"The Innovative Marketplace Christian - Blog Hosted by Rick Hubbell"

Main Post of the Week #1 (Week of Feb23-Mar1)

You are speaking the Word out loud, taking a handful of strategically chosen Scriptures and going deeper with them. Right? And you have done this consistently for several days. Good. No, great! If you haven’t done this, please come on in - join us - the water is fine. (I would encourage you to go back to the last post, part-2 of this series, if you have not yet been able to be consistent for at least a few days.)

If you have moved on to totally different Scriptures every day, whoa. Slow down. Think of this initial season more like you are building a repertoire as opposed to wandering from place to place grazing. Remember that this is not your regular devotional time or anything like it. You still need to be doing that, but for now, don’t lump them altogether. Until you progress further in meditation, it needs to be something you work at separately. Otherwise you may end up gravitating toward old habits which probably didn’t get you there by themselves in the first place - so why go back?

The First Breakthrough

Seriously, depending on the condition of your heart, it is not as easy to get Scriptures down deep on the inside of you as you may think. It takes persistence. (That doesn’t mean there is anything especially wrong with you more than the next person, but our hearts are in different conditions based on our life experiences and responses to them. )

Listen closely: it is more important that you get just a few Scriptures down to the depth I am talking about, breaking through all resistance, than 10 or 15 or more that you have just reviewed a little more than normal.

Do you hear what I am saying? The first breakthrough then, is the breakthrough of Scripture into the deepest places of your heart, past any shell or hardness, planted so deeply in the soil of your life that it is sure to sprout when water is added and the proper nourishment is given. Some Scriptures will be harder for you to completely take in than others for many reasons. You need to be aware of this and sensitive to it, not treating all the same and just moving on. Let God’s Spirit begin to lead you.

I am telling you the truth. The Spirit of God is so heavily upon me as I have been writing part of these first paragraphs that I can barely see through my tears.

Before we can move on to other things that I am so excited to get to, like the encounters with God you could begin to experience, the greater release through you as you pray for others, new levels of spiritual clarity, far more tuned ability to hear the leading of the Lord and many more - we have to take things a step at a time. There are other elements required to prepare the soil of your life first.

IMPORTANT: Hear this Truth

Here is a truth the Lord once told me. If you already know this you could benefit from hearing it again - ‘The love of God enriches the soil of your life‘. Yes I said ‘The love of God enriches the soil of your life‘ and one more time ‘The love of God enriches the soil of your life‘. Good soil is a lot easier to plant things in than bad soil. We know the Word is like seed. Some of us need to receive and experience more of God’s love in order to allow ourselves to become better soil. Deficient soil can limit the harvest of God’s Word that we experience in and through our life. That doesn’t make God’s Word any less powerful and full of life giving power than it is -it simply affects our experiencing the fullness of it.

(Here’s a thought - if you are not sure how to do this, first ask God to help you receive His love, and then start meditating on a few love Scriptures and watch what happens as you do this consistently for a few weeks.)

It doesn’t matter if you have been going to church for 35 years and lead a ministry, or whatever. On the outside you may appear like you’ve got it all down. On the inside you know whether things are completely the way they appear. Perhaps you are crying out for more of God. I am.

Will You Walk with Me Instead of Rush?

Here is the problem. You all are in different places in your walk with God. If I race ahead with some of you, others will be left behind wondering why they are not getting it. That is not okay with me. Everyone has an opportunity to grow with us. The measure of God’s love we receive, for example, is fundamental, but limits many Christians, even mature ones. I can’t say too much more about that or we will get off track, but look into it.

Eating the Word & Digesting it - not just reading.

Familiar passages and powerful. Meditate on them :

Mt4:4 “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” NIV

…’the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.’ - Jesus (NIV - Jn 6:63)

‘…the word of God is living & active…’(Heb 4:12)

There is spiritual substance and life in the Word. It’s not just English or whatever language you speak primarily. There is not life in the Wall Street Journal yet it is in English. There is not life in the owner’s manual for your car, though it is in English. You must read the Word of God differently than other things to gather the life and spirit that is within it, a process more like eating than the way most of us read.

This is why when people simply memorize a Scripture and move on to the next one after a little repetition - thinking ‘they already got that completely’, it is like when someone offers you a luscious grilled chicken salad (or whatever you like) for lunch and you politely nod ‘no thank you’ because you already ate one in the past. Silly. The Word can be eaten, and needs to be, over and over, to get the full nutrition. It is life sustaining and you must start approaching as such. I mean for real not just agreeing that what I am saying is correct. Eat like you mean it!

Feast on the Word and you are on the path to Creating Breakthrough in Your Life Through Biblical Meditation.

To the Building of the Kingdom and the Release of God’s Glory,

Rick for Ti-MC

PS Thanks for tuning in. Share if you dare and care.