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We have a place already for meditations through bible reading, but something you read might spark off a new train of thought. Maybe God gives you insight into a circumstance that has happened to you. Perhaps someone says something and you want to write it down to expand on it a bit more.
Often, it’s from these short meditations that I have the desire to study something. I find that over a month I can link 3 or 4 of my meditations together or they can form the basis of a word to share with others.
If I’ve read a good book and want to remember some of the things, I write them down in this section, or you could have a separate section for book reviews. Sometimes you may not want to take a lot of notes from a sermon, but just a few thoughts ‑ here again, this is the section to use. Perhaps a series of references on a certain subject. Use ‑ this section however you like ‑ there’s so many different ways.
Be sure to keep each meditation or thought separate so that they are easy to find. It’s also very helpful to title each meditation:
Repentance
Acts 11:21; Acts 11:18; 2 Cor 7:10
e.g., watched Ebenezer Scrooge ‑ good example.
Importance of Speaking Straight
Not ‘maybe’ but ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
e.g., “I am sorry.” “Yes, please. I would like that.” People like to know where they are at with us.
‘Speaking the truth’ ‑ truth is definite, fact, not ‘maybe so’.
Forget & Forgive
Gen 41:50. Joseph. He learned to forget what his brothers did to him and forget his own failures. Living in regret is stupid.

Learning to Meditate
Christian meditation is a key to a successful Christian life. It is the most powerful way of taking in truth, hearing from God, understanding the scriptures and renewing our minds. Bill Gothard, who teaches ‘Basic Youth Conflicts’ in the states, recounts how through meditation and memorisation his grades at school went up from average to A grades. Interestingly enough, his grades varied in direct proportion to his faithfulness in meditation and memorisation.
As we meditate on the scriptures, they come alive to us and we receive many ways to apply the scriptures to our daily lives. Without this application, the bible is just another book and sadly this is the case for many. God can speak to us through meditation and show how scripture can be made relevent for our very own situation.
Meditation differs from study in that we are not simply looking at the interpretation. There is one interpretation, but many applications. David says, “I have more understanding than all my teachers. For Thy testimonies are my meditation.” Ps 119:99. i.e. He’s put into practise (through meditation) what he’s read and his teachers haven’t.
Through meditation we come to understand basic principles throughout the bible that we can apply to our daily lives. The scripture is full of them. Bill Gothard’s project while he was at school was memorising and meditating on a chapter of scripture a week. That may be good for you too. Where do we start?
1. Make a commitment of time
If you’re going to meditate and memorise, you must realise it takes time and effort in the form of concentration. It’s no good trying to fit meditation and memorisation into your present schedule. It’s a priority, therefore, our schedule must fit around meditation and memorisation. That may mean getting up early and going to bed a little earlier. It may mean rescheduling to have time to meditate and memorise at night. Ps 63:5‑6 says, “My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches.” If we do spend time in the evening in the scriptures, it means the last thoughts entering our minds are wholesome, encouraging (even if it’s convicting) and mind renewing. These thoughts remain there and can set our mental attitudes for the following day.
So, you need to make a commitment. If you’re not used to spending time with God in prayer and in the bible daily, just start with 10 minutes. You’ll soon find that this isn’t long enough. But it’s better to set a low goal and keep it consistently, rather than be unrealistic and fail or ultimately give up completely.

2. Find a quiet place
As much as possible, make it a regular place, too, so that there isn’t a lot of things to distract you.
You may find the beat place is sitting in a comfy chair or even driving the car (if you have the verses memorised, that is).

3. Relax in God
In our busy, busy world we’ve lost the art of relaxation. We have so many things on our minds, pressures from all directions, problems to sort out ‑ so many calls on our time. We have to learn to give all these things to God or set them aside for the time being so that we can concentrate on the Lord. God doesn’t shout at us (usually, anyway, sometimes we do need a kick) and we need to tune into His ’still small voice’.
In ‘Celebration of Discipline’ Richard Foster shares a couple of ideas for relaxing in God. What works well for me is a simple breathing exercise. Each time we breath out, we can release something on our mind ‑ with a big sigh.
e.g.,
“Lord, I give you my anger against John.”"I surrender my anxiety over not having enough money to pay the bills.”"I release my frustration over trying to plan this weekend.”
After we’ve said each sentence prayer, breathe out deeply ‑ symbolising your giving it to the Lord completely. Then breathe in, receiving from the Lord what you need.
e.g.
“Lord, I receive your love for John.”"Lord, I receive your peace over these bills.”"Lord, I receive your patience for this weekend.”

4. Select a really meaningful passage of scripture
A passage that relates to you personally. Perhaps a chapter or a few verses on a problem you’re going through; or a passage on a principle you want to work into your life; maybe some verses on God’s character.

5. Ask yourself questions
a) How many promises are there in this passage to the one who meditates?
b) What conditions are there to receive these promises?
Other questions we can ask are the
Who, where, what, why, when, how, kind of questions. These will throw new light on the Passage and get you thinking more.

6. Personalise the scriptures and make it your prayer
Matt 5:14 says, “You are the light of the world.” In personalising this verse, it can become an objective in our lives and as we pray our hearts respond to the Lord with a desire to be lights for Him.
e.g., “I will be a greater light for You Lord in my situation. I will take every opportunity of sharing my love for You and I will not shy away from standing out in the crowd.”
e.g., “Help me to be a man who delights in Your law and meditates day and night.”

7. Memorise the scripture
If you’re memorising a few verses from a chapter, write them down on a card. Then on the reverse side, place the reference. Keep these cards in an easy to reach place at home or in the car and look at them regularly.
If you’re memorising chapters (and I encourage you to do that) it’s easier just to carry your bible around. Nardan Popov, who was imprisoned, in Russia, had memorised 37 chapters!
The key to memorising is constantly recalling.
Memorising is a real benefit to meditating because it enables us to recall the verse at any time of the day and think about it. The literal concept behind the word ‘meditate’ is that of a cow chewing its cud. Just as it brings it up what it’s eaten again and again, so we should recall what we’ve memorised over and over again so we can properly digest it.
Some good passages to memories are:
James 1 ‑ how to prepare for temptation
Matt 5‑7 ‑ how to find happiness
Heb 12 ‑ how to appreciate God’s chastening
John 15 ‑ how to grow spiritually
Col 3 ‑ how to refocus affections
1 Cor 13 ‑ how to develop genuine love
Psalms 1, 15, 34, 63, 139.
If you can manage it, a whole book memorised can be life changing. I’m very fond of Philippians, and have memorised it. The need here is making sure you recall if often, otherwise, it will be lost.
Some good verses to start you off:
Jn 10:27
Mt 5:13
Ps 91:1
Is 26: 3,4
Is 40:29‑31
Acts 1 v 8
Matthew 28 v 19‑20
1 Corinthians 10 v 31
Ephesians 3 v 20
So how do we meditate? Let’s recall!
1. Make a commitment of time.
2. Find a quiet place.
3. Relax in God.
4. Select a meaningful passage.
5. Ask yourself questions.
6. Personalise the scripture and make it a prayer.
7. Memorise.
The motive behind our meditation and memorisation must be to grow deeper in our relationship with God. There has to be an eagerness to soak ourselves in God’s Word. The truth sets us free when we really know it. That means it’s moved from our head to our heart, i.e., it’s put into practise, it’s “hid in our hearts” as Psalm 119:9‑11 says.
If you’re spending vital time with God and meditating in His Word, you’ll be able to answer these questions:
1. Has the Lord reproved you lately? If not, wait on Him.
2. How has the Lord encouraged you?
3. What new challenges has the Lord given you? Are there new goals to set?
4. What fruit of the Spirit is He asking you to work on?
5. What wrong attitudes is He giving instruction on?
6. What attribute/aspect of God’s character are you thinking about?
7. What applications of scripture involving other people has the Lord asked you to do?
8. Who has the Lord asked you to encourage?
9. Who or what has the Lord burdened you to pray for?
How has the Lord given you direction through the bible recently?

Unknown

Time for myself… Why is it that I find it so hard to take time for myself? Time to be, rather than to do. Time to think, to talk to God, and most of all to be spent in his presence while he talks to me. You know how it is Lord! There is always so much to be fitted in. People to be seen… work to be done… obligations to fulfil? It is so difficult to distinguish between the urgent and the important. And often what is urgent elbows its way to the forefront of my day and the important gets trampled in a rush.

Slow me down, Lord. Teach me the ways of creating islands of stillness, in which I can absorb the beauty of everyday things: clouds, trees, a snatch of music. Prompt me to open up my heart to you in a moment of thankfulness. Impress upon my mind that there is more to life than packing every moment with activity, and help me to fence in some part of my day with quietness. And please talk to me and help me to listen, so that I take your peace rather than my confusion back with me into the hurly-burly of a drifting world.

To go up alone into the mountain and come back as an ambassador in the world, has ever been the method of humanity’s best friends.

A Quick History Lesson on Joshua
1. Joshua had been born into slavery in Egypt and as first born risked death on the day of Passover. He would have seen or heard about the ten miracles Moses performed and the crossing of the Red Sea.
2. Israel’s military leader (Exodus 17)
3. Joshua climbs mount Sinai (Exodus 24)
4. Joshua sent to spy in Canaan (Numbers 13)
5. Joshua declares faith in the Lord (Numbers 14 v 7-10)
6. Joshua anointed as next leader of Israel (Numbers 27)
7. Joshua full of the spirit of wisdom (Deut 34 v 9)
8. As Israel’s leader, Joshua had been fully trained he was a soldier, a servant, a spy and a successor.

Now we turn to Joshua One
God has some things to say to us this morning from this most excellent chapter.
Read Verses 1-9
We learn three things about prayer from these verses. Prayer is listening, responding and obedience.

Prayer is listening

Is God calling you to a new task? Joshua had been called as Israel’s new leader and had prepared well for this calling. You need to get to know God well. Joshua had a good relationship with God. He had seen God do some awesome stuff and along the way had developed a good understanding of how God works. We don’t know but I suspect that Joshua talked to God dawn to dusk. I am pretty sure that if there had been Scripture to study he would have been reading what was available. (In fact in Joshua one he is called to meditate on the Law). You see when he was called to be Israel’s leader he knew he would not be able to do the job without the Lord.
In the Hebrew Bible, Joshua is listed as a prophetic book, and that is what Joshua is a prophet. In these we read it is God talking direct to Joshua giving him his instructions, the ones he needs at that point. Joshua recognised God’s voice and responded.
Would you recognise God’s voice?.

Prayer is responding

God has a ministry for you. How do you feel when you read verse 9 in Chapter one of the book of Joshua, ‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’
Well whatever you feel you might be surprised that Joshua was around 80 when God called him to lead Israel. So it is as an old man that God says to him, ‘Be strong’.
You might be sat listening to me speak and in your heart you’re thinking, but what does God want me to do?
As we have already seen Joshua knew God well. He had been led to this point and Joshua was ready. So I would encourage you to prepare yourself. How? Well for me I was called into the ministry in 1985 but didn’t go until 1989. Was that disobedience? No it was God preparing me.
Other things to do. Ask God and look at the evidence. What gifts do you have? Start to grow in them now. Go to cell and practice them. Seek out holy people and discover wisdom from them.
God is calling you to a task, are you ready to respond?

Prayer is obedience

If God is calling are you going to be Obedience? For Joshua, obedience was something he chose to do. Yes, when we look at his life we are not surprised that Joshua was obedient.
He saw God act and trusted that God would act again. Joshua has shown himself to be obedient and trustworthy.
Don’t let others get the blessing meant for you. Joshua is a fulfillment of what God told Moses to do. Moses listened but disobeyed God and therefore wasn’t able to do all God asked him to.
The Transfiguration is a picture of obedience. Moses and Elijah were both called to a task but not completed. Joshua and Elisha completed the tasks. Their names mean ‘Jehovah is salvation’.
Jesus which in Greek means ‘Jehovah is salvation’, however goes on to fulfill all God calls him to.
Israel needed a new leader, new land and a new life. Joshua responded, will you? A word of warning, these words need a response. You can respond with a positive affirmation or a negative one but you do need to respond!