A simple method
How to meditate on a Bible verse
To meditate on a Bible verse is to read one short verse slowly, again and again, until its words settle in your mind and you understand what it says. It takes five minutes and needs no special training, only a verse and some quiet.
What the Bible means by meditating
In the Bible, meditating is not emptying your mind. It is filling your mind with what God has said and turning it over. The first Psalm describes the person who is blessed in these words.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Why it is for doing, not only for knowing
God told Joshua to keep the book of the law in his mind, so that he would act on it.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Five steps for one verse
There is no single method. This pattern is a simple place to start, and each step takes a minute or two.
First, choose a short verse, one sentence or two. Pick one from what you are reading, or one that has stayed with you. Second, read it slowly, two or three times, and then read the verses before and after it so you know who is speaking and why. A verse taken out of its passage can be made to say what it never said.
Third, say it again with the stress on a different word each time. In "God so loved the world", stress "God" once, then "so", then "loved", then "world", and each pass brings out a different part of the same sentence. Fourth, ask plain questions of it. What does this tell me about God? What does it ask me to believe or do? Is there a promise, a command or a warning? Fifth, answer it. Pray it back to God in your own words, and then choose one thing to do or to remember today.
Keeping the verse in front of you
The hard part is staying on one verse without scrolling away. In Bible ProJection you can open a verse on its own in Verse view, as in the picture above, with nothing else on the screen. You can also switch the Bible version to see the same verse in different words.
The Meditate tab does the same with a deck. It shows one confession at a time, each paired with the verse it rests on, and can move on after a time you choose, from 30 seconds up to 12 hours, or wait until you do it by hand. It is free in your browser, with no account.
Common mistakes
Rushing is the usual one, so give a verse more time than feels necessary. Another is looking only for a feeling. Meditation is about understanding the words, and the feeling may or may not come. A third is taking a verse out of its setting, which is why step two has you read the surrounding verses. Keep a notebook nearby, and write down what you see, because it is easy to lose in a day.
Questions people ask
Choose a short verse, read it slowly several times along with the verses around it, ask what it says about God and what it asks of you, then pray it back and pick one thing to remember or do.
Five to ten minutes is enough to begin. Some people stay with one verse for a whole day or a week, returning to it when they have a spare moment.
No. The Bible's meditation is filling the mind with what God has said, as in Psalm 1:2 and Joshua 1:8. It does not mean emptying the mind or focusing on your breathing.
A short one from something you are already reading. Many people begin with a verse from the Psalms or the Gospel of John.