 Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here. Sorry, Thursday we have to cancel class. I hope everybody got the notification in time. Before we begin, let's just begin with a word of prayer. Would someone open us in a word of prayer please? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this time of study, Father. We pray that as we study a word, Lord, your word will speak to us and guide us, Father, through this session. We pray that whatever we've learned, Father, we'll be able to remember and apply the same in our lives, Father. We pray that as you guide us, Lord, we will be sensitive to your word and be able to understand whatever you're trying to teach us through your word, Father. We also pray for blessing upon the entire faculty and a blessing upon all the students of Jesus. In thy precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you. So we will just do a quick recap like we usually do. We'll recap what we covered last week and then go into today's content. So we began in Chapter 5 last week talking about the soil in which we sow the seed. Before this we had looked at Jesus' explanation of the parable saying that the seed that is sown in the ground is the word of God. And so now we move into what is that ground or the soil into which the seed is sown and that is the hearts of people. And so last week we were looking at more what should the posture of our hearts be? How do we receive the word in a way that will bear fruit in our lives? So we looked at the heart representing more than just our emotions. It also represents our thoughts, our imagination, our will. So it represents the soul of a person. So everything that inspires us to make decisions, to react or respond to a certain situation, all of those things come from the heart. And that's how Scripture uses the word heart. So when we say that the word is sown in our hearts, we mean that the word should be impacting all of these areas of who we are, of our soul. Then we looked at the word taking root in our hearts. And we looked at how do we let that word take root in our hearts? So to pay attention to the word, to remove all other distractions, to keep the word ever before us. So always meditating on the word, always guarding the word against other things that may come from the outside, against lies that may come from the outside. And we looked more into making the word richer and stronger in our hearts. And how we do that is through the process of meditation. So when we meditate on God's word, we are recognizing that the word is something that we should be constantly reminding ourselves of. So we're constantly dwelling on the truth of Scripture, on the things that God has talked about in His word. So what is the process of meditation? We looked at some examples in Scripture that meditation is something that Scripture itself talks about. And God Himself had instructed His people to meditate on His word. We see that in Joshua 1.8 where that instruction is given to Joshua. And so when we're talking about meditation, we're talking about it based on Scripture, meaning that it is something that God Himself has instructed. But also we understand it based on how was it practiced by the Jews. So what is meditation according to Scripture? And we looked at different kinds of meditation. So not only meditating on God's word, meditating on who God is, meditating on what He has done, and meditating on wise teachings or on truth, meditating. And all of that obviously we see Scripture as a source of wisdom and truth. And then we looked at the actual process of meditation. So if anyone would like to, would anyone like to just kind of recap for us what is the process of meditation? Just even small, you don't have to give us the whole thing that we covered, but just anything you remember from what we talked about. Hello, ma'am. I remember three words. Contemplation, visualization and confession. Yes, thank you. So contemplation, visualization and confession. Thank you. So we looked at these three words as a description of things we have to do in the process of meditation. So we use our minds, we use our eyes, visualization, and we're talking about the imagination, not our physical eyes. And we use our lips, so we confess with our lips. And so we looked at what meditation was in the Old Testament. It was a process of reflecting on, on pondering, on dwelling on Scripture, and also speaking it out, repeating it with your lips. And the reason is that as you repeat those words, your mind starts to focus more fully on it. So you saying the words helps you, helps remove other distractions and helps you focus in on the word that you are speaking and helps you also hear it. So you're speaking it, you're thinking about it, you're also hearing it. And so in this process, the word becomes the focus and all other things start to kind of fade into the background. You're able to simply focus on the word of God. So we also looked at the process of meditation beginning in our spirits. So beginning in our, in the inner man and then affecting our soul. So affecting our thoughts, affecting our imagination, affecting our will, affecting our intellect. All of those things are transformed through the word of God. And then from the soul impacting the way we live. So impacting our physical, physical, not only our health, but also the physical things that we do, the actions, the decisions we make, all of those things are affected. So it starts in the spirit, moves the soul and then impacts our body. And so this is the three words we talked about, contemplation, visualization and confession. So contemplation is thinking, so using our minds and thinking about what the scripture is talking about, thinking about the truth that is contained in it, thinking about how does it apply to me? What is it revealing about God? How can I change the way I'm living to align my life to this word that I am meditating on? Visualization is using pictures to help us see what God has promised to us. And we looked at the example of God taking Abraham outside and showing him the stars in the sky and giving him that picture of the inheritance that was going to be his or the lineage that was going to be his. So God promised that he would have descendants that would be as many as the stars in the sky. And so God uses a visual picture to help Abraham take hold of this promise. So in a similar way, when we have a word that we are meditating on, we can think about how that word will impact our lives. So imagine a picture that captures that word. So if we are looking at something on healing, then we imagine what wellness would look like in our lives, what the impact of God healing us would look like in our lives. We imagine that future, we imagine that promise being fulfilled. And that helps us not only be thinking about it, but also having this image or this picture of God's promise fulfilled in our lives. And it takes hold of our imagination, whereas the first thing of contemplation takes hold of our thoughts. This will take hold of our imagination. So what are we picturing as our future? What are we picturing as the thing we are hoping for is also important. And then the last part is confession. So we also speak what is in the word. And how we do this is we can say the word over our lives. We'll go back to the example of Isaiah 53-4. That's what we had looked at when we were talking about contemplation. So someone can just read Isaiah 53-4 for us. So this is where we stopped last week. So we'll continue from here onward in today's class. So Isaiah 53-4, if someone could open to that for us, please. Isaiah 53-4, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Thank you. And can you go into verse 5 as well, please? But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his strips we are healed. Okay. Thank you. So here, if we're taking these two verses as the example of a passage we are meditating on, we first have spent time thinking about this word. So we're thinking about what are the weaknesses that I am experiencing that I can trust that God has carried already, God, Jesus has already taken these weaknesses. What are the sorrows that are weighing me down, that Jesus has already taken away on the cross? What are the troubles that I have that Jesus has already freed me from? So when we're looking at this verse, we can see that what it's talking about is a past tense. So he already carried our weakness. He was weighed down with our sorrows, that he was pierced, he was pierced. So all of this has already taken place. So when we're thinking about the word, we're looking at all of these details in the verse. We're looking at the tense. We're looking at the words that are used. We're looking at the meaning of the words. We're looking at, we can also look at maybe the historical context, background, all of those things. So we're thinking about the word if we want to go into a much more detailed study. But we, if we're just wanting to spend some time just kind of in a more devotional way, then we just think about the word that is written here and think about its application in our lives. So what are the things I can hand over to God and trust that he has already freed me from? What are the things that I'm continuing to carry, although God has said, has promised in his word that he has already redeemed me from these things. Those are some things we can be thinking about and that will be process of contemplation. The process of visualization then is picturing that word having effect in our lives. So if I am burdened with certain sicknesses in my body or a disease in my body, then I picture what healing would look like. What wholeness would look like in that aspect of sickness that I'm experiencing. So that is the part of the imagination where I view myself as someone who's already healed. I view myself as someone who's already set free from that sickness because that's what the word says. And God has already promised that to us. And then the third part is what we're looking at confession. So we start to speak those words over our lives. So one way to do that is to say the same things but put ourselves in that verse. So to say, it was my weaknesses he carried. It was my sorrows, my sickness that weighed him down. And although I thought that this was a punishment for his sins, the truth is that he was pierced for my rebellion. He was crushed for my sins. That means he has taken already the punishment for my sins. He has already paid the price for my rebellion. He was beaten so I could be whole. He was whipped so I could be healed. So to say those words, putting ourselves into the scripture. Another way is to declare it over our lives. To say that I am no longer weak because Jesus has taken my weakness. I no longer am weighed down by sickness or sorrow because Jesus has taken that on the cross. So to speak the same words but declare it over our lives. Another way is to pray it. So to go to God and say, Lord, you have taken my sickness. You have taken my sorrow. You have taken my weakness. And I believe, Lord, by your stripes I am healed. So to pray, to use it in the form of a prayer. These are different ways in which we can confess the word over our lives. So any questions on this part on meditation? Because this is the core of this whole book. We're looking at the word of God as a whole. But this is the practical aspect of how we can practice seeing that word bare fruit in our lives. So if we are able to really understand it and start putting it to practice, then we're actually using what we're learning. But if we don't fully understand it, then we'll miss the whole point of the book. So any questions, anything you would like me to go over again? This thing of meditation, meditating on God's word. Okay, no questions. Okay, so in the last part of this book, I think it's the last chapter of the book. Let me just make sure there is a list of different topics. The chapter is chapter 12, Word Seeds, starting page 74 of the book. There are verses listed according to topics. So examples is answer to prayer, anointing, baby in the womb, which may be quite relevant for me. So boldness, casting out demons, different topics like that. So what I'm going to ask you to do this week is for you to pick one of these topics. Okay, that you feel is something that you can be meditating on according to your circumstances right now at present. And to practice these three things, practice contemplating, thinking about the word, practice visualizing the word and practice confessing the word. And what we can do is either we can post our experience like what happened as we've been meditating on the word. We can either post it on Google Classroom or we can maybe have a time of discussion in next week's class. But so that's your assignment for the week. This is not a graded assignment but definitely an important thing that I'd like each of you to do. So pick a topic from chapter 12. If you want to pick another topic, you're welcome to do that as well. What's available in chapter 12 is just helpful because it has verses listed according to topics. So you can choose one of those topics or another topic that you might want to be focusing on right now. And then find verses related to that topic and practice this process of meditation. Okay, and then we'll share at the end of this week's next Monday's class. We'll share what was our experience of meditating on God's word. So we'll see whether a verbal discussion works better or Google Classroom or maybe both. We can do a little bit of both. Is everyone okay with that? Yes. Okay, thank you. I think in the process of doing that, we'll understand whether we fully grasped what this process of meditation is. And then we can also address questions that come up as you try it out. We can talk about that. So we'll move on from here. So as we meditate on God's word, the goal of doing that is to actually come before God to encounter Him and to commune with Him. If someone can read Psalm 63, 1 to 6 for that space. Psalm 63, 1 to 6. Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. In the dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. I've left my hands in your name. My soul shall be satisfied. As with the marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I will meditate on you in the night watches. Hi, sorry. Sorry, there was just a drop in the Internet. They all able to hear me. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So thank you. We were reading Psalm 63, 1 to 6. And so we see here in this passage that the psalmist comes with a longing or a deep hunger and thirst for God. And that is how we want to be approaching God and approaching his word. So when we go to his word that we go with Ernest's desire to know him, to see him, to encounter him through his word. I just have gone back to the presentation. I hope you'll are able to see that. Okay. So we encounter God through his word. And as we spend time meditating on his word is where we allow God to come and work in us, work deep within us, changing us in our inner man. Right. So as God is doing that work in us through his word, we are responding to him surrendering our lives to him, allowing his word to change who we are on the inside. And it is as his word transposes on the inside that we begin to see the impact on our lives. So we look at what are some of the effects of meditating on God's word. So apart from meditation, bringing us into a personal encounter, an experience of just being in and enjoying God's presence. It also then impacts our lives. And so we'll look at a second Corinthians 10, three to five, if someone can read that for us, please. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strong points. We destroy all humans and every local opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. Thank you. So in second Corinthians 10, Paul is actually talking about people who have come into the church who are opposing some of the things that Paul and Paul and other leaders in the church had taught the church. So there were false teachers who had come in people who were trying to set themselves up as leaders over the church instead of Paul. And so in order to do that they were putting down Paul, they were saying things against him and against what he had taught. So Paul's responses, we will not fight against them using worldly weapons. So we can also use the same weapons that they are using, we can deceive you, we can speak falsely, we can, we can boast in ourselves, we can do those kinds of things. But we won't choose the world's way of battling these kinds of spiritual battles that we're facing. Instead we'll use spiritual weapons, we'll use God's weapons. And so some of the things he mentions as the things they're battling against is strongholds of human reasoning, false arguments, rebellious thoughts, and he also talks about the imagination. So those are the four things that he mentions in these verses. So while he is talking about an external opponent, right, so these people are people are coming against Paul and his ministry and work in the church. He's talking about these external opponents and their arguments, their thoughts, their reasonings, their imaginations. This is something that we can take and apply to our own lives. If the word can be used against an opponent's arguments against us, then we should actually begin using the word in our own lives first, right? To pull down strongholds in our own lives, to influence our imaginations, our reasoning, our thoughts, and to bring all of those things captive to the word of God. So all of those things should be in submission to the word of God. The things we imagine, the things we think, the ways in which we reason, all should be in submission to the word of God. Now what do we mean by a stronghold? So when they're saying pulling down strongholds, does anyone want to say a little bit about that? What a stronghold is? A stronghold is like a barrier that is holding us back from doing something or receiving the grace of God, I would say. Okay, yeah, thank you. So if we look at the, I would say, non-spiritual understanding of a stronghold, it was used in battle, right? So to protect yourself against someone else, you build a strong fort and you protect, so you build a wall, you might around that wall have a moat with water, all of these different ways to keep enemies from coming in. And the intention is to protect yourself from your enemy, right? So a stronghold is something that is considered as a very dependable fortress that you can hide in to keep someone else from entering in. Now those kinds of strongholds can be built in our mind. Oftentimes we build those kinds of things in response to something that we have experienced mostly negative, right? So we may have experienced hurt, we may have experienced failure, different things like that. And so we build these things in our minds or these ways of thinking, these ways of acting, behaving, ways of living to protect ourselves. And oftentimes, if we are not being guided by the Word of God, then those things that are protecting us are not in line with the truth of Scripture. Gertrude, do you have a question? If I can, yeah, you can go ahead and ask and then we will continue. Yes, sister. But before pulling down the stronghold, do we have to put on the armor of God? Putting on the armor of God, can you say more about that? Like what do you mean? Is there something specific? Strongholds is not in a control. I mean, they are demonic. So do we have to put on the armor of God before pulling down the strongholds? Okay. So if it's a demonic thing, it's different from what we're talking about here. But yes, in those cases, there may be more in terms of getting somebody else to pray over us, addressing whatever may be the root of that demonic hold. Those are different ways in which we may have to address it. So when we are looking at this passive scripture, we're talking more about strongholds in the mind. So all of these four things that are mentioned here, the reasoning, imagination, thoughts, we're talking more about the mind. So strongholds in the mind is ways of thinking that have a control over the way we live. And we want to see the word of God break those ways of thinking that are not in line with the truth of scripture and to start living in line with the truth of scripture. Does that answer your question, Gautra? Yes, but these strongholds in the mind, we can pray for your family, for anybody or like anybody who is affected. Yeah, we can definitely prayer is a weapon that we use and here we are talking about scripture also as a weapon. So prayer is one way and using scripture, using the truth of scripture, meditating on the truth of scripture is another way for the word of God to start to take root and those strongholds to be broken. Okay, sister, thank you. Thank you. So where we're talking about this, we're saying for personal, right? So now we can't, we can pray over others and we can encourage them to meditate on God's word to see these strongholds broken. So this has to be something that we are personally doing, like no one else can meditate on God's word on our behalf, right? So strongholds won't be broken in my life because somebody else is meditating on God's word on my behalf. So this is ways in which we see release, we see deliverance, all of those things in our own lives is by meditating on God's word. So to see these strongholds pulled down, to see our imagination, our reasoning, our thoughts being renewed. And then to see that impact, the way we view everything around us, the way we view ourselves. So our sense of self, how do we, what is the image we have of ourselves, the way we look at things around us. Do we have a negative view of everything around us? Are we pessimistic in the way we view the world, in the way we relate to the world? Or are we hopeful because of God's promises? So we're not saying, we're not promoting positive thinking, just for the sake of positive thinking. But we are saying we should be holding onto the promises of God. And those are the things that should be keeping us encouraged, keeping us hopeful, even in the midst of difficulties and challenges. So we want to see this word influence all of those aspects and influence the way we view ourselves, the way we view the world. Influence the way we dream, the way we imagine our futures, the way we respond to challenges. The way in which we look at what is it that God has in store for us. Are we looking at the future with hope, with purpose, with vision? Or are we looking at it with a sense of despair, a sense of hopelessness? If that is the way we're looking at it, then it can't be based on the word of God. Because the word of God is filled with hope, is filled with God's promises of redemption, of goodness, of prosperity. So those are the things that should be influencing the way we live our lives. So is that all of that is clear? Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Apart from the effects of meditation, we'll also look at the fruits of meditation. So we talked about the fact that when we sow a seed, in order for it to bear fruit, it has to be nurtured. It has to be taken care of. And so that is what we look at meditation as a process of nurturing the seed of God's word that we are planting in our lives. So we nurture it through meditation, and that is how fruit is born in our lives. And these are a list of a few promises in God's word of some of the things that we can expect to see in our lives as a result of the word of God taking root in our lives. Let's maybe we can start reading through this and then take a break whenever it's time to take a break. So if someone can read 1 Peter 1 23 for us please. 1 Peter 1 23, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Okay, so here we see that we are born again that is born again in a spiritual sense through the word of God. And so to see the word of God bring that new life to us is something that is a result of the word being sown in our hearts. Right. And so if we want to continue to see that new life really blossom and really become all that is promised to us, then we should continue to meditate on God's word. The next one is Proverbs 4 20 22. Proverbs 4 20. My son, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings, do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to all the flesh. Thank you. And Psalm 107 verse 20. Psalm 107 verse 20. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from the destruction. So these two verses that talk about healing, health and life in connection to God's word. So the word brings health to us. The word brings life to our bodies. So that is another promise that we can hold on to one of the ways in which the word bears fruit in our lives. Psalm 119 verse 98 to 100. Can I read it, sister? Yes, please. Thank you. Psalm 119 verse 98 to 100. You through your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts. And then verse 130 of the same chapter. The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. So another fruit of God's word is that it brings understanding, it brings wisdom. Beyond your age, beyond your education, beyond even people who may be considered more learned than you. It's through the word of God that we are made wise and we are given understanding. And then Joshua 18 and Psalm 13. Joshua 18, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then, sorry, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. Thank you. And a Psalm, maybe we can just read Psalms 1 verses 1 to 3. Psalm 1 verses 1 to 3, Blessed is the one who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Thank you. So these two passages talk about being prosperous, being fruitful, being successful in the things we're doing because of God's word, because we are remaining, abiding, meditating in God's word. So we'll take a break here. We'll come back and continue from here in 10 minutes. Thank you.