Great Devotional from Thriving Family Magazine

Family Devotions: The Spiritual Discipline of Meditation

Talking to God

Thank God for the power of His Word. Ask Him to help you stay focused on His Word throughout the day so you can become more like Jesus.

Diving In

Put out a plate of snacks. Give everyone permission to dive in, provided they follow one important rule: Each bite of food must be chewed at least 20 times. After each person finishes one bite, invite him or her to describe in detail the different tastes and textures experienced.

Going Deeper

Sometimes people say, "I need to chew on that," meaning, "I need to think about that for a while." When we meditate on Scripture, we're taking time to think about it and "chew on it." If we ate our food without chewing it, we'd hardly be able to taste it. The more we chew, the more we enjoy the taste and gain strength.

It's the same with God's Word. When we take time to think about what it means and how we can use it in our lives, we benefit much more than if we just read it and never think about it again. Romans 12:2 says that we change our lives by renewing our mind, or changing the way we think about things. We can learn to think like God by meditating on His Word.

Talking to Each Other

•What things do you spend most of your time thinking about?

•How might your life change if you spent more time thinking about God's Word?

•What's one passage of Scripture you would like to begin meditating on?

Finishing Well

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)


Copyright © 2011 by Renee Gray-Wilburn. Used by permission. ThrivingFamily.com.