I remember when the Word of God first came alive to me. It was immediately after my life-changing encounter with the Lord on March 23, 1968. The Bible was no longer just a book about what God said. As I read it, I knew the Lord was speaking directly to me. I just fell in love with the Word. When I studied it, the Lord imparted truths to me. I could tell that change was happening in my life.
I remember one instance when the Lord spoke to me and gave me a vision of what He wanted to do through me. He had already impacted my life, and I felt called to the ministry. I was in my bedroom at home, and still single at the time. I saw in my heart some of the things that God wanted to do in my life. While kneeling down beside my bed and praying with my Bible open in front of me, I was just overwhelmed when I thought about seeing blind eyes opened, deaf ears hearing, people raised from the dead—all kinds of miracles. I knew that God had called me to teach His Word and that people’s lives would be changed. As an eighteen-year-old young man, I was praying over all these things.
Then I remember having a kind of a vision of many different things happening, including me ministering to people on television, just like I do now. I saw these things, and knew they were going to happen. Yet, I was an introvert. I couldn’t even look a person in the face and talk to them. How was an introverted hick from Texas ever going to be on radio or television? I surely wouldn’t have chosen me for that responsibility.
“How Do I Do This?”
So there I was, seeing in my heart a vision of all these things that God was calling me to do—seeing the absolute impossibility of it all in the natural realm. I was kneeling by my bed, praying, and asking, “Lord, how do I get from where I am to where I know You’re telling me I’m supposed to go? It seems like such a huge distance, and I don’t have a track to run on. I don’t know how to get there. How do I do this?”
As I was praying, I just opened my eyes and looked. There was my Bible laying open on the bed in front of me. When I saw it, I heard the Lord say, “If you will take My Word and meditate on it day and night, then My Word will teach you everything you need to know. My Word will change everything.”
I know that sounds really simple, but if it hadn’t been so simple, I wouldn’t have been able to get it! I took that word as God’s direction to me. From that time forward, I just poured myself into the Word of God. I didn’t think about all of the things that needed to happen for that vision to come to pass. I didn’t keep asking, “Lord, how do I overcome my shyness? How do I get the money? How do I overcome this and do that?” I just forgot all of those issues, and immersed myself for long periods of time in God’s Word. Up until the time I got married, I was spending anywhere from ten to sixteen hours a day studying the Word and learning the truths of God. As I took God’s Word and meditated on it day and night, it began to change me.
God is no respecter of persons. If you put His Word first place in your life and meditate on it on a consistent basis, it will change you.
Joshua
That’s what God told Joshua to do. He was about to take over the leadership role from Moses. Now, if you stop and think about it, Moses would be a hard act to follow. Joshua must have been struggling with this new assignment, and asking, “God, what do I do? How do I lead these people?”
The Lord said to Joshua, “The same way I was with Moses, I will be with you. Wherever your feet trod, I’ll give that land to you.” (See Joshua 1:3,5.) God gave Joshua several promises, which are recorded in Joshua 1:1-7. Then He continued, saying:
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.
Joshua 1:8
Now, at this time all the people had were the first five books of the Bible, the ones that Moses had written out. Today because we have the completed scriptures, I believe that instead of “this book of the law,” we can say, the Bible, the Word of God…
…shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Joshua 1:8
Let’s start at the end of this verse and work back. Most people want to be prosperous and have good success. Yet, I find it amazing that the vast majority of people bypass the first part of this verse. They’ll spend their prayer time asking God to “please prosper my business, please cause my marriage to succeed, please heal my body,” but they won’t do what the Word says. Joshua 1:8 reveals that the way you get prosperity and good success in every area of your life is to take the Word of God and meditate on it to the degree that it saturates what you think about, what you talk about, and how you act. When God’s Word literally begins to control your life, you will prosper and have good success physically, emotionally, relationally, financially—in every area.
I’m living proof of this truth. This is exactly what my life is based upon.
Focusing Your Attention
You may be thinking, But Andrew, I work a job. I can’t meditate on the Word day and night. Or you may be saying, “I have two or three kids at home. I’m constantly running around here and there, doing this and that. I can’t just sit there reading my Bible, and not pay any attention to what’s going on with my children.” Most people don’t believe that you can literally meditate on the Word of God day and night. They think that this is a totally impractical demand. They don’t understand the true definition of meditation. Meditation is simply focusing your attention on something to the point that it never leaves your consciousness.
Worry is meditation. It’s just meditation on something negative or evil. Whatever your daily demands are—watching children, running errands, cleaning the house, taking your kids places, preparing food—you’ve gone through days accomplishing all of these activities, while at the same time your mind was fixed on thinking, How am I going to pay for this? What are we going to do? Is my spouse running around on me? Are they with someone? Are we heading for a divorce? You were able to do all the things you needed to do, yet your mind still worried about those other things.
In your career, you could be doing whatever kind of job you do, yet in your mind you may still be thinking, How is this situation going to work out? You could be sitting there working, yet have something else occupying your mind. You’re worrying about this issue day and night. If you’re honest, there have probably been times when certain problems have bothered you to the point where you dream about them. You experience a fitful night of sleep because your mind was still stayed on, What am I going to do? How am I going to get out of this situation? That’s worry, which is a form of meditation.
The part of you that worries is the exact same part of you that meditates. Meditation is just focused on positive things.
If you have children at home or you’re working a job, it’s wrong for you to sit down and study the Word sixteen hours a day. This is not being faithful to your family, boss, or employer—to the responsibilities you have been assigned. But you can take a passage of scripture, read it, and then meditate on it the rest of the day and night while attending to your responsibilities. You can be thinking on the Word of God and considering, How does this apply to me? while you’re going about your daily activities.
“Believe!”
Last week I was studying the account of King Jehoshaphat found in 2 Chronicles 20. King Jehoshaphat had been faithful to the Lord and had served Him, yet three nations came out against him. The armies of these three nations joined together into what seemed, to King Jehoshaphat, to be an overwhelming force. There seemed to be no way for him and his people to win. So Jehoshaphat built a platform, assembled all of the people together, and addressed them. He stood up on the platform, lifted his hands to heaven in front of all the people, and began to pray. He said, “God, we don’t have any help, any power, against this great multitude that has come against us. Our only help is in You. We’re standing here. We’re waiting on You. God, we need You to do something!” (See 2 Chronicles 20:12.)
At the conclusion of King Jehoshaphat’s prayer, a prophet stood up and prophesied, “You won’t even have to fight in this battle. In the morning, assemble yourself. You will go out and find that it has already been won.” (See 2 Chronicles 2:17.) After this declaration from the prophet…
…Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
2 Chronicles 20:20
Jehoshaphat spoke powerful words of faith, saying, “Believe the word of God!” They arose very early the next morning and went out to meet these three armies that were coming against them. They didn’t just say that they believed God; they proved it by acting on their faith and putting the singers up front. (See 2Chronicles 2:21.)
As I’ve been meditating on this passage of scripture, I’ve thought, What a miracle! Some people read Bible stories like they didn’t really happen, or maybe they do believe that these events actually took place, but they happened so long ago to somebody else so far away that they just don’t connect. Don’t just read the information in God’s Word, begin to think about it. Consider, what if you were in the position of Jehoshaphat? What would it have been like to tell the soldiers to get in the back and to put the choir in the front? How must it have sounded as they sang, “Praise the Lord for His mercy endures forever” on their way out to meet the three armies (2 Chronicles 20:21)—over a million people armed to the hilt? These thoughts are the beginning of meditation.
It’s one thing to read passage, but it’s another thing to go deeper and meditate on it. I read those passages of scripture again and again for two or three days. I’d go back to the same passages and spend thirty minutes to an hour reading, looking up cross references, and gathering information. Then I’d spend time meditating on what I had read during the day. I was on an airplane traveling to a Gospel Truth Seminar. My eyes were closed, but I was thinking about what a huge step of faith this was for Jehoshaphat, and how God rewarded him.
All You Need
Sure enough, when the people of Judah came over the hill and looked, these three armies that had aligned against them had turned on each other. Two of them had agreed to kill the third. Then, after they wiped out that army, they began killing each other. The very last two people standing killed each other. So when the armies of Judah came over the hill, they looked and there was nothing but corpses. They found so much gold, silver, and clothes that it took the entire nation of Judah three days to gather the spoil.
Most people read through a Bible story like that and glibly say, “Oh, there was a victory for trusting God,” but you can milk this passage for tremendous truths. Here was Jehoshaphat, his life and kingdom looked like they were just about to be snuffed out. In the midst of that, he cried out to God. The Lord gave him a prophecy. He believed it, and less than twenty-four hours after he began trusting God, the very thing that looked like it would be the destruction of the nation turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened. The people of Judah didn’t even have to lift a sword. They went out and gathered much spoil, and Jehoshaphat dedicated all of it to the temple. Prior to that time, some other people had come in and stolen all of the gold and silver out of the temple. Through faith in the word God had given him, Jehoshaphat saw this situation that looked like it was going to be his destruction turn out to be the very thing God used to supply the needed resources to refurbish the temple. It turned out great!
For days after I read this passage, I just meditated on those scriptures, thinking about how those truths applied to my life and some of the problems that faced me that made it appear like it could be the end of Andrew Wommack Ministries. Rather than worry about my circumstances, I began thinking that in the same way that God acted on behalf of Jehoshaphat, He could do it for me. The situation that looked like it could destroy me, could very well turn out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.
As you meditate on the Word, faith rises. Many people miss this increase in faith because they read the Word, but don’t meditate on it. Everyone reading this may not be able to spend large quantities of time in the Word but everyone can meditate on it day and night.
Regardless of what your circumstances or problems are, you’re never more than one word from God away from absolute victory. The Lord knows exactly where you are and how to get you to where you’re supposed to be. All you need is just the slightest instruction, an impartation of God’s wisdom. All you need is a word from God!
