Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - 8 Powerful Steps to Biblical Meditation | How to Meditate on God's Word Daily | Harry Walls

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Discover the transformative power of biblical meditation and learn practical steps to incorporate God's Word throughout your day. Dr. Harry Walls breaks down his 8-step method for meaningful Scripture meditation that goes beyond traditional "quiet time."Learn these essential steps for deeper biblical meditation:Preparation - Starting your meditation journeyMemorization - Making Scripture stickInvestigation - Deep diving into God's WordPetition - Praying through ScriptureIllustration - Visualizing biblical truthProclamation - Sharing God's WordApplication - Living out ScriptureStarvation - Eliminating distractionsBased on Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8, this teaching reveals why biblical meditation is the only promise in Scripture that guarantees spiritual success and transformation. Perfect for Christians seeking deeper spiritual growth and those struggling with distracted discipleship.🎯 Biblical References:Psalm 1, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 25:15, Romans 12:2Watch VideosVisit the Website Buy Consider the LiliesFollow on Instagram

I know of no other promise in the Bible with richer outcomes, more powerful realities than the promise of meditation. But if you're really struggling with finding the time because of the abundance of distractions, my eighth step is starvation. And that is I'm going to deny myself some normative things, and I'm going to starve myself of those distractions and feed on the Word of God. And you do that for a while, you'll be surprised at, A, the reward of it and the necessity that benefits you in the application of this.

Well, Harry, thanks for sitting down. You know, we've previously talked about the promises that the Word of God offers to people, that it revives us, it transforms us. If someone wants to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, then their life needs to be deeply rooted in the Word of God. One of the things that I want to talk about in this episode is why it's not enough to have a cursory glance at Scripture. We need to be those who chew on the word of God. And you've spoken a lot about how the believer is called to meditate on scripture. You know, we live in a world where Eastern religion has almost

hijacked that term meditation, that it refers to almost an emptying of our mind. But as we look to the scripture, meditation is not emptying of our mind. It's a filling up of our mind. But as we look to the scripture, meditation is not emptying of our mind. It's filling up of our mind with the treasures of God's word. But what I want to alley-oop you now is maybe why do we need to meditate on scripture and then how do we do it? What does that look like practically and functionally? Yeah, no, great question. And that's exactly right. Biblical meditation is focusing, chewing on, ruminating on, meditating on, focusing on the person of God and the Word of God. And I know the reason you ask, why should we do this? I know of no other promise in the Bible with richer outcomes, more powerful realities than the promise of meditation. Psalm 1, the Psalter begins with

the blessing that comes to the man who delights in the law of the Lord. Delights, finds joy. The day and night. And meditates therein day and night. So it's a, and it's not like just in the morning and in the evening, but it's throughout the day. It's throughout the waking hours. You are consistently engaging the Word of God mentally, chewing on it, meditating on it. And the promise is you'll be like a me, I have access to life-giving vitality, water. And then I have green leaves. As green leaves, it says that tree has leaves that are green and it bears fruit in its season. Green leaves means it has life because it's planted by the source of life and it can produce more than it needs to live life. Fruit is what you do when you have more than you need to survive, which means others can benefit.

And then the kicker promise at the end, and whatever he does, Aramaic root, he prospers, he presses through. So a life governed by, informed by this constant attention, meditation, and the Word of God results in a life as informed by those words that has prosperous outcomes, positive, productive, life-giving outcomes. What promise in the Bible guarantees success? This one. Meditating. Meditation.

And I think it's so important to understand even this concept of meditation, because I think a lot of people, you know, grew up with, you know, what I, we would refer to it as a quiet time. You know, what a Christian does is they spend 15 minutes in the morning, you know, reading the Bible, they throw up a Hail Mary prayer, God help me to get through this day. Yeah. And then they spend the rest of the day rolling around in the mud of the world. And they are discouraged when they see a lack of progress and their sanctification. They wonder why they still struggle with besetting sins. And it's because even that idea, well, it may be good to have a quiet time or a steady time in the morning. It's not sufficient when we live in a real world of sin 24 hours a day. And so this is the one

promise you mentioned that guarantees productivity and prosperity in a biblical sense, which isn't a- Health, wealth, and- Yeah, it's a life full of wisdom and godliness. And so someone's like, okay, I want to meditate. What does that functionally and practically look like? How do we chew on the word of God? Yeah, and you use the right synonym. Chew is the word ruminate. It means to take it in and cough it up mentally and chew on it. So there's a combination. It comes from the synonym ruminate. There's a group of animals that have four-chambered stomachs. The first chamber is the rumen and cows being one of them. They munch and swallow. So they take it in, the raw material, then they cough it up, chew the cud,

and they cough it up and they chew it. They pulverize it. They maximize and extract the most good from it before it goes into their digestive system. It maximizes its potential. They're not swallowing the truth whole. Right. Not just taking it in. Coughing it down.

Gulping it. Yeah. They're chewing it. They're taking it in and gulping it. They're chewing it. They're taking it in, and then they're coughing it up and reflecting on it. So biblical meditation, the most fruitful kind, is day and night because it begins in the morning. Actually, I would argue that it's best to start at night as you pillow your head on your bed and on your pillow. Put the Word of God in your mind because it has been scientifically demonstrated. A leading physician at Harvard Medical School, Herbert Benson, did a

study on the subconscious impact of the things you have in your mind when you're sleeping, when you're not thinking about them, and they're working through the night. So putting God's Word, His Word on your mind, the last thing on your mind, gets transferred, the last conscious thought, to your subconscious. And until you wake up, it's on your mind, and you're benefiting from it. Proverbs chapter 6 says it'll protect you in the night. While you sleep. While you sleep. And when you wake, they will talk to you. Spurgeon had experiences where he would literally regurgitate thoughts and ideas that he got while he was sleeping. And it's not mystical. It's he put the Word of God in his mind. His mind was working. And when he was awakened, his mind unpacked what it had been doing. And so I will argue that the first

step and an approach to biblical meditation, they said, I wait till the night watches. Can I meditate on you, oh God? I get up in the night to meditate. I think before you go to bed, not a movie, not a book, not surveying social media, the Word of God. Have it by your bed. Read till you find a verse that your attention is drawn to and rehearse it in your mind the best you can until you fall asleep. I call that free meditation because meditation you burn calories. You actually are working mentally. So step one, on your bed, your head on your pillow, reflecting on what you've just learned from the Bible. When you awake, the next step, I call it memorization. That's preparation for the

day. Memorization is get up in the morning, write it on a three by five card, put it on your sink in your bathroom. And by the end of your bathroom routine, shower, sink, shave, whatever, you're attempting to memorize that verse to get it in you, to swallow it. You won't get it word perfect, but you can get a good start on it. That's step two, memorization. Sink, shower. Workout, maybe. Yeah. I'm just saying early. Get it in you so you can cough it up throughout the rest of the day. Third thing I call evaluation, and that is your devotion time. Part of my devotion time, 10, 15 minutes of it, is evaluating the verse, investigating the verse. So circling key words. If that word, like let's do Psalm 25, 15, my eyes are continually on the Lord,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net. My eyes are continually. So I'd circle the word continually. What's that mean? I'm constantly looking to God. My eyes are continuously on the Lord, and he will pluck me out, which means he delivers me. He rescues me. And I'll rescue myself.

I don't have to jump out of the net. The net is a snare somebody else lays. So you circle the key words and you ask yourself, if this word means this, and I write it down, then what does that imply? What does that mean? What's the outcome? The Lord is righteous and he loves righteousness. So what is righteousness? And he loves it. And just examine. It's a contemplation. Yeah, you're thinking about it. Maybe do a little word study with your smartphone or your computer and say, man, what does that word mean? You don't need that, but you can benefit from it.

So it's an investigation. That's step three. Why am I doing that in the morning? So that when I cough it up during the day, when I think about it, I benefit more from it because I've already gotten a deeper thought through the night, memorization, investigation. Then I argue for petition lunchtime. I'm praying that prayer. So Johnny and Harry are having lunch. God, thank you for the food we're about to eat. And we just want to recognize as we enjoy this fellowship that you're righteous and you love righteousness. Help our conversation today to stimulate us to the right kind of living that pleases you and should be manifest in those who love you.

So I just prayed that thought. Well, when I'm praying it, I'm thinking about it. It's ingraining it in your own mind. And I'm sharing it because you know what you're going to do is, that'm thinking about it. It's ingraining it in your own mind. And I'm sharing it because you know what you're going to do is, that's an interesting prayer. And it gives me the opportunity not to show off, but to simply reflect on what it is that's on my mind that may benefit. And show off a little bit simultaneously. Yeah, well, hey, look at me. I'm memorizing. That's right. I know a verse nobody else knows.

The fourth installment, and again, it's day and night. So I'm working through the day. That's what you're feeling. Before bed, get up in the morning, investigation. Now I'm lunchtime. I'm praying the verse. That's the fourth. I think this would be the fifth if you're moving on, right?

Yeah. So preparation, memorization, investigation, petition. Now I'm doing number five. Thank you. I can't count. So number five would be in the afternoon and I would take a coffee break, but somewhere in the afternoon, I'm going to try to, to draw something that literally an image, because the same guy who said your subconscious hands off or your conscious hands off to your subconscious, that same guy says that when you visualize something, you use your imagination, you try to visualize it and draw it, it imprints it. And so I try to draw the verse. So, you know, I would try

to draw stick figures. I'm not an artist. But it's not about the art. It's about the image that reminds me of the truth that's housed in that verse. Meaning if my going back to Psalm 25, if my eyes are continually towards the Lord, you're drawing an eyeball looking up. Or I'm drawing a guy who's looking up. Yeah. And I've got a net laid out in front of me. So that guy looking up is stepping into a net and a big hands reaching down from heaven to pluck him out. That's what I would have drawn on that card. Psalm 25, 15. And the interesting thing about that verse is I memorized that. I meditated on that 20 years ago, but guess what?

I still know it. Do I rehearse it every day? I don't rehearse it every day. Hardly ever rehearse it. But it was so deeply embedded. That's what I'm trying to communicate is it's different than I read it. It's in me. And it's like cash in the wallet. I don't know when I'm going to need it. And so the meditation is the benefit that I enjoy throughout the day. Fifth step, sixth step, back on the numbers. Number six, I call this proclamation. This is dinner time. Whoever I'm eating with, in my case, my wife, my family, I'm going to share, hey guys, you know, this is after we pray for the meal. Can I share with you something I've been thinking about today? It's not long. It's just my effort to put into words the substantive truth that I've extracted, the bottom line benefits that I've received from the passage or the verse that I'm working on.

So, hey, Johnny, let me tell you what I was thinking about today. I was thinking about, you know, sometimes I get in trouble not because I get myself in trouble, but there's a trap laid for me. And I would just talk you through what that i remember you're doing that even what the lord loves righteousness it's not just that god's righteous he loves righteousness yeah and so i'm a testament to that for sure so that i'm sharing it okay that's what i mean by proclamation i'm sharing it because when you share anything verbally, it enhances the benefit of imprinting it, knowing it, and really refining the truth of it. And then the final thing, step seven, for me, is application. And it really should be for everybody, not just for Harry.

Joshua 1.8, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. This is the captain of the Lord's host to Joshua. You're going to be successful. The word of God is not to depart out of your mouth. You shall meditate therein day and night. Same concepts. Now listen to the end of it, that you may observe to do all that is written therein. Not enough to know about the Bible.

It's like James 1. You can be a hearer. You can memorize it, know it, be able to teach it. But the goal is to be a doer of it, to get it into your life. So defective meditation is knowing it and not doing it. And application is just, okay, Harry, how are you going to change your life? How are you going to apply this truth? What's going to be different because this is true?

You're going to look up more often. You're going to pay, you're going to have triggers and catalyst and stimuli in your day to remind you because life distracts you. You get your head down. You don't have your head up. That's figurative, of course. But my eyes are looking toward God more often throughout the day. Constantly, I'm dependent on God. I'm looking to God. I'm trusting God. Oh, okay. And I've done this. I've had seasons where I would set my alarm on my watch so that every hour it buzzes. And you may not know what it is. It's not for me to take some kind of additive. It's for me to look up figuratively and say, God, I'm looking to you. Protect me today. So those seven steps, which are-

Preparation, meditation, investigation, petition, illustration, proclamation, and then application. Yeah. You get a gold star. I'm trying. I was like, wait a second. And I think functionally it's so important because the way we're transformed is Romans 12, 2, by the renewing of our mind. How is our mind ever going to be renewed if we're not constantly using and employing our mind to meditate on God's truth? So you can't grow without this. No. And secondly, there's a unique

opportunity that is almost always true that whatever it is God is imprinting in me, he gives me the opportunity to benefit someone else. It's surprising how many times providentially the verse I'm working on is a verse that somebody actually needs to know. And because I know it, I can be a tool of heaven to share it. One last thing I added, I added a step eight. It's not really a step, but if you're really struggling with finding the time because of the abundance of distractions, my eighth step is starvation. And that is I'm going to deny myself some normative things, distractions, sports center, football, whatever the things are that I tend to gravitate to that are actually distractions. And I'm going to starve myself

of those distractions and feed on the word of God until this habit is... Because the distractions are legitimate. People say they don't have enough time, but the average person spends seven hours a day on their phone, you know, looking at a screen. So you have the time, you just live in a world of distractions, which is why my friend always calls it, we're distracted disciples. We want to honor the Lord, but we're just too distracted to do it. So that eighth step I think is really important. Yeah. Figuring out what it is that handicaps me and saying, you know what,

I'm not going to watch this. I'm going to think about this. And you do that for a while, you'd be surprised at A, the reward of it and the necessity that benefits you in the application of this. Yeah. It could be really good things that distract you from the best thing, which would be meditating on the truth. And Harry, that's so important because our minds are vulnerable. We're bombarded by the world, but also just moral neutrality. But if we're not pursuing the Lord, we're drifting. We're not prone to worship. We're prone to wonder. And so even this meditation, I think it was Thomas Watson that said, it's the hammer that drives the nail of truth into our hearts because we're prone to superficial Christianity. And if we want to scuba dive deep in the word of God, it needs to be not just 15 minutes

in the morning, which would be good, but it's a consistency throughout the day. So thanks so much for your wisdom and input in this regard. Yeah, no, you're welcome. Thanks, Harry.