Brooding Over the Word

# Living in the Spirit ##

**Kingdom Principley:** As we continually behold Christ and engage the Word in our hearts, the Holy Spirit works within us to bring forth transformation and fruitfulness.

Imagine a hen that has laid her eggs and is waiting on God to help hatch them.

The eggs have been laid. The potential for life is already within them.

But imagine that the hen refuses to brood over the eggs while continuing to say, "I am waiting on God to hatch them."

The problem would not be that God had failed to provide what was necessary. The problem would be that the hen was waiting in a way that was contrary to the knowledge and process God had established.

The hen must brood over the eggs.

This gives us a helpful picture of what it means to continually engage the Word.

The principle of brooding can be connected to the biblical principle of beholding.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

Notice the connection: Beholding produces transformation, and the Spirit is the One who brings about the transformation.

We do not transform ourselves by human effort.

We behold. We continue to look. We continue to engage. We continue to meditate upon what God has revealed.

And the Holy Spirit works within us.

### The Hen Does Not Hatch the Egg

The illustration needs to be understood correctly.

The hen does not create the life inside the egg. Neither does she hatch it through intellectual or physical strength. She simply remains faithfully over the eggs, providing the environment in which the life already contained within them can develop.

Likewise, we do not manufacture the life of God through self-effort. God has already provided the life. Christ has already accomplished the work. The Word has already been given. The Holy Spirit has already been given.

Our part is to continually behold Christ, keep His Word in our hearts, meditate upon it, and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.

The hen broods over the eggs; the believer broods over the Word.

This is why meditation is much more than occasionally reading a verse.

Meditation means that we continually bring the Word before our hearts and minds. We consider it. We think about it. We speak it. We allow it to challenge our assumptions. We allow it to reshape our perspective. We allow it to become the lens through which we interpret our circumstances.

As we do this, the Holy Spirit works through the Word.

### What Are You Beholding?

Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 3:18 gives us another important question: What are you continually beholding?

Because what continually occupies our attention can influence what is being formed within us.

If we continually behold our problems, our problems can become larger in our consciousness. If we continually behold the failures of people, their failures can dominate our thoughts. If we continually behold what we lack, lack can become the governing reality of our minds.

But when we continually behold Christ and His Word, we are placing our hearts before the truth of God.

This does not mean ignoring reality. It means allowing God's Word to interpret reality.

The Holy Spirit then works in us as we behold. He brings understanding. He reminds us of what Christ has said. He leads us into obedience. He changes our inner disposition. He transforms us from glory to glory.

### Brooding Requires Remaining

A hen that broods over her eggs does not remain for a few minutes and then abandon them. She remains.

This is an important picture of spiritual meditation.

Sometimes we want immediate results from a Word we have just received. But spiritual formation often requires remaining with the Word.

Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word..." There is a power in continuing.

We return to the same truth. We think about it again. We pray over it. We allow the Holy Spirit to give us deeper understanding.

And gradually, the Word begins to influence our responses.

What once provoked fear may no longer control us. What once produced anxiety may now produce peace. What once caused us to react in the flesh may now become an opportunity to respond according to the Spirit.

The Word is becoming fruitful.

### The Holy Spirit Is Not an Afterthought

This also answers an important question: Where does the Holy Spirit fit into the process?

He is central to it.

The Holy Spirit is not simply given to us so that we can have spiritual experiences. He works with the Word to transform our lives.

We cannot produce spiritual transformation by merely concentrating harder. Neither does meditation mean using our minds to manufacture a desired outcome.

Rather, we engage the Word in faith and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. The Spirit takes the truth we have received and works it into our character, our thoughts, our conduct, and our experience.

Therefore:

- We behold Christ. - We meditate upon the Word. - We yield to the Holy Spirit. - The Spirit transforms us.

### Practical Application

Choose one Scripture that speaks directly to an area in which you desire to see God's life manifested.

Do not merely read it once. Brood over it. Return to it throughout the day. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. Consider what it means. Ask yourself how you should respond to life in light of that Word.

Then obey what the Spirit reveals.

The objective is not merely to know the Scripture. The objective is to become increasingly conformed to the reality it reveals.

### Reflection

*What am I continually beholding, and what is it producing in me?*

Hassan Thomas Nenger Author, *My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God* Living in the Spirit Series