Once a converted, saved, growing, forgiven child of God learns how
to see the Bible in a personal light and read all the precious old stories as
if they really were written for him, then he is ready to discover the next step.
He is ready to learn how he can talk to God and “hear” God’s answer just like
all those people in the Bible did.
For Christians, this personal guidance from the Holy Spirit is
second in value only to salvation, and Satan knows it. He is in the business of
preventing souls from remaining in constant touch with the Father as Jesus was.
It really is possible to be so connected. It was one of Jesus’ last requests: “That
they may be one, just as We are one.” (John 17:22, italics supplied)
How? There is only one way to the Father, and that is to stow away
in Jesus, so that where He goes, you go. One extremely vital part of this
abiding life is personal meditation. It’s a way in which you, or any Christian,
can go to God for guidance on personal problems or questions that the Bible
doesn’t deal with specifically, or just to share the joys and trials of daily
life and really hear an answer just for you, just in your own heart.
But this becomes a rather unnerving matter. Isn’t it possible to
make up a conversation with God, inventing lines for Him that will feed your
own will?
Yes, it is. The child of God who truly wants guidance, will
carefully guard herself from such possibilities by making full use of the armor
God freely provides. She must become, through patient, prayerful study, firmly
grounded in what God has already said in His Word. This means both practicing
scriptural meditation and careful, systematic study of the themes and teachings
of the Bible. God is never going to give you guidance that disagrees with His
already-recorded Word.
You also must not forsake the fellowship of other growing
Christians, especially those more experienced in their life with Christ. If you
are perplexed or in doubt about something, check it with someone you trust and
know to have a vital, experienced relationship with God.
But most of all, trust your Lord. Jesus is more concerned with
keeping you from deception than you could ever be and is quite capable of
protecting you if you just ask. So always, before any meditation, pray a prayer
something like this: “Dear Father, I believe that You love me and want more
than anything to guide and bless my life. I know that You have something to say
to me today, and I want to hear You and nothing else. Please fill me with the
Holy Spirit, as you have promised to do. Forgive my sins, take away my own
wishes and desires, my doubts and worries, and protect me also from the devil’s
plans to harm me. I claim Your promise of wisdom, found in James 1:5, and the
personal guidance You promise in Isaiah 30:21 and John 14:6 and 16:13. Help me
to hear only Your message for me and to follow You throughout this day. Thank
You for Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
But in spite of all your prayer and preparation, and even though
God is beside you and speaking to you, your meditations will still sometimes
seem like mere imaginings, a child’s daydreams. Don’t be discouraged.
Discouragement in itself is one of the devil’s plans to harm you. Tell God your
fears, too, and never give up.
Above all, remember this: “And the kingdom of God is like unto a
radio network with a perfect transmitter and a great many very faulty
receivers.” No matter how perfect the transmitter (and it is), if I am not also
a perfect receiver (and I am not, nor will I be until this world is ended and
we are all put back on the same wavelength with God), there will sometimes be
misunderstandings.
Never forget that, but don’t let it throw you, either. God will
not let you continue in a mistaken understanding as long as you stay tuned in.
Keep checking back. Keep yourself conscious of His presence with you every
moment of the day. With a humble realization of the frailty of your reception,
keep your mind and heart open to Him, and “your ears will hear a word behind
you, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right or to the
left.” (Isaiah 30:21) The High King of the universe has said it; never dare to
doubt it. And the moment you are sure of His will, obey immediately. Hesitation
will give the devil a chance to come up with all kinds of logical reasons why
you shouldn’t do it, and you will end up uncertain all over again about what
your
Teacher’s will really is.
It is also possible to go to the other extreme. Some have let one
subjective experience define their spiritual lives—this despite the counsel of
others and to their own eventual calamity.
A man we’ll call Bob was having an affair with the wife of another
man we’ll call John. When John, having talked to no avail with his wife,
confronted Bob, Bob assured John that he had prayed very much over this matter
and that God had told him it was His will for Bob to leave his own wife and
take John’s instead! The Bible says, “’The heart is more deceitful than all
else and is desperately sick.” (Jeremiah 17:9) We all know it will go to any
extreme to get its own way. Bob failed to put the Bible first above his own
ideas, even ideas he might think he got from prayer and meditation. Some who have
taken this route have never accepted correction. “God told me,” they insist.
Let’s repeat it again: God will not set aside His
revealed Word, least of all His own law, to suit you! We must keep a balance.
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