The word meditate means “to muse over, ponder, to plan in the mind, to purpose, or intend.” The Greek word implies “to revolve something in the mind” and is also translated to imagine.

Two reasons for biblical meditation are “to ponder over correct knowledge, also referred to as renewing the mind and to contact God behind His Word” through prayer, praise, and meditation; i.e., musing, pondering, and thinking about Him.

Meditation can be done from topical study—choosing a topic to ponder over. Example: baptism. Define the word from the Greek, Hebrew, or a good dictionary. Find the root word from which it is derived. Consider and ponder the context of verses and that will lead you to study other related subjects, such as remission (Acts 2:38), repentance (Acts 2:38), faith (Mark 16:16), the conscience (1 Pet. 3:21), calling on the Lord (Acts 22:16), etc.

You need to ponder questions that you have or that the Scripture raises, such as: Are there qualifications to be met before baptism? What is the purpose of baptism? When was it practiced? In what time frame?

Meditation can be done from expositional study; i.e., a verse-by-verse study of a book of the Bible. The key is to ponder and think over a book for so long that you become familiar with its content (verses and chapters).

Meditation can be done through word studies. What do certain words mean? What does it mean to believe? What does the word Lord mean? What does the word Jesus mean? What does the word Christ mean? What does the word justify mean, etc.

You can meditate from paragraphs in the Bible. A paragraph is a unit of thought in writing, usually containing several sentences. When an author changes the subject of emphasis in their writing, they usually begin a new paragraph.

When meditating through scriptures, look for punctuation such as question marks. Why is this question being asked? How does it relate to the context, etc.? Biblical meditation is not just looking at words, but for God behind the Word.