By Pastor Justin Ryan
There is a story told about a man named Frank who had been an atheist all his life. He never believed in the existence of God. Despite many friends trying to evangelise him, it never worked. He had his mind set on the belief in willpower and having a positive attitude. One day Frank decides to go out hunting in the jungle. Something he enjoyed doing on his day off. As he strolled through the dense forest, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him and then a growl. As he turned to look behind him, to his astonishment, a 9-foot humungous bear was growling down at him. Panic and stricken with fear, he began to run as fast as he could and suddenly tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face. As he rolled over, he saw huge red eyes staring down at him. He screamed at the top of his lungs, “God, help me…help me, God…I don’t want to die!!!”
Suddenly it was as if the entire earth came to a standstill. The birds were not flying; they all stopped midair. The trees were not swaying. There was pin-drop silence all around. Even the huge bear was in a frozen state. The skies then opened, and a light began to shine on him, and he heard a voice …
“Frank…Frank…Frank….It’s me …God”.
Stunned, Frank replied, “Oh God…thank goodness you are here….you have to save me. I am going to die.”
“It’s a little strange, don’t you think, that you are talking to me when you always thought I never existed”
“Errrr…well”, was Frank’s reply…
“So am I to believe that you are now a Christian since, at a time of need, you called out to me.”
To this, Frank replied, “Well, it would be a little hypocritical for me to become a Christian suddenly. So looking at the situation, why not you make the bear a Christian, then he will be loving and kind and won’t eat me.”
“Are you sure?” asked God.
“Yes…yes… I am certain”, replied Frank
“Very well then, your desire is granted”, answered God. Immediately, everything resumed normal, and the birds were chirping, and trees were swaying in the breeze. Frank breathed a sigh of relief as he and the bear locked eyes.
The bear then looked at him, smiled and said,
Thank you, God, for the world so sweet,
Thank you, Lord, for the food we eat.
Thank you for the birds that sing,
Thank you, Lord, for everything.
Lesson to be learnt, prayer works wonders, so be careful what you pray for!!!
Prayer is such an integral part of our lives as Christian. Getting connected to God not just to talk to Him but also to listen is essential for all of us.
We all understand and have heard countless sermons on prayer, why we need to pray, and how it changes our lives. However, today I would like to talk about another aspect of prayer, and that is meditation. Now, this is a meditation from the part of God’s Word and not what the world teaches. The world’s view on meditation is that it provides enlightenment and self-discovery, and it helps you connect and become one with the universe, as they say. There are specific body postures that are taught, emphasising a power or self-belief and not God.
Meditation, as God sees it is different. Whenever bible study is done, there is a principle that we always teach, and it is called The Law of First Mention. When we want to understand something of the Word, search Scriptures to see where God first spoke about it. So, when we apply this law to meditation, we find that it was first mentioned in Genesis 24:63, which is in Isaac’s life. It says, “He went out to the field one evening to meditate and he looked up and he saw camels approaching.” The second time it is mentioned is when Joshua began a new season after Moses died, and he was to take over.
Perhaps prayer has been a regular practice in our lives, where most of us literally bring our grocery list of needs to God plus another list of complaints. There is so much talking, complaining, grumbling and murmuring, and so little listening.
Our walk with God will grow so much more if we all take time to meditate. How do we do this? There are 2 Hebrew words to define meditate. The first is ‘Hagah’, which means to ponder, speak, study, talk or utter. The other Hebrew word is ‘Aiyach’, which means to converse with one’s self aloud. Take note of the word ‘aloud’, and we will come back to that later. On the other hand, the Greek word is ‘Meletao’, which means to practice and study.
The world’s way of meditation expects us to keep silent, but the biblical ways, as we have seen above, says that we are to study, ponder and most of all speak aloud. We are to take a biblical promise and begin to speak it loudly over and over again until it is impressed in our hearts. As we repeat it, we take time to ponder and reflect on what God is speaking to us through it and not just making repetitive with no purpose. As we continue to do this, we begin to hear the voice of God, and it changes the way we see and do things in our lives. That’s true meditation.
Allow me to share with you in 5 simple words how you can start to meditate the biblical way. All you need to do is Read, Recite, Reflect, Remember and Respond. Let’s take Psalm 23:6, for example. It reads, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. To Read is an action that is active, not passive. Read this verse loudly, as opposed to reading it “silently in our hearts or mind”! The power of God rests in His Word. When we read it loudly, the spirit and life essence in God’s Word (John 6:63) begins to work in our physical body. Then you Recite Psalm 23:6 over and over again. Speak it repetitively. Repetition causes us to remember it. It’s an exercise of storing it in our mind and heart. Keep repeating the scripture you are reading and allow it to become part of you…like how we memorise verses of scripture. It will be food for our spirit man.
When we Reflect on the Word, we think deeply and carefully about the verse. For example, in Psalm 23:6, think about how good God has been in your life. Think of all the times His mercy protected and covered you. This act will lead you to have a greater appreciation for God and prevent you from taking Him for granted. When we remember, we remain aware of the scripture we have pondered over. Let it stay in your thoughts for the entire day. Constantly call it up from the deep recesses of your mind. Be intentional in setting aside time every day…multiple times where you stop, pause and bring to mind that verse of scripture. Trust me; it will cause you to be sensitive to God throughout the day! And finally, to Respond is to act upon the Word. Do something with it. It’s an action point. It’s the physical expression of what you have internalised. Maybe it is to be gracious to someone, be sympathetic to another person instead of lashing out in anger. Since goodness and mercy are part of your life, find ways to practice it in your life…to the people surrounding you.
My encouragement to all of you is to change the way you pray. More than ever in such a time as this, our prayer walk with God needs to be stronger. Let’s not just focus on our grocery list of needs, but let’s get deeper into His Word, meditate, and listen to what God has to say. There are so many things; He wants to speak to us if we just take the time to listen.
Psalm 19:14 says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight O Lord.” There are two areas mentioned here. So if we have only been dwelling on the word of our mouth but not the meditation of our heart, perhaps we should start doing it today.
Joshua 1: 8 says, “The Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate upon it day and night.”
Turn your prayer life around today, and God will turn your entire world around for His glory.
About the Ryans
The Ryans have been involved in the mission field for more than a decade. In 2013, the Lord led them to found Issachar Academy where they provide training specifically for missions in a hospitable environment. Besides missions, the Ryans also help Christians recognise and move in their seasons with God.
