripture Meditation Techniques
  1. Emphasize different words in the passage
     • Take a single verse and repeat it over and over
     • Each time emphasize a different word, starting with the first
     • After each repetition, reflect on what came to mind
     • Imagine turning a diamond to examine every facet
  2. Rewrite the passage
     • Faithfully rewrite the passage without using the current words
     • Think carefully to find synonyms and paraphrases that accurately capture the meaning
  3. Develop a great illustration or analogy
     • Understand the passage so well you develop a great word picture illustrating or analogizing its meaning
     • Could be a personal story, news story, quote, or other Bible story
  4. List applications
     • Write down several applications of the verse that answer questions like: How am I supposed to respond to this? What does God want me to do as a result of encountering this? Is there something I need to stop, start, confess, pray about, believe, or say to someone based on this passage?
     • Don’t quit until you have listed at least X applications
  5. Describe how the passage points to Jesus
     • Spend time thinking about how it points to Jesus (if it’s obvious, use a different technique)
     • Does it point to something about who He is or what He did?
     • Does it point to how Jesus is the perfectly pure opposite of something?
     • Does it illustrate how badly we need Jesus?
  6. Pray the passage
     • We’ll talk more about this next week
     • Use the words of the passage to shape and guide your prayer, line by line or verse by verse
  7. Memorize the passage
     • The effort to memorize drives the truth more deeply into our hearts.
     • Repeat it several times, emphasize the various key words to lock it into your memory, intentionally bring it back to mind throughout the day.
  8. Create an artistic representation of the passage
     • As you reflect on the passage, how can you express its meaning in song, poem, picture, painting, sculpture, etc.?
  9. Ask Philippians 4: 8 questions about the passage
     • What truth does this exemplify? What is honorable about this? What is just or right about this? How does this exemplify purity? What is lovely about this? What is commendable about this? What is excellent about this? What is praiseworthy about this?
  10. Discover X insights from the passage
      • Determine a minimum number of insights to get from the passage and start writing them down. Don’t stop until you reach X
      • Set a higher number to force yourself beyond conventional thinking
  11. Explain how the passage addresses your current issue
      • There’s probably something on your mind – did any part of the passage address that concern?

Scripture Memorization

• Most of us recoil in terror at the prospect of memorizing Scripture!
• In truth, it’s jsut a matter of investing a few minutes each day
• When Scripture is stored in your mind, it’s available for the Spirit to bring to your attention when you really need it
  • Psalm 119: 11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
  • When Jesus was tempted, He didn’t tell the devil to wait while He pulled out His scroll of Deuteronomy. He responded with memorized Scripture
  • We’re prepared for unexpected witnessing and counseling opportunities
  • God brings it to mind when we need advice and counsel
  • It makes Scripture available at all times and in all places for meditation
• Helps to memorizing
  • Practice, practice, practice – say it over and over, review it regularly
  • Write verses out repeatedly
  • Draw (or imagine) word pictures that help you remember the words
  • Challenge a friend and hold each other accountable
• What to memorize
  • Don’t pick at random
  • There are many good lists
  • Try our 100 verse challenge! (100 Verse Challenge)

• Memorize 1 Timothy 4: 7 – “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;”
• Practice Scripture meditation at least 3 different days before next Wednesday evening