My Pondering
“Draw near to God
James 4:8
and He will draw near to you.
1. WORD
Seeking to understand and memorizing the Bible
Sanctification is the process of growing and maturing in the faith. The the process of disciplining. As marinate ourselves in the truth, the Word of God, the Spirit draws unto Him.
“Memorizing the Bible is most important.
― Billy Graham
“Thinking God’s thoughts” will take the place of worried, anxious concerns.”
We ought to memorize the Word not simply to memorize it asmto pass a test in school but to rather implant His Word deep into our souls so that we can understand better and live a life of abundance feeding upon the truth. The strength we gain sustains and empowers us to be ‘more than conquerors’.
We tend to become what we think about most. Every moment is an opportunity to think right. If we are lured away or make a mistake, we are just one moment from getting back on track. We humans are habitual creatures. Let’s be intentional about creating healthy habits and memorizing and pondering the Word is a great one.
One way I do this is by using the Reminder app in my iPhone or Calendar / ToDo. Each week, I pick a verse and type it in, maybe add a picture of it or a meme and set it to recur every so often. Of course another way is to set your verse of the week (whatever term you choose) and put it front and center.
Apple Reminder App
I also pick a word of the year that is part of a verse. I order a wristband and wear it. This year, its ‘Steadfast’ from 1st Corinthians 15:58.
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it”
Isaiah 55:11
2. WORSHIP
Praising God in spirit and truth, corporately and privately
Worship is a personal experience. It can include the corporate version with a group fervently praising God with the power of song 🎶 and harmony of music 🎼 which assist us in entering His presence.
King David knew this quite well. He was fervent about worshipping God and didn’t concern himself what others thought about his abandonment of self giving it up to God.
No doubt when David was out in the country tending to his sheep, he worshiped God privately. In that sense, worship is a ‘state of being’ it’s an ‘attitude of worship’ in our work and everything we do.
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being,
Colossians 3:23
for the Lord and not for men,
3. SPIRIT
Inclining yours to His by mediation and alignment.
To connect to God’s spirit, we need to do by centering upon His truth, patiently waiting and then abiding in His presence. I think it is like flying a kite. It can help a bit to run with your kite but without the wind, the flying is futile. Yes, we want to align it to the direction of the wind and sometimes we just need to be present and patient until the gust comes.
We are encouraged to mediate on these things. To mediate is to ‘think deeply’, to ruminate upon, to ponder. This verse illuminates and it at the very core and the essence of my blog; Pondering Life : Pursuing Success – God’s way (not my way nor your way per se but rather Yahweh (Ya-way)!
The Spirit inhabits truth.
So therefore, we must not try and mock or deceive God.
We are wise to align our will with God’s will. We need less of self and more of Him.
As we work out our salvation by maturing in the sanctification process, we should ‘sin less’, though we fool ourselves if we think we are ‘sinless’. It’s a continuum.
As we walk and a abide with the Spirit, after a while and sometimes miraculously, the fruit abounds.
4. CREATION
Admiring the Creator’s work in nature
As part of God’s creation, let us praise Him. Yet, let’s never get confused as many of our ancestors and fellow humans have by praising and worshiping the creation, including self (which is so common in our society).
Just pondering all the went into creating life and sustaining it should draw us closer to God. It refreshes my soul just being in nature oft: a beautiful sunrise, the birds singing His praise, a refreshing breeze, a steak of awesome lightning, the boom of a thunder clap, the covering of cloud and leaves, a beautiful sunset, and so forth.
19For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
Romans 1:19-20
20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship,
so that men are without excuse.
5. PEOPLE
Spending intimate time with believers and serving others in love.
The second great commandment God gave us is to love others.
If you think about the cross, the symbol of the great Gospel of Christ, it represents God vertical love for us and expectant return of such. It also is horizontal, as we should reach out to our fellows in fellowship and service as Jesus so well lived and taught.
It’s not an easy thing to love others. We aren’t called to like everyone but rather love everyone. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Read more.
The bottom line and God’s core essence is love.
6. RELATIONSHIP
Knowing God extends beyond religion. It’s about communion, authority, alignment and partnering.
God wants us to know Him well. That’s why He inspired His people to write the Holy Bible. That’s why He give us His Spirit. Our relationship was broken in Eden but at the perfect time, He sent His son.
Communion with God is critical. Jesus made is possible.
We need to respond to God’s love both up and sideways in love. Relationships are about communication and interaction.
7. BE
Abiding in the Spirit by knowing His purpose for my life.
A big part of experiencing God is abiding in God. Abiding is trusting, remaining, clinging, rooting, just being present. It’s not over-working, over-whelming, over-thinking, over-anxious.
It’s knowing that all you can so is all you can do but knowing that all you can do is enough, Lord willing.
Sometimes, probably oftentimes, it is best to simplify. Simply simplify as far as we should but no more. We need to take time to just be still and know that God has got it.
Somethings are just out of our control. When we are doing His purpose in love, that all we got and that’s enough. Just a Jesus taught His disciples when the storm came while he was sleeping on the boat.
Part of being is going at God’s speed. As John Wooden said, “Be quick bit not in a hurry”, you know, “God’s speed”.
8. DO
Working with God by my labor, witnesses and sharing.
God no doubt want us to employ our time, talents and treasure investing unto His glory. He expects more than lip service but real service.
We we DO for God is about taking action, with a the right attitude and using our God given talent and honing our ability for maximum effectiveness, the center of the mark.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
Psalms 111:10a
A good understanding have all those who
do His commandments.”
9. PRAY
Seeking the Father’s will foremost, sharing my thoughts and feelings, and confirming my will to His.
Prayer is essential in experiencing all that God has to offer and all that we can be for His name sake.
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
1 Peter 3:12
and His ears are inclined to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
James 5:16
The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.”
Prayer like faith is only as good as what, or better said Who, is behind it. That leads us to number ten.
10. FAITH
Trusting and obeying Jesus because He is got it and me too!
Faith is the active ingredient to experiencing God. It is the catalyst. Like James taught us, it is essential and without works, is non-existent.
Jesus was impressed with the Centurions faith. He understood authority and power. Read more here
Let’s not forget or misunderstand that sometimes, maybe usually, things are hard. God often tests us.
If we persevere, trust and obey we can be assured God will reward our faith.
Success in anything, especially our relationship and understanding of God, requires being grounded in principles, focused intentionality, along with balanced flow. I think that being in the zone. It’s what true abiding with God is all about.
This picture graph represents it well.
By combining knowledge, will and emotion we have our best chance of remaining centered. Practicing the Spiritual disciplines is critical in this regard.
Here is some profound wisdom regarding faith to ponder.
It is by our faith in Christ, in Jesus alone, must we place our faith. There is Joy Eternal Savior Ultimate Son, yes joy and power in JESUS name,
BONUS 11 – CHALLENGE
Sometimes challenges, setbacks, and difficulties are a painful catalyst which cause us to rely on God.
God permitted Satan to sift Job, the patriarchs to dump Joseph in a pit, then locked up in prison, Steven to get stoned and each disciple of Christ to be martyred, save John, and of course our Savior was crucified.
God is THE higher power. When we focus on a higher purpose from a higher love than ourselves we can transcend our problems by worship, faith, prayer, hope, heaven, purpose, service and other higher stuff.
Yet, God specializes in turn arounds. There is just stuff ONLY He can do and that maxes His glory and deeper connects us to Him. Sometimes, no pain- no gain.
Summary
These ten disciplines or attributes to experiencing God in an way of excellence are inter-related and co-dependent. The synergy of them combined are greater than the sum and missing one is catastrophic.
I hope you engage with these and please share your thoughts or practices which pertain in the comments below ⬇️
“Abide in Me
Jesus, John 15:5
and I in you”
Pondering Life : Pursuing God 