Richard Roberts
As I lifted my Bible one morning, it fell open to Proverbs, and I began to read the words of Solomon. This book tells how we are to keep the Word of God in our hearts, how we are supposed to let the Word of God in our hearts, how we are supposed to let the Word of God be written on the tablets of our fleshly hearts (Proverbs 7:2˗3). In other words, we are to get the Word of God in us.
I remember once when I was at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, which was then pastored by our good friend, John Osteen. Before I was to begin to preach, John took his Bible, held it up, and asked the congregation to hold up their Bibles. Then he asked them to repeat after him: “This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.” I have said that to myself many times since then because I have my Bible, but it won’t do me any good unless it gets inside me. I have what it says I have if I will activate the promises in the Word of God. I can do what it says if I will use my faith and if I will believe that those things which I say shall come to pass.
I am often asked, “Richard, do you memorize Scripture?” to which I answer, “No, I don’t take the time to memorize Scripture. Instead, I study it and mediate on it. Meditate means to murmur, to mutter over and over. I speak it, I say it, I believe it, and it becomes a part of me. Then, according to Matthew 12:34, out of the abundance of my heart my mouth will begin to speak, and the Scripture I have poured into me and sown into the garden of my heart will begin to come up out of my mouth.”
We were driving in Texas recently and passed a stream. It had been raining hard, and this little stream alongside the road had almost turned into a flood. You could see rocks underneath the fairly clear water, which was churning over the rocks. I thought of this example. You have a rushing stream and you put a rough rock in the churning water. Over time that water begins to smooth the rough rock, and it begins to sparkle like a diamond.
And that is what the Word of God does in our heart! The washing of the Word smoothes out those rough places from the hard knocks of life and then helps us to shine for Him (Ephesians 5:26).