Meditating God's Word

Good Morning,
I would like to compare, for a moment or two, Star Trek's influence on me. I found good moral-ending stories in most episodes of Star Trek from the original Star Trek with Captain James T. Kirk, to The Next Generation with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, to Deep Space Nine with Lt. Commander James Sisko, to Voyager with Captain Katherine Janeway. I have not watched enough of the newest installment of Star Trek-"Enterprise" to make any comments on.
I was always intrigued with the way Gene Roddenberry placed moral issues in his creation. In fact, in episode #12 of the original Star Trek's third season, THE EMPATH, there were two inferences to the Bible directly.
At the beginning of the episode where research scientist, Ozaba stated, "In His hand are the deep places of the earth--Psalm 95-verse 4." and at the end of the episode where Scotty stated, "Not to dispute your computer, Mr. Spock, but from little what you've told me, I'd say (Gem) was a pearl of great price.
Kirk responded, "What, Scott?"
Scotty went on to say, "You don't know the story of the merchant? The merchant. . .who, when he found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."
Kirk said, "Yes, she was all that. And whether the Vians bought her or found her makes little difference--she was of great value."
One of Star Trek's infamous enemy aliens, the Borg, is comparable to one of our five keys we use to find God's Will for our lives. I am writing about meditation and assimilation of God's Word into our inner man. You see, when we were born again, we were given by God the capacity to learn, the "want-to" to dive deep into Our Father, His Son, and His Holy Spirit. Before we were born again, we did not have the desire to even want to learn anything about God. We may have "played" church, as I did for several years, not only fooling my "so-called" friends for awhile, but also fooling myself into thinking I was saved. Satan is such a deceiver! According to the Borg's spokesman, in the form of an assimilated Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Borg only wanted to "raise the quality of life" of the species they "assimilate." "We are the Borg. . .You will be assimilated. . .Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. . .Resistance is futile."
I looked at what the Borg did to other species and actually the process I saw in them assimilating these species is like, in a sense, how we can assimilate the Word of God into our lives. While the Borg used nano probes to invade the bodies of selected aliens to assimilate, The Holy Spirit uses divine revelation from our praying in tongues when we read the Bible to assimilate the very nature of Christ into our inner man. Eventually, the invaded species lost their identity and became "Borg" with a collective mind from the "Queen" who was the source of their existence. So it is with us as we meditate and assimilate the Word into our inner man transforming us--renewing our minds so that we lose our "old nature" and become one with The Father and His Son. I guess I am stretching a bit here, and I'm not advocating Star Trek as a Biblical source or even a spiritual teaching, I am trying to point out that Star Trek, even in the days of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Scotty, expounded on the moral and ethical questions of our society and were being explored and discussed in a very unique way that sparked interest in my "spacey thinking". I can't help it if I was born in 1953, just a few years before man's first exploration, with the launch of Alan Shepard into space. NASA's Space Program ignited a desire in me that "boldly took me where no mind had gone before." Yes, I am a Trekkie--I can't help myself.
"So, then Mr. Trekkie, how do I assimilate the Word of God into my inner man?" I'm glad you asked! For the next few moments, I will be only relating to you what I know to do. I don't understand the process of how the Word of God becomes a part of me, I just know, that through the great teachers I've had, Pastor Charlie Rogers, Pastor David Lee, and their pastor, Dave Roberson, I have been able to "copy" their technique and all I can say is: IT WORKS! Care to join me for a journey and go where only a few have gone before?
First of all, we have to rid ourselves of all doubts and unbelief that tend to sway us that The Word of God is not the Word of God. Many times in my recent past, I doubted that God said all these nice things in the Bible. Oh, I read it, I tried to understand it, but it was futile--I could not break through all those mysteries. And now, here comes the Holy Ghost! Through Him, I am able to read and understand portions of scripture I have never been able to read through and understand before. I have found, through experience, that reading a portion of scripture over and over and over and over and over actually opens up portals to God that were previously closed to me. Pastor Dave Roberson in one of his teachings, stated that we need to start with Proverbs and read it over and over for at least fifty times. FIFTY TIMES--my goodness when I heard that, I was stunned. I could not possibly read something like Proverbs over and over for fifty times. IT HAD THIRTY-ONE CHAPTERS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! But I wanted what my pastor had, I wanted the revelation knowledge and mysteries of Christ open up to me as well! I had to do it. Which is a very interesting point--We have to have the "want to"--to want to! We have to commit to read these scriptures over and over. In the past, I recognized the Bible as a text book and only regarded it as such, but as time went on, I began to realize that unlike any text book I have ever encountered, this book became ALIVE. It became new and refreshing every time I read it. And, it became my daily bread! Praise God! In other words, it took the Holy Spirit to teach me that this book was inspired by God, written by the hands of men, but those hands were directed by God himself.
I did it! It took less than a month, but I read Proverbs 50 times. Guess what? It wasn't until about the 20th to 25th time through that some revelation knowledge started coming through. I saw things I had never seen before. Even though Solomon had written the majority of Proverbs a long-long time before Jesus, I found myself involved with the Word, how it was relating to the world around me, and how to handle my neighbors, which by the way, is part of God's plan and even a commandment for our lives. I was shown in a moment of time how these words of wisdom applied to God's principles today for my life and those around me. Now, I may not have memorized Proverbs, but when a Proverb is said, I know pretty much where it is and the context in which it was written. That's what Our Father wants to give each of His children. He want them to be able to understand ALL the mysteries in His Word!
After I finished meditating Proverbs, I started taking on smaller books in the New Testament. I started reading 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, and Jude. I am doing the same thing I did in Proverbs. I am reading one verse at a time, I will read that verse until I understand the literal meaning of it-(I will not attempt to try to understand the "spiritual meaning" By doing this I am allowing the Holy Spirit to teach me) As I said, I am reading these books the same way as I did Proverbs but this time, I am going to read them over and over and over for at least 100 times! Seriously, The Holy Spirit has never revealed to me the mysteries of Christ through His Word on just the first reading. If I need to go to the dictionary to understand a word in the verse, I will. I will not allow any distractions to get to me while I am reading and meditating His Word. I was keeping tally marks at the back of the books to see how many times I read that particular book and if I can recall, it was between 60 or 70 times through that the Holy Ghost started showing me things in 1st John--Chapter 3 to be exact. I started noticing things about the way the word Spirit was being used. I had come to the conclusion that John was talking about our inward spirit more than he was talking about the Holy Spirit and while it was the interpreters who translated the words, it really wasn't their fault. The Greek word for Spirit refers to The Holy Spirit and man's inner spirit. It was the Holy Spirit's teaching which showed me the difference in John's writing. I did confirm this with my Pastor Charlie Rogers and He agreed with me! Praise God--The Holy Spirit had actually taught me something again and I'm glad I can enter into His classroom--any time I want, just because I want!
I have purposed it in my heart to meditate the Word of God, but that is not all I want to read in God's Word--only those scriptures or books I'm meditating. In fact, now I use the system I use to use when I was trying to read the Bible through in a year. I use the calendar and read Proverbs now daily--each chapter corresponding to the day it is. For example, today is the 2nd of May. This morning I read the 2nd chapter of Proverbs. Last month, I read Matthew using that same system. This month, I am reading Mark, the same way. Last month, I read Revelations, this month, I am reading 1st and 2nd Peter--of course, I am still meditating 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, and Jude and I add that to my daily reading. I don't stop there. I continue to read over and over, book by book those scriptures I am meditating up and above the other scriptures I read. This is really a neat way to stay in God's Word, day by day!
One more thing--When we read a book or a chapter over and over, we do not have the tendency to take God's Word out of context. Leaving the chapters and books in whole portions while reading, it is more clear to me to see what God intended. I mean, and this is stretching it a little, but I hope to get my point across--scripture taken out of context could lead to drinking some grape Flavor-ade! What do I mean? Ok, there is a scripture that says, "Judas, then, hung himself. . . " and if I were going to try to get someone to commit suicide using God's Word, then I would then refer to the scripture--"Go and do likewise." We must never, never, never take scripture out of context. My teachers have all said, "Don't break the cardinal rule of taking God's Word out of context. In fact, my pastor, Charlie Rogers told me this: "Pastor, if I hear you taking something out of context, I will slap the fat out of your face!" Now, mind you, I would rather that not happen. So, I always read whole books or whole chapters, keeping them in context. Guess what? Our Teacher, The Holy Spirit can teach us things that way--we become teachable and He is more than willing to let us in on a little mystery of Christ!
Have a Christ-filled, Spirit-led day,
Pastor C