If that has been the case with you, let me encourage you to concentrate more on the quality of your time in the Word. Instead of trying to digest five or six chapters all at once, pick one shorter passage of scripture that especially speaks to your heart.
If you're going through a time when you particularly need God's protection, for example, you could select Psalm 91:2: "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him I will trust." Then you could deepen your understanding of it by cross-referencing the word refuge in your concordance and read every scriptural reference to it throughout the Bible.
You can also meditate on the Word by vividly imagining individual Bible stories. If you need healing, you might pick the story in Mark 10 about the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. That is one of my personal favorites because at a time in my life when I was desperately ill, I read that story hundreds of times.
Actually, I didn't just read it - I lived it. I would picture Jericho in my mind. I'd see Jesus walking with his disciples and the crowds gathered all around. I'd imagine how Bartimaeus felt as he frantically cried out to get Jesus' attention, and I'd hear the voices of the people around him as they scolded him saying, "Be quiet, Bartimaeus! Who do you think you are? Keep your mouth shut!"
Then in my mind's eye, I'd see myself in Bartimaeus' place. I would see Jesus calling me to Him. Then I'd see myself jumping up and throwing off my illness just like Bartimaeus threw off the cloak that signified his blindness. I would see myself healed!
Using your imagination this way is an extremely powerful method of transferring the scriptures from your head to your heart. It will make the Bible come alive for you as never before.
The third way you can meditate on the Word is to take a verse of scripture and carry it with you all day long. I don't mean you should put a Bible in your purse or your pocket and carry it with you. I mean, put a scripture in your mind and heart and just think about it night and day, turning it over and over in your mind.
You must understand, however, for the power of the Word to be fully activated in your life, you must believe it and act on it (see James 1:22-25).
I Know That Voice!
If you'll make daily meditation and obedience to the Word a habit, it will protect you from getting drawn into the errors that sometimes crop up among people who pray. That's because God's Word is truth (John 17:17) and truth always dispels error.
As you meditate on the Word, you're actually spending time in fellowship with the Spirit of Truth. You're growing familiar with His voice. Have you ever known someone so well that when they call you on the phone, they don't even have to identify themselves? They just say, "Hello!" and instantly you know who they are.
That's what happens as you listen to the Holy Spirit speak to you through the words of the Bible. You get to know Him so well you can recognize His voice anywhere. He might speak to you in the grocery store and your spirit will jump up and say, "I know that voice! That's the one who speaks to me through the scriptures everyday!"
By the same token, when the devil tries to trick you with some foolish unscriptural doctrine, he won't be able to fool you. The moment you hear it, your heart will draw back. "Wait a minute," you'll say, "That's not the Holy Spirit. That's the voice of a stranger and I will not follow it!"
Assured of the Answer
Perhaps the greatest blessing of spending daily time in God's Word is the sense of assurance it gives us when we pray. For the more firmly our prayers are grounded in God's Word, the more sure we can be that those prayers will be answered.
As 1 John 5:14-15 says, "This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us: and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."
When our prayers are fueled by the Word and filled with the faith only it can generate, we can be absolutely certain we are praying according to God's will. We do not have to waver in our faith, wondering if He will give us what we ask. We can simply rejoice, knowing without a doubt our answer is on the way!
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”
