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Today’s subject matter is an excerpt from my book Confessions of Faith: Meditations in God’s Word. So, let us get down to brass tacks, as a brother of mine would say.
Faith is an attitude. It is this attitude that is called the “Spirit of Faith.” Like any other attitude, positive or negative, the attitude of faith can be formed or developed.
The aim of the book is to contribute to the building of a robust faith attitude in your life as a believer in Christ through hearing, meditating and confessing God’s Word.
There was a time, due to a grievous error I made, I had a peculiarly sustained encounter with someone that threatened me spiritually, emotionally and physically. My life was threatened. The situation was so intense that, as directed, I took out time to fast and pray.
Specifically, I took to praying more in the spirit than with my understanding and as part of the prayers, I would mutter the entire words of the script of this book, over and over again in each session of prayer. I repeated this prayer twice a day for a week while fasting and praying.
Before the end of the week, the situation changed dramatically. These were the words that came from the person involved, “You are too strong for me. Do you want to kill me? What is that book?” “No, I don’t want to kill you. I can give you a copy of the book if you want one,” I replied.
God gave me victory, and in due course, He worked out circumstances that terminated the situation altogether.
There is a process to gaining victory over the challenges of life, doing it in God’s way. Anyone can follow that process. Many people in the Body of Christ love shortcuts. The results of shortcuts are usually short-lived. This is the process I find in God’s word for sustained victories of faith: Hear… Meditate… Confess… Metamorphosis.
Let us begin with Hear.
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God -Romans 10:17, NKJV.
The word for ‘hear’ in Hebrew is ‘Shema.’ It means to listen closely, hear, pay attention, focus on, respond and obey.
The word goes beyond passively letting sound waves pass through your ears, rather it implies actively responding to the wishes of someone.
To ‘hear’ the word of God is to give respect to Him by paying attention and acting upon what He says. (Proverbs 4:20; James 1:22-25).
Meditate
But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night -Psalm 1:2, AMP.
Meditation is a form of prayer and it is almost a lost practice in the Christian Church. Meditation means to mutter to oneself. It is to ponder or think deeply upon the word as you study.
Also, it is to speak the Word of God quietly, under your breath through your lips, muttering to your hearing: Hearing and hearing the Word of God, which then builds tremendous faith in your heart. This is best done in a quiet place without distractions.
In the practice of meditation in some religions, their goal is to empty the mind of all thoughts, while in some others the objective is to empty one’s life of desire.
However, for the Christian, meditation is meant to fill the heart and mind and to renew it with the Word of God.
In this way, you will be able to build a mindset that is consistent with the way God thinks. This is the process by which we get God’s Word to dwell in our hearts richly (Psalm 119: 15, 97, 99, 148; Romans 12:2; Colossians 3:16).
Hearing, meditating and confessing God’s word must become habitual in your life if it is to make a desired and lasting impact. It is then that it will permeate your life with the spiritual and mental capacity to ‘do’ the word and transform your life and circumstances to conform to God’s word.
Meditation will create a new mindset that is fully immersed in the word, thus the practice and manifestation of the word become ‘natural’ and effortless.
As your mind is filled and tilted to thinking as God thinks, it would develop a triumphant attitude in you. It will set the course of your life in the direction it ought to be.
My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life -Proverbs 4:20-23, NLT.
Confess
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised -Hebrews 10:23, ASV.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses -1 Timothy 6:12, NKJV.
Confession means to speak in agreement with what God has said concerning a matter. Another word for it in this context is ‘profession,’ which Webster’s Dictionary defines as, “Open declaration; public avowal or acknowledgement of one’s sentiments or belief.” Thayer, on the other hand, says, “Objectively, it is what one professes or confesses.”
When you confess the word of God, from your heart, you are declaring your agreement with Him about what He has said. There is a conviction to it.
In the Kingdom of God, authority is exercised through speaking: that is, declaring and confessing His words which we believe in our hearts. It is also by this means that the blessings of God are appropriated. This is the Spirit of Faith.
Metamorphosis
And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever-increasing splendour and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit -2 Corinthians 3:18, AMP.
The butterfly is a remarkable creature. It goes through several stages of life: from the egg through the pupa and larvae to the adult in a process called metamorphosis.
Through the process of hearing, meditating and confessing the Word of God, it causes a metamorphosis that transforms the believer’s life from one level of glory to another. It is a silent transfiguration that progressively brings our lives to become more and more like Christ’s.
Also, like in the Creation narrative, everything was chaotic and shapeless, and although the Spirit was present and hovered over the chaos, nothing changed until the word was spoken; it was then that the Word, through the Spirit, began the transformation process.
If you are a true Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. Now you need to hear the word, meditate upon it, speak it consistently and practice it, then you will begin to see the transformation in your life and circumstances.
Before I leave, I like to mention that you can obtain a copy of the book Confessions of Faith: Meditations in God’s Word, in eBook and paperback formats from Amazon. Simply click on this link: https://amazon.com/author/solomonaror.
Thank you. Do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
