This Book...

This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate in it day and night,

that you may observe to do according to

all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous,

and then you will have good success.

Joshua 1:8

There is saying that goes like this: the Bible is our daily bread, not cake for special occasions. I love that! We should be in the Word of God each and every day.

When I was a teenager our youth group went to a teen conference. I cannot remember the speaker's name or much about the conference, but I do remember a story he shared. He was talking about cows. If you ever watch a cow, they bend their neck down and get a mouth full of grass, then the chew on the grass. They chew and chew and chew. It's called chewing the cud and a cow can spend up to 8 hours chewing! The speaker told an auditorium of teenagers that day, that we need to be like the cows. Of course, we all giggled, not sure where he was going with this.

We need to read God's Word daily. Remember, it's our daily bread? Then we need to chew and chew and chew on it. We need to think about it, pray about it, process it, study it, let it sink in. If we read the Bible, then walk away from it, never giving it a second thought, what good is it doing us? Joshua tells us to meditate in it day and night.

Here are a five ways I have found that help me, personally, mediate in the Word day and night:

• Morning quiet time. Each morning I have my time with God. I read the Our Daily Bread devotional, then read the Bible according to whatever Bible reading plan I am doing, journal my thoughts on what I read, and pray.
• Afternoon quiet time. Last year my One Word was Water. Part of that was to get into the Living Water more. I set my cell alarm to 1pm each day and when the alarm went off, I did a Bible study. I bounce back and forth between studies from She Reads Truth and Women Living Well. I can even do these studies using my cell phone if I happen to be away from home. Several days I did it in line at the grocery store! I called these afternoon quiet times, quickie quiet times because it took less than 10 minutes and definitely gave me a much needed spiritual boost for the day.
• Bedtime quiet time. Along with my One Word last year, I began doing a quickie devotional before bed. I have a devotional that sits on my nightstand and read it before bed each night. I also write down one thing from my day that I am thankful for.
• Write Scriptures. Index cards and post-it notes are my friends. I love writing Scriptures out and having them all over my home, I can read them over and over as I walk by. It's a great way to hide God's Word in my heart.
• Listen to worship music. My kids love when we are reading the Bible and they hear a Scripture that is familiar to them because of a song. So many Christian songs come straight from Scripture. So as you listen to worship music, you are most likely listening to the Word.

What are some ways that you can meditate in the Word day and night? We are at the very beginning of a new year. That means a new start. This year, be intentional about getting into God's Word and mediating day and night on it.

Linking with:
Woman to Woman's Word Filled Wednesday