If you were the Devil, what would be one of your main strategies to counteract Christians today? I suggest that one of them would be to distract them from serious interaction with the Word of God by filling their minds with the things of this world.

In his book, Pathways to Power, a book written in the early 1950s, Dr. Merrill Unger wrote: "Meditation upon God’s Word is fast becoming a lost art among many Christian people. This holy exercise of pondering over the Word, chewing it as an animal chews its cud to get its sweetness and nutritive virtue into the heart and life, takes time, which ill fits into the speed of our modern age. Today most Christians’ devotions are too hurried, their lives too rushed."

If that was true in the early fifties, how much more is it true today—fifty years later in an age that has become even busier, more entertainment and activity-oriented, materialistic, and consumer-minded. Unger goes on to say: "But holiness and hurry never did suit well together. Prayer and preoccupation have always been strange bed-fellows. A head knowledge of the Word may perhaps be consonant with the scurry of the age, but not a deep heart experience of its preciousness. A deep knowledge of spiritual things can only come by the way of unhurried reflection upon God’s truth and by prayer."

Speaking of Satan and his activity, someone has said "our adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds." What we need is a time for quiet, stillness, and solitude for the purpose of meditating on the Word of God. Everything in your life will resist this. It will require firm resolve to become a truly spiritual person; resolve to think deeply about God’s truth in order to live it more consistently. Our thoughts, whether they are in harmony with God’s Word or not, will determine the way we live.

Consider these words from the Psalms:

* Psalm 19:14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

* Psalm 104:34, Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord.

From these verses it is clear that our meditation can be unacceptable and displeasing to the Lord. Therefore, we must take care to ensure that the meditations of our hearts are right before God. The only way we can do this is by patient reading, reflection, and response to the Word of God.

The Bible instructs us to make it a habit to meditate on the Word of God:

* Joshua 1:8, 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 success.

* Psalm 1:2, But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

* Psalm 4:4, Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still.

What is Biblical Meditation? Meditation in the Bible means reflective thinking on biblical truth so that God is able to speak to us through Scripture and through the thoughts that come to mind as we are reflecting on the Word, but that must also be filtered by the Word. The Word of God is central to biblical meditation, but sadly we too often neglect it to our peril. Irving Jensen wrote in How to Profit from Reading the Bible, "An unread Bible is like food that is refused, an unopened love letter, a buried sword, a road map not studied, a gold mine not worked."

The goal of Christian meditation is to internalize and personalize the Scripture so that its truth can affect how we think, our attitudes, how we live, and all our actions. This doesn’t come easy or natural to anyone. We must work at it. As we’re told in Proverbs 2:1-5: My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

My friend and upcoming seminar speaker at FBC, Jay Wegter, has estimated that 95% of God’s people do not really make it their practice to meditate upon Scripture.　 Theologian J.I. Packer gives the following definition of meditation: to apply to oneself what one knows about the works, ways, wonders, and will of God.　 If 95% of God’s people neglect to do this, then it’s no wonder why so many Christians are floundering in their walk of faith rather than flourishing.

In the upcoming articles I will elaborate how to meditate on Scripture and the role of faith in the sanctification process. We must have regular interaction with God’s Word in order to fuel our faith in God’s promises. Our faith in God’s promises is the key to growth in practical sanctification.

Are you feeling spiritually dry? Do you long for greater Christlikeness in your character and conduct? Then dive into God’s Word. The Bible is an ocean of spiritual riches. God wants to meet you there in the pages of the Bible. Take a few minutes at the beginning of each day to find some precious insight in God’s Word to think on throughout the day. The cost of neglecting God’s Word is far greater than any time and effort you might put into it. Think about that for a minute!

Today there is a lot of talk about "people of faith" or "faith-based communities." People, mainly politicians and the media, use this type of language to refer to religous people or organizations. But in reality, everybody is a person of faith to one degree or another. Faith, in its general sense, is something every human exercises. Faith is the expression of confidence and trust in something or someone to work for our good. We trust in doctors when we need surgery. We trust in newspapers to report what actually happened yesterday. We trust in a friend to confide in and find comfort.

But what about biblical faith? What kind of faith does God's Word encourage? If we look at the book of Hebrews in the New Testament we see a lot of discussion about faith and its relation to God's promises throughout the book. But just examining chapter 11 we find the chapter begins with a simple definition of faith: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb 11:1, ESV). Throughout the chapter we find explicit connection between faith and promise:

• By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise (11:9).
• By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised (11:11).
• These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth (11:13).
• By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son (11:17).
• who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions (11:33).
• And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised (11:39).

So faith is only as good as its object. Biblical faith rests on the sure promises of God. Faith is being sure and certain that God will do what He has promised. Pastor John Piper said, "Faith is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus, not just an assent to truths (past or future) but heartfelt valuing and treasuring of all God promises to be for us in Jesus."

Faith corresponds to promises. They go hand in hand. Living the life of faith is living as if God will keep His promises. Ask yourself, "How would I live differently if I really believed God is who He says He is, the Bible is really His sure and infallible Word, and the gospel promises are really mine forever?"

Where do people go wrong in their life of faith? Mainly in two ways:

1. Believing something God has not promised.
2. Not believing what God has promised.

Those two errors seem to cover it all. First, faith is not wishful thinking or a "hope-so" sentiment. Faith is not a force that works supernaturally to make things go our way. Faith is not a lasso we throw on the neck of God to get Him to do our will. No, biblical faith is humble, submissive, confident knowledge, assent, and trust in what God has said.

Many people have expressed disappointment with God. Perhaps you know someone who has stopped attending church or praying or reading the Bible because something in their life didn't turn out the way they had hoped. Circumstances become larger to them than God's love expressed in the gospel. They wrongly conclude, "If God loved me He would never allow this miscarriage." "God let my spouse leave me for another person. I just can't trust Him anymore." "My son became an atheist even though I took Him to church all his childhood." Some people look at their negative situation and read into it that God doesn't care for them.

But, these people neglect to remember that God has not promised everything to go well for us in this life. Rather we find promises to the contrary:

• In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
• through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).
• Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer (12:12).
• Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12).
• Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you (1 Pet 4:12-14).

Rather than looking to our circumstances to see God's love and care we should look to the place where God has settled once for all His love and concern for us--the cross! "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Or, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find references to God's love in the New Testament that do not directly or indirectly point to the cross of Christ.

So God has made it unmistakably clear to us who believe that His intention to us is good and not evil. Even the trials and suffering we undergo in this life are not wasted but allowed by God for our good: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28). So even though our sufferings and hardships are very real we know that God has our good at heart and the glory that awaits us when Christ is revealed will far outweigh whatever sufferings we endure: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Rom 8:18). Yes, we can trust Him even in the midst of suffering.

So some people grow disillusioned with God because of their circumstances and so show that they have believed something God has not said, that "things go better with Jesus." The other way people go wrong in their life of faith is to not believe what God has said.

Ancient Israel is a good example of an unbelieving people. God had led them out of slavery in Egypt. They witnessed the 10 plagues on Egypt and the stunning deliverance through the Red Sea. They were led in the desert by God's manifest presence and experienced His faithful provision of manna and water. God placed His shekinah glory in the tabernacle and brought them to the edge of the promised land. Yet, the people believed the negative report of 10 of the spies rather than trust God's promise to give the land to them and believe the report of Joshua and Caleb. For this reason, God's anger burned against them and He promised that none of those people would enter the promised land (Deut 1).

Then 38 years later the next generation again is brought to the edge of the promised land and God instructs the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant to stand in the Jordan River (Joshua 3). God promised to cause the water to cease flowing and the people would cross over on dry land. They had to trust God and obey Him before they experienced God's promise.

Some people say, "I'll believe it when I see it." The Bible way is to say, "You'll see it when you believe it." Christ's enemies taunted Him while He was on the cross saying, "Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32). Earlier Jesus told these people, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe" (John 4:48). Some people want proof and understanding before they will believe. But if that we had the kind of proof these people want, what need would there be for faith? Understanding is the reward of faith. "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb 11:6).

We have no right to believe something God has not promised. We also have no right to disbelieve what God has promised. Where are you struggling today in your faith in God's promises? Have you neglected to feed your faith with reading and reflecting on God's Word? Have you neglected prayer? Are you believing things you have no Bible chapter and verse to support? Your faith will strengthen to the degree you know and believe God's Word. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom 10:17).

If you don't already have one, why don't you make a daily appointment with God to meet Him in Scripture reading and prayer right now? Don't let the circumstances of life control you and your trust in God. Make up your mind to fight the fight of faith and triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil. You can be an overcomer as you feed your faith on God's promises: "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith" (1 John 5:4).