Boosting Prayer with Meditation
October 15, 2019
As I develop my prayer life, I am struck by how important it is to have faith that God has provided an answer to my prayers. He hears me every time I pray. With Him, the answer is always yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). But, building that faith is a process. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Building faith certainly comes from attending church regularly, but it also comes from reading the Bible and meditating on what you read.
I have been taught that your ear does not really care who is speaking. It hears your voice just as much as it hears the voice of another person. If I am reading aloud to myself, my ear hears the voice. In fact, my own voice has a lot of influence. That is why self-talk is so important to how we view ourselves. That is why positive affirmations work for so many people with self-esteem issues. Speaking the Word of God out loud and mulling it over is important to building our faith.
Although I have been a daily bible reader for decades, I recently realized how little I meditate on it. I tend to let my mind wander as I do tasks that don’t require a lot of concentration, like lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, scrubbing the kitchen sink, or taking my morning walk. I usually think about a TV program or replay conversations I had with someone. Meditating on those things are a complete waste of time, and I realized that time would be better spent meditating on the Word.
The other day, I determined to meditate on a scripture. The one I picked was one I have memorized already because I recite it over myself and my family every day.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV)
The version of 2 Timothy 1:7 that I use daily is from the Amplified Bible Classic: For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
Here is how my meditation thought stream flowed: God does not give me fear. He does not put fear on me. He has given me the Holy Spirit to support my spirit. And this Holy Spirit is a spirit of power. He is a Spirit of love. He is a Spirit of a sound, calm, balanced, self-controlled mind. I do not have to be afraid of fear. I can easily overcome fear because the Holy Spirit lives in me and He is my Helper, Comforter, Counselor, and Strengthener (John 14:16 AMPC).
I have recited 2 Timothy 1:7 a thousand times, but I never meditated on it enough to squeeze out the revelation from it that would build my faith and improve my prayer life. This revelation changed my attitude about my ability to overcome whatever I was afraid of. This revelation changed the way I pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you that Jesus came to Earth and, through His suffering and death, brought me salvation. With that salvation, He also brought me the Holy Spirit to live inside my new born spirit. I have a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. I will not be afraid. I resist the spirit of fear every time it tries to come upon me. My children are saved and walking out the life You planned for them. I will not allow myself to fear any bad tidings about them, and I will not allow myself to meditate on all the bad things that “could” happen to them. Because I have a calm, well-balanced, and controlled mind and I thank you for it. I simply cover my children with the protection and healing that the blood of Your Son, Jesus, bought for them. Thank you, Lord, Thank you! Amen.
This is the third post in our ongoing series on prayer. Click here for the second post, “Don’t Give Up!”, and here for the first post, “Pray First, Act Second”. Thank you for following along!
