[The transcript below is an edited version of this Tomorrow’s World whiteboard.]

How to Meditate on God’s Word

The Bible provides a practical spiritual tool that can bring life-changing emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits, but it has often been misunderstood and underused.

That tool is meditation, but:

• What exactly is meditation?
• When should you meditate?
• How often should you meditate?
• How can you meditate in a way that actually impacts your life?

In this video, we’ll examine three simple keys to life-changing meditation—from the pages of the Bible.

And please, don’t just believe us, but prove this for yourself and look up these verses in your own Bible. Okay, let’s get started.

Take Every Thought Captive | 2 Corinthians 10:5

Meditation is the exercise of thinking deeply. It means focusing our mind on a single theme and turning it over and over to gain understanding.

And to practice life-changing meditation, we need to first:

1. Empty your mind of thoughts and ideas contrary to God’s way of life.

While the Bible does instruct us to empty our minds, it may not be in the way you’re thinking. The Bible tells us to remove from our minds any ideas and thoughts contrary to God’s way of life.

Notice what the Apostle Paul was inspired to write in 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 (NIV).

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

An appropriate synonym for meditation is to “deliberate,” to consider a topic in great detail and with a singular focus, bringing our thoughts into alignment with the way of life found in the Bible.

Or as Paul put it, taking “captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Think on These Things | Philippians 4:8

Yet as we are emptying our minds of thoughts contrary to God’s way of life, we are also to fill our mind with godly thoughts.

Therefore, to practice life-changing meditation, you need to:

2. Fill your mind with God’s word.

In Philippians 4:8 Paul provides a list outlining what we should fill our minds with.

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

This means that any thoughts or ideas that don’t fall within these categories are not worth our focused, long-term attention and meditation.

The book of Deuteronomy presents an excellent source of ideas and thoughts that fit within the categories found in Philippians 4:8.

The first generation of Israel that came out of Egypt did not obey God’s instruction, so they were not allowed to enter the promised land. God instead said their children would be the ones to enter.

Right before the second generation entered the land, God had Moses recount to them the Ten Commandments (that’s in Deuteronomy 5). 

After the giving of the 10 commandments, God gave instructions on correct meditation.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:5–7).

We’re encouraged to continually consider God’s laws throughout the day. God’s words are the perfect source of material for life-changing meditation.

When we meditate on God’s way of life, then it will change the way we think and act. As Psalm 19:7 says:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.

It will literally change the way we live.

Bible Study Daily | Psalm 119:97

The third key to life-changing meditation is to:

3. Meditate all the day.

We can certainly have more focused times of meditation, where we go to a quiet place to consider God’s words—just as Isaac did when he “went out to meditate in the field in the evening” (Genesis 24:63).

Yet, we can also practice meditation throughout the day.

King David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). In part, that was because he practiced biblical meditation.

In Psalm 119:97 David said:

Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.

David meditated on God’s word “all the day.” There is an important implication in this verse. How long can you consider something you know little about? Not all the day!

This means that David knew God’s word well, which means he regularly read or listened to readings of it. This means we are only able to meditate on God’s words throughout the day when we regularly fill our minds with more of God’s word. 

Without the practice of daily Bible study, our minds will be limited in what to meditate on. But if we consistently study and read God’s word, then we can we truly meditate on it deeply throughout the day.

Christian Meditation Explained in 3 Points

So if we want to experience truly life-changing meditation, we need to follow these 3 simple steps:

1. We empty our minds of thoughts and ideas contrary to God’s way of life. And at the same time:
2. We fill our minds with God’s words.
3. And consider them throughout the day.

Then the practice of meditation will be a transformative spiritual tool. It will change our lives for the better and bring emotional, mental, and spiritual benefits that can’t be found anywhere else.

And when we are properly meditating on God’s word, our conversations with God in prayer will be wonderfully transformed as well.

To learn five keys for enhancing your prayer life, check out our next video, “5 Keys to Pray Effectively.”

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Thanks for watching!