Train Up A Child (Part 5)

In Part 4 of the Train Up A Child series, we talked about why meditating on the Word is important. Today, let's continue in that vein.

In both Luke 8:15 and James 1:25, the Bible speaks of keeping or continuing in the Word.

Keeping and continuing in the Word is all that meditation is. 

It is repeating the Word over and over again until it plants in the soil of your heart.

Joshua 1:8 instructs us to meditate on the Word of God day and night. To keep the Word always on our lips. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray continually. Psalm 1:1-2 tells us we will be blessed for doing so.

God commands us to meditate on His word, not out of His own selfishness or need to control us. Rather, God commands us to meditate on the Word because He knows it will bring blessings and good fruit in our life (Luke 8:15; James 1:25).

And who wouldn’t want those things in their life?

More to come next week!

God bless,
J.W.

Train Up A Child (Part 4)

In Part 3 of the "Train Up A Child" series, we talked about why God instructs us to train through meditating on His Word. This week, let's address the slightly different question of why meditating on the Word is important.

In Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, in which He likens the Kingdom of God to a farmer sowing seed. Some seed falls on good soil and yields a one hundred-fold harvest (Luke 8:8). Some seed falls by the wayside, is trampled, and eaten by birds (Luke 8:5). Other seed falls on rocky soil and withers (Luke 8:6). Still other seed falls among the thorns and gets choked (Luke 8:7).

Jesus later explains to His disciples that the seed that falls on good soil represents people that hear the Word, apply it and bear fruit (Luke 8:15). The seed that falls by the wayside represents people who hear the Word but the devil comes and snatches the seed out of their hearts (Luke 8:12). The seed that falls on rocky soil represent people that receive the Word with joy but fall back into disobedience because of temptation (Luke 8:13). The seed that falls among the thorns and gets choked represents people who hear the Word but get caught up in the cares of the world and bear no fruit (Luke 8:14).

In every case, the people hear the Word. But only in one of them does the Word actually take root and bear fruit.

So there has to be a difference between simply hearing the Word and bearing its fruit.

Meditating on the Word is the difference!

For more on this concept, check out Pastor Ron Carpenter’s message below starting at 32:04.

https://youtu.be/JjYTjDdnoEk?t=32m4s

Ultimately, God wants us to be more than just hearers of the Word (James 1:22). He wants us to bear fruit and be world changers. But we can't do that simply by hearing the Word. If that's the extent of our experience with the Word, we are no different than the seed that falls by the wayside. Or among the thorns. Or on the rocks.

God wants His Word to yield a harvest. But it's going to require more than just hearing the Word.

More to come next week!

God bless,
J.W.