"Whatever is true , whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence, and if there is anything praiseworthy - dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8 CSB
Note the phrase, 'Dwell on these things'. The word dwell can be described as to 'live in these things - living the Word of God'. The NKJV uses the word 'meditate' which again is very good practice. The word Meditate in the Hebrew is Hagah, which means to reflect, to moan or mutter, or to ponder, to make a quiet sound such as sighing or to meditate as one repeats the words. In Hebrew thought, it means to do this while abandoning outside distractions. To the Jew, this is called 'Davening', which is reciting texts, praying and getting lost in communion with God. This behaviour can be observed at The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, where Jews speak out loud as they nod their heads.
Let us select a phrase from this, 'reciting texts, praying and getting lost in communion with God'. This practice can be so helpful in focusing our thoughts in the right direction - God. Living or dwelling in God helps us carry out what Paul is teaching us in our text today - getting our thought life right. Remember, 'as you think, so you are'. So if you think that you are a failure, you'll become one. If you think you could never earn a degree at Uni, then you probably won't. We need to get our thoughts aligned with how God sees us.
As always, when you begin to do something such as this, there will be distractions so that it will stop you getting closer to God. The culprit may be engineered by Satan. Don't let him stop you. This is why the 'reciting texts, praying and getting lost in communion with God' is imperative. It helps to block out these distractions. Tony Evans writes: 'You cannot dwell on both the things of God and the lies of of Satan.' So there you have it; one of them has to go.
Tomorrow we'll look a little deeper into this but, until then try and memorise Philippians 4:8 so that you can quote it whenever you want to. Failing that, in your prayer time, read it out aloud making each word counts and, be determined that whatever; you are on course to only have positive thoughts from now on.
Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.
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