Ruminations and Praying the Word of God: An Introduction

Ruminations and Praying the Word of God: An Introduction

(Ponderings, Contemplations, Meditations)  

Today, I'm going to start a daily blog post segment called, "RUMINATIONS: PRAYING THE WORD OF GOD." What it is is ruminating, pondering, contemplating, meditating, chewing on, thinking about, and praying the Bible and Word of God. I will talk about how this leads to A SIMPLE STILL SILENT FAITH in some of those posts and will leave it to you in others. It will be a devotional Bible study and a praying the Word and prayer journaling spiritual discipline. 

WHAT IS RUMINATING THE WORD OF GOD (THE BIBLE) ANYWAY?
What a fancy word, RUMINATIONS. It sounds impressive, doesn't it?  It means to chew on, contemplate, ponder, meditate upon, mull over, consider, study, digest, etc. 

Ruminating the Word of God is to do all of that. It's that simple.

When we ruminate on Scripture, we pray for God to speak to us through the verse, for our hearts and minds to be open, and for Him to tell us what it means and how we are to apply it to our lives. We listen 95% of the time and speak the other 5% as we ruminate. 

First, read the verse or passage all the way through rather rapidly. Get a feel as to what it is talking about. Prayer journal as you go and write anything that jumps out at you and anything God says to you. Write questions you might have. 

From here, prayer journal anything God says to you about each word, anything you say to God, what He wants you to apply to your life, questions you have, and whatever jumps out at you, etc.. Do this with each of the 6 segments below. Take your time. The idea is to allow God to fill you with thoughts, not for you to think. If your mind wanders, repeat the word or phrase you are ruminating. Listen to God and keep yourself open to Him and His promptings and instructions.

Also, if at any times, God tells you to stop and ruminate over a certain word or phrase for a longer time length, then by all means stop. Keep praying. Keep prayer journaling. 

There have been times when I have prayed the Word and a verse for several years or just a day. So, do not be surprised if God has you linger on something until you gain as much clarity and insight from Him as possible. 

The point of praying the Word and ruminating on it is to allow the Word to become part of your life. 
Ruminate on a verse for at least an entire day and night. If God wants you to continue with it the next day, ask Him to let you know then. Although, He might let you know the moment you see a verse He wants you to spend some time in the verse and in that specific Word. 

1 As we read the verse, we read it slowly. Very slowly. Read it slower than you have ever read anything. Read one word and stop. Let this echo through your mind and heart. Repeat it over an over as the full meaning of the word comes to mind. Do this even if it's the words: a, the, to, at, etc. Remain open to god as you do this.

2 Once you get to the end of the verse, break it into two word segments and repeat #1 in the same manner. Do more of the same.

3 Then, break it into three word segments.

4 Then, break it to the first punctuation mark, second one, etc. until you reach the final period.

5 Then, break it in half.

6 Then, do the entire verse again. 

I prayer journal the entire time, whenever I start to ruminate and pray a verse or passage of Scripture. After all, prayer journaling keeps me focused. My mind tends to be unruly at times and needs discipline. Prayer journaling helps with this for me. 

Also, I print out the verse in at least my favorite version of the Bible, if not in multiple. I try to ponder all of them. Right now, I'm using several versions of Mathew 6:33, for example, to ruminate and pray the Word. 

I then think of the phrase that jumped out at me most from that verse every moment for the rest of the day and night. And, I try to re-read it whenever I can, for I carry the multiple versions of the verse with me everywhere I go. 

CARRYING THE VERSES TO RUMINATE AND FOR PRAYING THE WORD

Come up with the system that works for you. 

And, if it stops working, try another system.

Right now, I print all of my versions of my rumination verse onto an 8.5 x 11 letter sized sheet of paper. I do it in 14 point type so I can read it from far away. 

Then, I fold the sheet into thirds. If type gets caught off, I will add a space between lines. 

Also, I only use the top two-thirds of the sheet. The last third is kept empty/blank. 

Then, I punch the left-hand side with two holes and I use two paper rings to bind them together. I add to it at least once page, if not more, throughout the day each day. I add it to the bottom of the pile.

When the rings get full, with too many pages, I take the top week of papers off and add them to the previous/old book. I either carry the old book with me as well or I leave it on my desk where I still go through it from time to time. I try to go through it each week as well. The only exception of not removing is if there are verses God wants me to ruminate and pray back to Him for longer. Then, I take other pages out from the next week and move them to the previous/old book. 

I fold my pages in half because when I work-out, that's when I ruminate on them over and over and repeat them over and over to the point I memorize them accidentally. It's handy for when I am getting ready in the morning, when I cook, as I wait on hold or stand in a line, etc. 

Find your favorite system today. Be willing to change if it stops working. Just make sure you carry several with you at one time.

I try to carry at least one month of verses, and usually three months, to ruminate with me at all times. 

Find your system.