How to develop a life of Holy Meditation and Godly Devotion

By John Young

Psalm 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

Morning: Personal Devotions

A good morning starts with the prier day. Be sure to go to sleep early to get enough rest and wake early enough that you are not rushed for the morning activities. Upon waking offer a quick prayer of thanks to the Lord (Psalm 5:3) and a pleasant greeting to any loved ones, shower and prepare your morning drink of choice.

In a quiet uncluttered place bring your drink and bible with a simple note book and pen. Start with a reverent prayer of thanks and requests for God’s guidance for yourself and your loved ones while they also meet with God in their morning devotions. Begin your bible readings, taking notes as needed. Read relaxed but with intent to comprehend the passage. As you read take noes of anything that comes to mind (Questions, Praises, Promises you wish to claim, thoughts of interest, answers to previous questions you had, etc). After your reading end with a Prayer of thanks and requests for safety and opportunities to be a witness for God throughout the day. Eat breakfast with your loved ones and give them praise.

TIPS: The amount of time does not matter. You can plan for a minimum of 15 minutes to an hour but the goal is for thoughtful prayer and reading, not just to kill time. If your mind is wandering too much simply finish in prayer and ask the Lord to help you to focus. Over time your concentration will get better. (If needed you can also passively listen to your reading while exercising.) Also refrain from doing non-bible reading (commentaries or studies) this time is strictly for you to be in God’s word.

Noon: Devotional Booklet, Bible Verse Work, Journaling, or etc. While conversing with God.

Lunch time is a good for a small thought from a devotional booklet or to work on bible memorization or simply to journal a prayer to God or about spiritual things. The key is for it to be something thoughtful but also something you enjoy. It can be a time to be creative and just to talk with God about what you are reading, memorizing, writing or thinking. (Just like you would a friend while on a walk.)

Evening: Family Devotions

Theses should be done as a family just before bed time and after all other issues are dealt with and all is calm and focused, so that God’s word is fresh on everyone minds as they lay down for the night. The Head of household can lead in a bible song and an opening prayer before the Bible reading. After reading the passage aloud, a time of explanation, questions and answers about the reading can be held. Afterward each family member should offer a prayer of thankfulness and requests help and safety for themselves and their loved ones. Parents should then comfort and praise their children as they send them off to bed.

TIPS: Family devotions should not feel like a chore or a punishment. As they are able children can participate in choosing their favorite song or passage in addition to the one prepared. Each child and parent can also read aloud a portion of the set reading as they are able (ie. the young ones can read a verse or two while the eldest a chapter or two). Some also like to do prizes for participation or setting.

Falling Asleep: (Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Psalm 63:5-7 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: 6 when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. 7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.) 

After conversing with your loved ones and are laying down Think of all the things God has done for you and will do for you. Cast your cares on him, ask him for guidance and speak to him on the worries you have going on and thank him for the way in which he will guide you through them with his Word. As you drift off to sleep you can sing to yourself a song or psalm in praise to God.

Preparing for Church Attendance: (Psalm 111 Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.)

TIPS:

Journaling: (Psalm 45:1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.)

Keeping a Journal handy for notes and thoughts will help with study and reflection on things learned. Some things to keep track of are verses of interest particularly of scripture promises that you want God to fulfill in your life just as He did for those in the bible or of struggles you are dealing with in the moment and of blessings you received.

Quick Prayers: (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.)

Try making a habit of taking a moment to pray before and after notable events such as waking up and going to sleep, eating food, starting a drive, before any meeting or event and when hearing of any need.

Personal bible studies: (2 Timothy 2:14-18 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. 17 And their word will eat as doth a canker:... 18 who concerning the truth have erred,…)

Devotion time is not the same as bible study. Devotions are meant be a relaxed time with the Lord to grow your spirit and not necessarily to fill your mind with facts and figures. Occasionally you will have a heart to search out a matter with heavy bible study. This is well and good (Acts 17:11), yet study is a physical mental exercise (Ecclesiastes 12:12). It is important that you not neglect your devotions to do so or your flesh will become conceited and your spirit will become malnourished. This condition is the primary reason for divisions among those who know a lot of bible but have neglected spiritual growth. (Luke 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone., Romans 12:9-21) 

Psalm 149:1, 4-6 Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints…. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand... 

 “‘This Generation’ is Spiritual”

By John Young

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” ~ Matthew 24:34

Many end times theologies use “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 as a physical generation because it works better that way with their end times theology. They present it as either the physical generation alive when Jesus preached these words or as a future physical generation that will live when the events would start to occur some time in the unknown future. Those who say the events were on those of the past are called Preterist (who believe the events partially or fully finished around 70 A.D.). Those who say some or all have not occurred are called futurist and are looking for the events to start in order to identify which “this generation” it will be. These two positions are generally read into the text from already formed viewpoints rather than the context itself.

Yet, contextually Matthew 24:34 is clearly connected to chapter 23 which states, in verse 33 “ Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” and verse 36, “Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” When we study Chapter 23 we see “this generation” is referring to the spiritual generation who’s father is the devil (John 8:44) but they physically lived among and appeared outwardly as Israelites who claimed to follow God. The passage goes on to state in verse 35 that this generation was present to persecute the righteous generation from Able to Zacharias (about 4,000 years) and would continue to be present until the events of Matthew 24-25 comes to pass to rid them out of the land of Israel.

Contextually this means that both spiritual generations have been on earth from the time of Cain and Able (1 John 3:12) and will be in Israel, and in the world, until the end when Christ our deliverer returns to the land to purge out “this generation” of vipers and save us. In Matthew 13:30 He states of these spiritual generations, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Paul the Apostle also states of this time that God is waiting for the gentiles to fully enter in before this purging will take place. Romans 11:25-27 says “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” Matthew 23:38-39, in connection to Paul’s Passage in Romans 11, goes on to state that God is waiting for the Israel to repent of this generation and say “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” before He will fully complete the promise of deliverance form their evil generation. Christ says, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

In regard to end times, knowing “this generation” is the “Generation of vipers” of chapter 23 means the evil people will persecute righteous people “till all these things be fulfilled”. Seeing “this generation” is still with us means we are still waiting for the final Olevet fulfillment. This final fulfillment is waiting on several things to come to pass first as noted, 1. For the gentiles to fully come in (Romans 11:25), 2. For Israel the nation to repent and turn to Christ (Matthew 23:39), and 3. For their house (the temple in Jerusalem) to not be desolate (Matthew 23:38). Until then “this generation” will remain among us. As stated in Matthew 25:46 the final fulfillment will happen with their departure. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” 

 Rapture Timing – Simplified.

By Brother John Young 2-16-2024

While there are many nuanced and complicated terminologies and reasonings for when the rapture will occur, most all consistent positions are divided into two types before (pre) or after (post) the tribulation (or no rapture at all) as described in the Book of Revelation. The primary factor that determines which position one takes is determined by what is believed about Israel and the Church. If they believe Israel and the Church are based on separate covenants then when they read the Revelation they must put the rapture BEFORE the tribulation. If they believe the Church takes over, or is part of, Israel’s covenant then they must place the rapture AFTER the tribulation or to reject the consept of rapture altogether and simply maintain a resurrection at the end of the tribulation or millennium. Saints (believers) appear throughout the Book of Revelation and are only saved from tribulation at the return of Christ at the end of the book so many do accept this as a reason to reject a rapture and simply opt for the resurrection.

In the Book of Revelation, churches by name are dealt with at the beginning of the book and Israel by name near the middle to end of the book, yet saints and sinners in general throughout. Those who maintain a separation of covenants (Pre-tribulationist) will simply keep each group separate and see the rapture occurring in the chapters dealing with the churches (chapters 1-5) and will take the book progressively in order. Yet those who do not (post-tribulationist) must make references to Israel’s or saint’s gathering apply also to the church as well (chapters 14 and 20-22). If this separation of covenants is not maintained then the progressive chronology of the Book of revelation itself also cannot be maintained and must be split and overlaid in order to make proper sense (some less constant and unconstrained pre and post adherents will split and overlay the book up to four times to make their given theology work! We will not deal with those here.).

As an example of a truly consistent pre-tribulationist, Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe Arizona teaches a Post-trib pre-wrath theology were chapters 1-11 of Revelation are chronological then starting at 12-16 is read as taking place with 1-11, before continuing again to 17-22.

(www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/chronology_of_revelation_chart.jpg)

This has the simplifying effect of ensuring Churches, Israel, and Saints, and their terminology, line up with a single rapture and return event, after the tribulation. If it is not done it results in either a pre-tribulation rapture or multi-rapture event depending on the person’s misunderstanding of Church and Israeli covenants. While simplifying and compelling, this popular position, as do most Post-tribulation (and many pre-tribulation) rapture theologies, falls prey to several issues.

1. It must split and break up the chapter order of Revelation in order to work.

2. It must conflate terms (ie. insist, without proving, that one term also means the other).

3. It must overlay the seals, trumpet judgments, and vial judgments.

If one removes these three common abuses of the Book of Revelation, the books own progressive structure takes shape into four distinct stages of events witch tend to also support a pre-tribulation rapture for church body while keeping the church and Israeli covenants intact and consistent with the overall context of scripture in both Old and New testaments. These divisions can be summed up as:

     wwwfacebook.com/BaptistChristians/photos/pb.100064810983595.-2207520000/3464239283588565/?type=3

In summery:

1. Pre-Tribulationist must keep terminology, and the covenants of Church and Israel SEPARATE, and must keep the book of Revelation in progressive order to be consistent with a true pe-rapture theology.

2. Post-Tribulationist must CONFLATE terms and covenants, split up the book order, and overlay the Judgments to remain consistent with a Post-Rapture theology.

3. Many are unable to do either so end up with a hybrid of theologies gleaned from those who have gone before them. Many are also so confused by the rapture concept that they simply allegorize much of Revelation to come up with their position on the rapture or in order to do away with it altogether.

4. The two examples above will most likely be the simplest examples of Pre and Post tribulation raptures that are most consistent with the Book of Revelation. Feel free to examine both to determine which is most consistent with the scriptures in order to come to their theological conclusion.

References: Brother Anderson does a good job in presenting his position and is well worth examination His material can be found here: https://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page9.html

My work on this topic is ongoing. What I have can be found here: https://johnyoungblogs.blogspot.com or here: https://www.facebook.com/BaptistChristians or here: www.youtube.com/@BaptistChristians

Revelation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPBnTVkjTpCJl70DpxmR1R5OXjRQbTe4j