John Ortberg concludes Chapter 11 of The Life You’ve Always Wanted with 5 suggestions for the practice of meditating on Scripture:
1. Before you begin reading the Bible, pause to ask God to speak to you through your reading that day and anticipate that He will do so.
2. Read God’s Word with a repentant spirit and a vulnerable heart, understanding that reading the Bible to be transformed is distinctly different from reading the Bible to be informed.
3. Choose a fairly brief passage or narrative on which to meditate. Reading for transformation is a slow process. Pastor Ortberg quotes Madam Guyon’s beautiful description of this process from her book Experiencing the Depth of Jesus Christ:
“If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skims the surface of a flower. Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee who penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.”
4. Choose one thought or verse that you’ll live with for one day. Don’t just think about God’s Word- read it aloud to help focus your attention on your chosen thought or passage.
5. Memorize passages from Scripture that specifically apply to the areas of your life where you need the most help. The issue is not how many words you memorize, but what happens to your mind when you immerse it in Scripture.