Bible Study 101: What Is Biblical Meditation? Hearing Jesus, Devotional

Bible Study 101: What Is Biblical Meditation? Hearing Jesus, Devotional This episode is a replay from Rachael's biblical meditation series, and it closes out Bible Study 101 by putting you inside the passage you've been studying all week. The first half is teaching. What the Hebrew word hagah actually means, why meditation is the thing that trains you to recognize God's voice, and a story about the night Rachael got the call about her grandmother. The second half is a guided meditation on John 6:1-15, where you'll walk through the scene as the boy who handed over his lunch, and then sit with Jesus afterward. There's no closing prayer on this one, on purpose. Rachael reads the passage and then hands the time over to you. Links Speakpipe: Leave a voice message or prayer request Join the newsletter SEEDS: Download the free SEEDS app and take one small step today: plant your first seed and see what God can grow. Chapters 2:17 What this episode is, and why it's structured backward 2:43 Hagah, the second Hebrew word for meditation 3:13 Omnipresence, and what meditation actually creates 3:42 How you come to recognize a voice 4:39 When the enemy sounds a lot like God 5:18 The night her grandmother fell 7:14 I'm not over there, I'm right here 8:38 Meditation is the posture. The interaction is what changes you. 9:05 Why we want someone else to talk to God for us 11:18 How do I know if I'm hearing from God? 11:44 Tip one, pick a Scripture 13:06 Tip two, pick a time 13:58 Tip three, pick a place 14:24 Tip four, your posture 15:23 Tip five, don't give up 15:51 The guided meditation begins 16:21 Using your senses inside the scene 17:36 When Jesus sits down next to you 18:37 Then you ask Him the same question 21:04 Reading John 6:1-15 What is biblical meditation? It's filling your mind with God's word on purpose and staying there long enough for Him to speak into it. Meditation is mentioned 58 times in Scripture, and there are two Hebrew words behind it. One appeared earlier in this series and carries the sense of complaining or pouring out to God. The other is hagah. What does hagah mean? Hagah is the idea of pondering, imagining, thinking. It's turning something over in your mind, sitting with it, and listening. It's also a dialogue, where you're talking to God and then waiting to hear back. That's the version of meditation this episode practices. Not emptying your mind, but filling it with a passage and staying in it. Why does meditation help you hear God? Because there's a big Bible word, omnipresence, which means God is always with you regardless of where you are or what you're doing. The question isn't whether He's there. It's whether you recognize it. Meditation creates the emotional and spiritual space where you can hear Him. How do you learn to recognize God's voice? The same way you recognize any voice. Time. Rachael has three daughters, and when one of them calls from another room she knows instantly which one it is. People on the phone can't tell them apart, because their voices are similar. She can, because she's spent years with them. Her sister-in-law can too, for the same reason. This matters because the enemy often works through your own insecurity or ego, which means the voice can sound familiar. The way you tell the difference is the way you tell the difference with anyone. You learn a voice by spending time with the person, and with God that time happens in His word. The story that shows why this matters Rachael's grandparents largely raised her. Her grandmother fell down a flight of stairs, hit her head, and had a brain bleed. The call came in the middle of the night, and it was clear she didn't have long. Rachael's husband stayed with their kids while she drove nearly an hour to the hospital alone. She says it was one of the most intense moments of grief she's ever experienced, and grief makes you irrational. She kept praying the same thing out loud between sobs, over and over. I need You. I need You. I need You. At one point she reached her hand across to the passenger side armrest, as if she could touch Him sitting there. And she heard Him, as clear as anything. I'm not over there. I'm right here. He interrupted her chaos with His words, and she recognized His voice because she had been meditating on His word for years. That's what let her walk into the hospital room and say goodbye. The thought she'd been stuck in was replaced with something else. I'm right here. I'm not far away. I'm inside you. Meditation is the posture that puts you where you can hear from Him. The interaction with Him is what changes you. Why do we want someone else to talk to God for us? Because the enemy has convinced us we don't have equal access. People ask Rachael to pray about their decisions all the time, and when she asks what God has said to them about it, the answer is often that they haven't asked Him. The instinct to route it through someone else is old, and you can see it in the Israelites all through the Old Testament. But that's not what heals you and it's not what gives you peace in the hard thing. He will meet you where you are, in the desperation and the grief and the chaos. He died to have that relationship with you. What are the five practical tips? Pick a Scripture. Your mind will wander, so start with the word. Choose something that speaks to a need you actually have right now. This isn't the time for word studies or breaking down Greek. That belongs to the discipline of study. Right now you're letting the Holy Spirit speak through the text and internalize it. You may need to stay on one passage for a while until it becomes part of you. Pick a time. Rachael often does this before bed, but if you're building the habit, choose a time when you aren't sleepy. Our lives are fragmented, and if you don't plan for it the day gets away from you. Treat it like an appointment. You wouldn't squeeze in a date with your husband, you'd plan for it, because the relationship matters. Pick a place. Quiet, free from interruption. Put your phone and your computer in another room. Getting outside helps if you can. Watch your posture. The posture of your body matters less than the posture of your heart, but they're not always easy to separate. Be comfortable without being so comfortable you fall asleep, and don't pick a position that will have you thinking about your knees instead of His voice. Don't give up. These are called spiritual disciplines because they take time and intention. You wouldn't gain muscle after three days in the gym. Some days you won't feel like it, and doing it anyway is the thing that builds the discipline. How does the guided meditation work? You'll go into John 6:1-15, the feeding of the crowd, as the boy who handed over his lunch. As Rachael reads, use your senses. What does the grass feel like. What does the hillside look like. Can you smell the fish being passed around. What's on the disciples' faces as they hand it out. What do you hear, birds or water in the distance or children or the voice of Jesus. What's the texture of the clothes you're wearing, and what's underneath you on the ground. Then go further into the scene. Are you hesitant to offer your lunch? Are you astonished at all that food, since you're the one who knows what was actually in that basket? You may need to read it through more than once. That's part of it. Then imagine the end of it. The crowd leaves. Jesus leaves. You're sitting alone on a rock overlooking the water, quiet, thinking about what just happened. And then Jesus comes back and sits down next to you. You're silent together for a while, just enjoying each other. After a bit, He turns and asks you, what can I do for you? Tell Him. Your needs, your fears, your heartache, your hopes, your grief. And if emotions come up, don't stop them. That's how we heal. Let them surface in His presence. Don't rush it. When you've finished and your spirit is quiet, then you ask Him the same question. What can I do for You? Then listen. Nothing may come, and that's fine. Sometimes it's just about being in His presence, and His presence is holy, and that holiness is what heals us. If words do come, take them seriously. It's often something small, and small is exactly where Jesus wants to be involved. FAQ Is this a new episode? No. It's a replay from Rachael's biblical meditation series, running here as the close of Bible Study 101. Is this the same as Eastern meditation? No, and the difference is the direction. Eastern practice generally moves toward emptying the mind. Hagah is the opposite. You're filling your mind with a specific passage of Scripture and staying with it. And placing yourself inside a scene from the Gospels is an old Christian practice, not a borrowed one. You're not clearing your thoughts, you're occupying them with the word. What passage is used? John 6:1-15, the feeding of the crowd, read from the perspective of the boy with the loaves and fish. Why is there no closing prayer? On purpose. Rachael reads the passage and then hands the time to you, so turn the episode off and stay in it. What if nothing comes? That's normal and it doesn't mean you did it wrong. Sometimes the point is simply being in His presence. How long should this take? Don't rush it. The reading is short, and the time after it is yours. Do I need to have heard the earlier episodes? No. The full biblical meditation series is in the archive if you want the rest of it, including the other Hebrew word and a list of passages to start with. Where can I go deeper? She Hears, Rachael's Bible study, teaches the color method and stays in one passage for a week at a time, which is meditation built into the structure.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices