Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / The Power of Scripture in Your Mind. Memorizing and Meditating on God’s Word Transforms the Heart. – Highlight Episode 363

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The Power of Scripture in Your Mind. Memorizing and Meditating on God’s Word Transforms the Heart. – Highlight Episode 363 · The Living Waters Podcast

• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Piper said, if you don't memorize scripture one way or the other, you will be weak all your life.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: You will not be able to stand against the devil without a sword in your hand.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's good.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I don't know what it was, but as a new believer from the outset, I just knew I had to memorize scripture.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I just was like, ah, I gotta get God's word in my heart.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know for you guys, but for me, not growing up with the word at all, like when I got saved, I was enthralled by the Bible.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I couldn't wait to read the Bible.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it started with the with the Proverbs.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm like, hey, this is wisdom.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like just the nuggets in there.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then the sweetness of identifying with scripture, you know, like where it says, you know, when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I get saved and all of a sudden, like I had so many people hated me.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Suddenly there was peace.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the Lord just did that.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: A gentle answer turns away wrath, harsh words stir up anger.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: I began to use, you know, apply that and see the fruit of that, you know.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: So was it like that for you guys when you got saved?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, were you, Oscar?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're an atheist.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So were you intrigued by the Bible, hesitant at first about it?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: Or um, I wish I had a love for the Bible when I first got saved.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: I was very confused about the Bible.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was Ecclesiastes that I really started to, I really started to find awe and wonder in God's word.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: And Psalm 119, 11 was one of the first verses that I ever memorized.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: I hide your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: And it was, it was in that moment of memorizing that verse, it was like, this, this is really important.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so to this day, I would say I started out being confused about the Bible, but to this day, it is it is the single source of wisdom that I stake my entire life on.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: How I go about my marriage, raise my kids, decide, you know, what I'm gonna do in life, how I hold myself accountable.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: It is everything to me.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: You can take away my entire library and leave me with my Bible, I'd be happy.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: The value of memorizing scripture is because the thoughts that we have engage our actions.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it's how we relate to the world.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: Something will happen in our life, and maybe, listener, you've done this too, where you're like, oh, that reminds me of that friends episode.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: That reminds me of that Seinfeld episode, that reminds me of the office episode, whatever the case.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: What is happening there is that your mind is relating the experience you're having to something you've memorized.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Why not allow your mind to relate the moments of your life to scripture?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So that when someone cuts you off, so that when you're raising your children, so that when you're engaging with your wife or your coworker, instead of allowing your mind to head towards frustration or worldly things, it reminds you of the godliness of God, of the way in which he would want you to interact in that moment.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so memorizing scripture is there so that it affects our actions, so that it builds fruitfulness into our lives.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then and then remembering, you know, the the nature of scripture, and remembering, you know, Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what you're speaking about, Oscar.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like scripture is light shining in our hearts, and it reveals uh the the intent of our hearts and and what's going on in there.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's important that that we interface with it.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: Without scripture, we'd be in darkness.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Seriously, proper dark.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank God for his word.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh sweet to the taste, bitter to the belly, as it says in scripture, and I think the book of Revelation, probably speaking of God's word, but I wouldn't realize my own heart without God's word.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: My own heart is a cellar full of cockroaches and vipers.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: And what the word of God does is bring light to us to show us ourselves in truth.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's what it's a lamp to our feet, so we can see what's going on.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I so encourage Catholics to read the Bible.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: And if I could have a uh a little chat with a Pope, I'd say, please tell people about God's word.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Without it, we're in darkness.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: We don't know what sin is, we don't know what salvation is without God's word.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of one of the greatest things I've learned from Ray when it comes to meditating on scripture is someone.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: He he has talked about it often.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do this, verse three, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then what's it say, Ray?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: Whatsoever he does, that's a Lamborghini, that Whatsoever shall prosper.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's talking about biblical prosperity.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: We know that's not a greed thing.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's you know, your family, your devotions.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: Every everything will prosper that you put your hand to godliness as you walk in the will of God.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that is just that that has stayed with me for you know 30 years or so as we're ever since we're a he's talked about it often.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, delight yourself in the Lord, give you the desires of your heart.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I remember you teaching a message back in 1997 on dunamis, on the dunamis power of God being dynamic.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember, and I've never forgotten that.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I've never wanted to lose that dynamic.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've always thought of things like this and what you're talking about with dunamis, and I didn't want to lose the power.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you talk about why you would lose the power, and that's caused me to abstain from sexual sin that from that message that you taught.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm thinking, man, I I want to be a vessel of honor, ready for every good work.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I want everything I do to prosper, whatever that means, whatever that looks like in the eyes of God, what God would call prosperous.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we're talking about the sword, you know, the word of God is the sword of the spirit.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can't yield the sword if you don't pick it up.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can't use it if you don't know it, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So to hide God's word inside of our hearts, if you're always meditating, you can't be meditating on God's word and looking at something horrific on your phone at the same time.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do it.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's one or the other.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I I love the fact that uh we have been commissioned by God to open up God's word and to dig down deep.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there was a quote from uh JC Rile who said, Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So every morning when we open up, we we we look for that golden nugget, and then we are just enamored with that golden nugget all throughout the day, going back to that single verse that stood out to us.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it comes back to desire.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: The Bible says, desire the sincere milk of the word.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's something that comes from your heart, and that's attitude.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: If you can realize how beautiful and powerful and rich God's word is, then you'll then you'll desire the sincere milk of the word.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: So many professing Christians say to me day after day, and it just happens like ten times a week, I would say, you're reading the word daily.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: I try to.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it's crazy.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do you try and eat, you know, try and eat your food?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_03: No, I always eat my food.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: So prioritize it.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: Job said I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what we need to do.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Have that attitude, that um the desire, like a newborn baby, to drink in God's word, the milk of the word.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And as the old saying goes, you know, every new thing learned about God is a new reason for loving him.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: And how do we know about God?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: His divine revelation.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: He's given us his word.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: As D.L.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Moody said, the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, it's not just memorization, it's also meditation.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I love this final quote by Thomas Watson.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: He said, The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you can memorize, but you've got to meditate, sit, soak it in, think on it, dwell on it, mull it over.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then ultimately, don't be merely a hearer of the word, as James tells us, but a doer.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let's do it, friends.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters podcast.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Friends, we value your time.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we've created a bite-sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped without the jokes and fellowship.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaters.tv.