My Personal Spiritual Meditation in my Christian Faith

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 49:3
My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

Psalm 104:34
May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

Psalm 119:97
Mem Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Colossians 4:2-4
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak

My Personal Meditation Thoughts
My heart is like a garden with beautiful flowers and plants. As with all gardens, the hearts must be kept free from weeds and insects. For me, both because I need to look at my whole being. I need to focus on God with all of my heart and mind. I am not a perfect Christian but I am a forgiven Christian who is still learning. I need to remind myself that God wants me to have free and responsive hearts, "Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God." In Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Sometimes I just feel a complete hypocrite in my Christian life. The book of Hebrews raises many questions in my mind. If it does not raise questions in my
mind, it is very likely that I have already grown dull of hearing and are in a serious spiritual condition. I stop growing spiritually. Drifting and coasting and inactivity in spiritual things is very dangerous by becoming hardened to spiritual convictions. If a Christian don't feel the conviction and didn't have the motivation to change from "within", then we should be concerned whether we are truly saved or not. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." The condition of the heart determines how receptive a person is to God's commandments.

Whether I am a new Christian or an old one (I am old Christian), I never stop the process of spiritual maturity. A Christian who is committed to Christ is going to grow. Growth will only take place when Christians are spiritual, not carnal, and when they are living for the glory of God, not for themselves. I have to understand my spiritual hindrances so that I can have spiritual growth because I am dealing with the thing that keeps me from growing. Carnal person is a Christian who still has self on the throne (selfishness). Christ is still in there somewhere, running around, but He is not in charge, and the life is still in chaos. There's no Lordship. For a Spiritual Christian, Self is off the throne (self-less), Christ is on it, and the life is all in order.

Sometimes I struggle to know the will of God for my life and often I try to have a conversation with myself (= meditation) along with God's Word. The word "meditation" in Hebrew means basically to speak or to mutter. When this is done in the heart it is called musing or meditation. So meditating on the Word of God day and night means to speak to myself the Word of God day and night and to speak to myself about it. A Christian must build into my life a regular encounter with God, personally and quietly over the Word. In John 15, Jesus was talking about "abiding" Him and His word. The word "abide" simply means "to remain." Jesus is saying, "Be for real, and give evidence that you're for real by remaining with Me." To abide as a believer simply means to stay close to Jesus. A branch is much better off if it's connected to the vine. Being only a half an inch away from the vine doesn't do a branch any good. To abide is to be totally connected to Jesus Christ. As the vine sends its energy through the branch to bear fruit, so Christ can send His energy through me. The word translated "abide" (Gk. meinete) is in the aorist tense and implies in this context a permanent fact. In 2 Timothy 2:15, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth." What is true in God's Word. Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth" (John 17:17; cf. Ps. 119:151). The truth is also in Christ: "You did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:20-21). Dwelling on what is true necessitates meditating on God's Word.

I have to remind myself that by renewing my mind through regular meditating on God's Word. Doing so will bring into my mind what is spiritually healthy and lead me away from what is harmful. The Holy Spirit awakens my life and faith and personal transformation (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and more, Galatians 5:22). God the Holy Spirit does that. But Holy Spirit does it through the word of God (1 Peter 1:23; John 17:17). God gave me a conscious mind. He gave me volition and emotion. God gave us conscience. If the truth of God's Word opposes the world's wisdom on a certain issue, you must align yourself with God's Word. When a Christian who is saved by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, this Christian is living in a new Creature with holy conscience rather than sinful conscience. If we didn't feel the conviction and didn't have the motivation to change from "within", then we should be concerned whether we are truly saved or not. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." I know that progressing in my sanctification and my spiritual growth and it only happens as I live in the environment of the truth and respond to that truth, and obey that truth, and avoid anything that diminishes my understanding of that truth or perverts that truth.

The Holy Spirit makes the words of Jesus effective when they attach with understanding to my mind and then to my will and emotions. Christ is glorified when His word is heard and understood and affirmed and enjoyed. So that is how God has ordained for change to happen. My own spiritual level will always be different from others. Others may be more spiritually mature while others are not as matured. We are in different stages of life with different demands on our days. We are at different levels of spiritual maturity, and no one matures over night. I am always searching and identifying my strengths and weaknesses rather than dwell solely on the negative aspects of my weaknesses. I will have to remember that I will often fall short of God's holiness that the world will not come to an end it that happens. Failures are just lessons of bad habits that I keep bringing back. I just need to pick myself up and start again. Let the mistake be a lesson and learn to make adjustments as I go along. I know that God's love hopes all things (1 Corinth 13). I understand that God's Grace with love refuses to take human failure as final. With Christ in me, my human failures are never final. He is not finished with me yet.God gave me the grace to sanctify me. In sanctification God has to deal with me on the death side as well as on the life side. The struggle begins. "If any man come to Me and hate not his own life, he cannot be My disciple." Being sanctified means “to be separated from sin”. The key to sanctification then, is to know and obey the truth which is the Word of God in my heart. When I got saved, I am justified which is "declared righteous". Justification cannot be separated from sanctification. I am declared righteous in justification, and then the process of making me righteous begins to function in this sinful world. Sanctification is a progress towards holiness which is spiritual growth. God uses thorns to perfect His "power is perfected in weakness". Through GRACE, "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:4). Grace of heart is a gift from God and this has nothing to do with the thorns because God change our circumstances by changing us internally, by allowing Him to lift us above our present thorn and He will lead us into His will. James says count it all joy when you fall into various trials cause trials have a perfecting work. Peter says after you've suffered a while the Lord will make you perfect.

Reading my BIBLE: The Bible illumines the dark corners of my heart and my mind by exposing sin but reveals the way towards His holiness. The Word of God (Bible) rebukes in order that I may see myh faults. God's Word (the Bible) sometimes wounds me deeply and it is imperative because through the Bible, God speaks loudly. I need to be convicted, respond in repentance and ask for forgiveness.