13/11/2024
"FIRST THE BLADE"
BY
RANDALL J. BREWER
It is in the presence of God that spiritual growth takes place. God wants you to grow, to increase, and to multiply. He wants you to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Eph. 6:10). He wants the image of Jesus to be manifested in every area of your life. For that to happen, you've got to grow up spiritually. One of the first things you need to learn about spiritual growth is that a person does not develop and mature overnight. It's a long, continual process much like one's physical body that grows and matures. The difference is that you have some say-so when it comes to how fast you develop in the things of God whereas your body grows at its normal, slow pace. Insight into this growing process was given by Jesus when He told the parable of the growing seed in Mark 4:26-29. He said in vs. 28, "For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head." Yes, spiritual growth is a process and your efforts determine how fast or how slow you will grow.
This growing process is also outlined in Is. 28:9,10, "Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." The prophet is saying there is no shortcut to spiritual growth. You grow precept upon precept, line upon line. This corresponds to what Jesus says happens when a person plants the Word of God by speaking it out of their mouth. The seed grows, first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. You need to learn at the start of your spiritual journey that nothing has a greater impact on spiritual growth than to study and meditate on the Word of God. The best time to do this is when you are alone with God. Read your Bible and then be still and know He is God. Listen to Him as He reveals to you the meaning of what you just read. As you ponder the things He tells you, as you listen to His voice, you'll learn how to apply the Word to your everyday life.
God said in Josh. 1:8, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Don't just read your Bible but meditate on it day and night (Ps. 1:2). The Hebrew word for "meditate" involves a low murmuring, a talking to oneself. Speak out loud what you've read and ponder its meaning. Meditating on God's Word is dwelling on, reflecting, mulling over, and the pondering of holy Scripture that results in a life changing encounter with God. Paul spoke of this often in his writings. Phil. 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." He said in Phil. 4:8 to meditate on godly things and Col. 3:2 says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." He told Timothy, "Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Tim. 4:15,16).
Meditation is the first step you take toward spiritual growth. It's the "blade" Jesus talked about in the parable of the growing seed. The purpose of meditation is to replace your thinking with God's thinking. God's thoughts are revealed in the Word of God and 2 Tim. 3:16,17 says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." You meditate on the Word of God so God can reveal to you how to apply it to your daily life. The Word won't do you much good if it's not taking you from glory to glory, if it's not consistently transforming you into the image of Christ. Don't allow the Word to go in one ear and out the other. Don't read so much of it that you forget what you've read by the time you're through. No, read line upon line, here a little, there a little. Read a few verses at a time and then stop and meditate on what you've read. You're alone with God, now ask Him to show you how to put into practice what you've read.
The purpose of meditation is to get you to realize that in the Bible God is speaking to you personally. Everything written there is for you and your benefit. This is why you need to reflect on what you've read and give the Holy Spirit time to impress upon you how it applies to your daily Christian walk. You are alone with God, you are meditating on and pondering the Word, and you are engaging God in conversation. Slowly but surely spiritual growth is happening. This is why you need to meditate on the Word of God every day of your life. Heb. 4:12 (NLT) says, "For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innocent thoughts and desires." The Bible is a limitless ocean of wonders. It is full of wisdom and blessings that will take your life to a higher realm of glory. As you study the Bible and meditate on it, your life will change for the better. You are alone with God and He is transforming your life in a radical way.
The more you know God, the more you'll grow spiritually and the better your life will be. 2 Peter 1:2,3 (MSG) says, "Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!" God, who He is and how He thinks, is found in the pages of your Bible and this is why you must meditate on it day and night. Ps. 119:15 (ESV) says, "I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways." Vs. 97 (ESV) says, "Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." Also consider vs. 130 (ESV), "The unfolding of Your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." To develop this same love and desire for God's Word is life changing. You need to crave the Word more than anything else in this world. It's the source of life, a light in a dark place. Ps. 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
One of the greatest benefits of meditating on God's Word is that it renews your mind. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions of the human mind all come from the flesh and the world. They are contrary to the thoughts of God and this is why Paul wrote in Rom. 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God." The Message Bible says, "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." Your mind is renewed and God's thoughts become your thoughts when you daily meditate on the Word. This is a supernatural transformation that is taking place. "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). Don't limit your life to where it's been or where it is now. Allow the Word of God to pe*****te your heart and transform you into the image of Christ. You must see life differently than you have in the past. You must see it like God sees it.
Meditation is to be a daily discipline. Jesus said to pray to the Father, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11). He was saying you can't live off the bread you ate yesterday. Transformation is progressive and people who don't get alone with God and meditate in His Word don't grow spiritually. They're living like they did before they got born again. Paul wrote about this in Eph. 4:17-24 (NLT), "Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn't what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sin nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God - truly righteous and holy."
Paul is saying you can't grow spiritually and still live like you did in times past. The Message Bible says, "Everything - and I do mean everything - connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life - a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you." Now is the time for you to be transformed into the image of Christ. This happens when your mind is renewed by the daily revelations given to you as you meditate on the Word of God. A mind not renewed limits your ability to see things from God's perspective. It will cause you to follow the ways of the world instead of the ways of God. You don't want this to happen. Rom. 12:2 (NLT) says, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Understand that your thoughts and imaginations shape and form your future. Meditating on the Word removes those worldly thoughts and replaces them with the thoughts of God.
If you don't like where you're at in life, then change the things you think about. Get alone with God and begin to meditate on His holy Word. Don't be pressured to think the way those around you think. Joshua and Caleb stood out from the crowd when the children of Israel allowed fear to stop them from entering the Promised Land. Caleb said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it" (Num. 13:30). Before he said this he first "quieted the people before Moses." In other words, he didn't want to hear what they had to say. He didn't want to hear their worldly thoughts. You also need to be different. Grow up and think godly thoughts instead of worldly thoughts. Don't allow the world to fit you into its mold. Don't be influenced by what ungodly people think and say. Let God mold and shape you into the person He wants you to be. Is. 64:8 says, "But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You are our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand." The Message Bible says, "All of us are what You made us."
In the beginning, man was created to think like God. God walked with Adam in the cool of the evening and together they shared their thoughts with one another. The day then came when Adam and Eve listened to the words and thoughts of the evil one and sin entered the earth. No longer did the thoughts of God prevail in the hearts of men. "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). Thoughts are powerful. They form your decisions and your decisions dictate what your actions will be. Thoughts mold and shape you into the person you will become. You're where you're at today because of what you thought about yesterday. This is why it's so important to get alone with God and think about the things He wants you to think about. Allow the Word of God to renew your mind which will cause you to think godly thoughts. This in turn will produce godly words and godly actions. You'll grow up spiritually and will be molded into the person God wants you to be.
Be careful what you think about. Rom. 8:6 says, "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Remember, you become what you think about. Prov. 23:7 says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." You can change your life by changing the things you think about. It's true, your life will go in the direction of your most dominate thought. Vs. 26 (NLT) tells you what to do, "O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways." God is saying to give all your thoughts to Him. The Message Bible says, "Dear child, I want your full attention; please do what I show you." Meditating on the Word of God gives Him the opportunity to mold and shape your thoughts. This is what renewing your mind is all about. You gave Him your heart when you got saved but now you have to give Him your thoughts. Allow His thoughts to become your thoughts. Ps. 92:5,6 (GNT) says, "How great are Your actions, Lord! How deep are your thoughts! This is something a fool cannot know; someone who is stupid cannot understand."
You were created to grasp and hold onto the thoughts of God. Jesus died for your sins and this allows you to talk with Him the way Adam did in the Garden of Eden. You tell Him your thoughts and He'll tell you His. In time, your mind will be renewed and His thoughts will become your thoughts. You'll have something in common with God because you'll both be thinking about the same things. The result of all this is that you'll grow spiritually and God will take you from glory to glory. You'll have life and have it more abundantly. God told Abraham he would be the father of many nations. He then took him outside and told him to look up at the stars. God told him, "So shall your descendants be" (Gen. 15:5). What was God doing? He was giving Abraham something to think about. Reading your Bible is how God gives you something to think about. This is why you need to meditate on it day and night. Abraham's thoughts changed his life and your thoughts will change your life as well.
One of the greatest revelations you can learn in life is that your thoughts are seeds that get planted in your heart. Whatever you put there will grow. Your destiny is determined by what you think about. Your thoughts determine your future and whether or not you succeed in life. Gal. 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Don't fool yourself by thinking your thoughts don't matter. Don't think you can meditate on bad things and still live a good life. The Message Bible says, "Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest." God is saying you can't keep doing the same things in life and expect different results. If you want something you've never had before, you've got to do something you've never done before. You've got to plant seeds of success and victory down in your heart. You've got to take responsibility for your future and the first step is to get alone with God and mediate on the Word of God. "First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head."
Your life is composed of whatever it's being influenced by. This is why Prov. 4:23 (NLT) says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." The Good News Translation says, "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts." Be diligent and monitor the things you think about. 2 Cor. 10:5 says, "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." The Message Bible says, "Fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ." You need to protect your heart because it is the center of who you are. Every decision you make is based on what's in your heart "for out of it springs the issues of life" (NKJV). If you don't protect your heart, you'll never be able to change the direction your life is going. You change your future by changing the things you think about today. This is how you grow up and become the person God wants you to be. Your life will drastically change when you realize the things you think about really do matter. So much so that it's a matter of life and death.
The bottom line is that you need to change the way you think. Rom. 8:5 says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." Renewing your mind is vitally important for it's the ongoing process through which God takes you where He wants you to go. The good news for those who seriously desire to grow up spiritually is that the Bible tells you specifically what things you should be thinking about. Phil. 4:8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - mediate on these things." The Message Bible says to meditate on "the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse." If you'll continue to ponder and think about these good things, you'll never have to worry about bad things coming in and taking root in your mind. This is what renewing your mind is all about.
As you mediate on godly things, Phil. 4:7 (NLT) says, "Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." The Amplified Bible says this peace "shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." That is a military term. As you focus your mind and meditate on the right things, there will be a military force around your heart and mind. It's this spiritual force that gives you the power to cast down and throw away every negative thought and imagination. As you do this, your mind is renewed and you grow up spiritually. The word "renew" means 'to renovate; to reconstruct; to build down and build anew.' All things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Take an inventory of your thought life and see if there are some things you need to cast down so that you can build anew. Replace those negative thoughts with things that are "true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious" (Phil. 4:8 MSG). Your life will be much better if you'll think on the positive things in life and not the negative.
Your perspective, the way you see and understand what's going on around you, is key to your success in life. You need to understand that right thinking equals successful living. You can hear the Word of God but if your thinking and perspective isn't right, you'll limit what the power of that Word can bring into your life. The world will tell you it's the flu season but Ps. 91:10 says, "No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling." Who are you going to believe? What's your perspective on the matter? Your answer determines if you'll get sick or stay healthy. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." This verse can also be translated, "My people are destroyed for lack of a proper perspective." The army of Israel feared Goliath but David said, "The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Sam. 17:37). David had a different perspective and was able to slay the giant. On the other hand, Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to the nation but he told God, "I cannot speak, for I am a youth" (Jer. 1:6). He had the wrong perspective.
Your perspective of God and yourself is what determines how great your life will be. Will you trust God and chop that giant's head off or will you run away in fear? Will you enter the promised land with Joshua and Caleb or will you die off in the wilderness with all the others? It's your perspective that makes all the difference in the world. Gideon said, "Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house" (Judges 6:15). He said this only moments after the Angel of the Lord called him a "mighty man of valor" (vs. 12). Isaiah asks, "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (Is. 53:1). Whose report will you believe? If the world gives you a report that is contrary to the Word of God, Rom. 3:4 says, "Let God be true and every man a liar." Abraham did not consider his old body or the deadness of Sarah's womb. He believed the report of the Lord when He said, "So shall your descendants be" (Gen. 15:5). Abraham was "fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform" (Rom. 4:21). He had the right perspective and in time became the father of many nations just like God said he would.
Rise up and control the things you think about. If you don't control your thought life, then for sure the devil will. Know also that God is keeping a sharp eye on the things you think about. David told his son Solomon, "Know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts" (1 Chron. 28:9). The Message Bible says, "Serve Him with a whole heart and eager mind, for God examines every heart and sees through every motive." Stop watching ungodly television and stop listening to ungodly radio shows. It's things like this that cause ungodly thoughts to get planted in your mind. The things that are said may not seem to be that bad but it's "the little foxes that spoil the vines" (Song of Solomon 2:15). Know with certainty that little foxes not dealt with will grow into big foxes. James 3:5 (NLT) says "a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire." Walk away from those family members and coworkers who gossip all the time. Go off by yourself and get alone with God. Meditate on the things He wants you to think about. If you'll do that, your life will never be the same.
