The Holy Spirit showed me something this morning that I want to share with you.  It is a personal experience of release through meditating on Psalm 40:1.  I assigned this verse to our Inner Peace class on Thursday.  One of gals emailed me.  She was excited because she looked up the meaning of inclined.  One of the definitions is to listen favorably.

I was meditating on the second phrase, “…and He inclined to me…”  I coupled that with listening favorably, and realized afresh that He listens to my heart!  I continued to mediate as I went to sleep.  The next morning I was still delighting that He hears my heart.  He broke through that thought by revealing a deep inner pain I had stuffed as a child.  I was a chatter box.  When my parents had enough, they would tell me to be quiet.  My constant chatter bothered my parents.  He showed me that I believed they rejected me for who I was.  I stuffed the pain, and entered a silent world of make believe to survive.

Through mediating on His word, He revealed the hidden in my unconscious.  I forgave my parents, asked Him to forgive me, and He initiated the release.  It was as though He pulled me up from somewhere deep.  He broke the lie that I had believed that I was a bother.  He affirmed that He delights when I express myself to Him.  He reminded me of Psalm 62:8, “Trust Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

The release began as I meditated on a truth that opposed a lie I had believed.  The lie affected my interaction with the Lord and others.  His word is alive, and powerful.  It is sharp and able to penetrate the deepest parts of our unconscious.  His desire is for our freedom.

The Holy Spirit just showed me something more about meditation as the read the account of Peter’s vision of the unclean animals.  Acts 10:17 says, “Now while Peter wondered within himself…”  Acts 11:6 says, “While I observed it intently and considered…”  The Amplified says, “Gazing intently and closely at it, I observed in it…”  These two verses are a great example of meditating.

Psalm 1:2 talks about meditating day and night, with the result in verse 3.  It says that whatever he does will prosper.  The word prosper means: flourish, thrive, do well, blossom, progress.

3 John vs 2 says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”  Meditating on His word will cause us to prosper spiritually, physically, and emotionally.  Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions.  Meditating will change the way we think and act.  It will literally transform our thought process;  influencing every thought and action.

When we mediate we are communing with the Lord through His word.  The Hebrew thought was to be lost in communion with God.  James 1:21 uses the word implanted.  The implanted word is His eternal word rooted in our heart.  It is His source of power within us, transforming our lives.

This morning the Holy Spirit reminded me that worry is futile.  Futile means: fruitless, empty, unproductive, ineffectual, and worthless.  Matthew 6:27 reminds us that worry doesn’t change a thing.

Trust bears much fruit that glorifies the Lord.  Jeremiah 17:7-8 gives the results of perpetual trust as not ceasing to yield fruit.  Perpetual means: uninterrupted, continuous, unending, unceasing, persistent, and unbroken.  We can have unceasing trust because He is unceasingly Faithful.

Psalm 37:5 Amplified says, “Commit your way to the Lord (roll and repose each care of your load on Him) trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.  Proverbs 16:3 Amplified says, “Roll your works upon the Lord (commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and) so shall your plans be established and succeed.”

The word commit is a picture of a camel with a load.  When it is ready to release the load, it kneels down, rolls over until the load drops off.  What a picture for us!  We kneel down in prayer, and roll each care at His feet.

This morning I woke up with the words, “Training the soul in righteousness.”  Our soul (mind, will, and emotions) being conformed to His will.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 in the Amplified says, “Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, (and) for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action), so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted that thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Isaiah 26:9 says, “With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early…”  The soul and spirit are in one accord.

Our soul has to be trained to walk in the Spirit.  We train it each time we bring every thought captive.  We don’t allow it to futilely wander, or dialogue.  We bring it into subjection.  We train our thoughts through God’s word hidden in our hearts.  The word is our trainer in righteousness.  It reveals His will.

When we start to feel negative, or irritated, or ungrateful, etc., we must immediately begin quoting a verse in our heart.  As we do this, we are training our mind, will, and emotions to conform and be in one accord with Him.

Psalm 104:34 says, “May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.”

Yesterday I was meditating on the words from Acts 2:1, “…with one accord.”  120 people were in one accord!  It means: being unanimous, having mutual consent, being in agreement, having group unity, having one mind and purpose.

This morning I read 1 Peter 3:8 which says, “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.”  The Amplified uses humble for courteous.

Humility is the precursor for unity.

The deeper the water, the richer the insights.

Psalm 66:10 says, “For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.”  Of Joseph, Psalm 105:18-19 says, “They hurt his feet in fetters, He was laid in irons.  Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.”

Our trials develop proven character.  Our faith is tested and purified.  As we cry out to Him in our trials, He gives us the wisdom needed to endure.

Romans 5:3-4 in the Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.  And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity).  And character (of this sort) produces (the habit of) joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.”

I had another night of grace thoughts.  Over and over in my mind I was saying, “You make all grace abound toward me, so that I can abound in every good work.”  All grace means there is grace for every situation.  Grace for trials, blessings, good works, and creativity.  It is all a gift.

The word used in John 10:10 for more abundantly from the Strongs is: superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, more than sufficient.

Now of course we have to go to Ephesians 3:20 which says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

Yesterday afternoon I was meditating on 2 Corinthians 9:8.  It says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

I don’t know if I dreamed it, or I was awake.  I was being bathed in grace.  I loved it.  I felt amazingly secure and cocooned.  The definition for cocoon is: to envelope or surround in a protective and comforting way.