I was meditating on Philippians 2:14-15. Verse 14 says, “Do all things without complaining and disputing.” Do you seek to please the Lord? Numbers 11:1 says, “Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord…”

In the Amplified it says, “And the people grumbled and deplored their hardships, which were evil in the ears of the Lord…” Philippians 2:15 reveals that complaining will dim the light of our witness for Him.

In the Amplified it says, “That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation (spiritually perverted and perverse), among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars of beacons shining out clearly) in the (dark) world.”

How bright is your light when you are in the crucible fires of a hard trial? Romans 5:3 in the Amplified says, “Moreover (let us be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.”

I was totally hooked on sugar. I didn’t know until I had to quit how hard it would be. I literally sat on the couch biting my fingers to keep from screaming. Over time I successfully retrained my taste buds.

Hebrews 5:13 says, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.” 1 Peter 2:3 says, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

Before we were saved, we had worldly taste buds. At salvation, our palate is touched with the doctrine of eternal security. Our faith grows as we continue to hear God’s word. Romans 10:17. 

2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…” 

Are you retraining your taste buds through diligent study of His word? Are you applying it to your life to live it out for His glory?

I memorized Psalm 119:102. Then started working on 103. I noticed something as I linked the end of 102 with the first of 103. It says, “…For You Yourself have taught me, how sweet are Your words to my taste…”

Does reading, hearing, quoting God’s word taste sweet in your mouth? The end of 103 says, “…sweeter than honey to my mouth!” This verse reminded me of Psalm 19:10. David wrote it about God’s word. It says, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.” Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart…”

In 1973 my doctor took me off all sugar. I grew up on sugar! We had dessert after lunch and dinner. We drank Pepsi. My grandpa C got me hooked on his favorite candy bar ~ the Three Musketeers. We ate white bread.

I started to memorize Psalm 119:98. It says, “You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.” My mind went to believers in countries that are hostile to the gospel. They have enemies because of the cross.

All believers have the enemies of our souls. In Ephesians 6 Paul gave us the whole armor of God because of them. Verse 12 says, “For we do not wrestle agains flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Then the Holy Spirit gave me another way. We often make enemies because of our fleshly reactive behavior. All actions are the fruit of our thoughts. We either dishonor the Lord with them, or our godly behavior exemplifies Him to others.

Hebrews 1:3 says of Jesus, “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” The Greek word for express image is charakter. As we live out God’s word in our lives, our character will reflect His.

Psalm 119:148 says, “My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.” Psalm 63:6 says, “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.”

The last thing we think about before we go to sleep, will carry on in us throughout the night. Have you ever woken up in a bad mood? You can attribute it to your last thoughts. That is what Paul wrote about in Philippians 4:8.

It says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

David understood how essential his thoughts were. Psalm 4:4 says, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.” He was being hunted by Saul to kill him. Verse 8 says, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

I love Romans 4. It is rich with experiential truths lived out in Abraham’s life. It was years from the time that the Lord promised him a son, before Isaac was born. Verse 18 says, “Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed…”

Verse 19 says, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” Strong’s definition for consider: to take note of, perceive, consider carefully, discern, detect, make account of, observe fully.

Abraham did not ponder or question the fact that he and Sarah were beyond childbearing years. Do you have areas of spiritual deadness or defeat in your life? What are your thoughts concerning them?

Abraham believed what God had said, regardless of his circumstances. Our adversities, hardships, seemingly impossible situations are fully known by the Lord. He promises fruit-bearing years when we add meditating to our lives.

Psalm 119:15 says, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.” Contemplate means to look into, and to pay close attention to.

Psalm 119:15 says, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.” Meditate means to think about, consider, and ponder. These are great words to express how our heart thinks, feels, and chooses. We bring His word into our mind, roll it around in our thoughts, inculcate it, and deposit it into our heart’s belief-bank.

Proverbs 23:7 says that we are what we think about. Years ago the Holy Spirit taught me what to do when I recognized that my behavior didn’t emulate the Lord. I ask myself, “Marilyn, what do you believe about yourself right now?” Then I wait for the Holy Spirit to show me.

Our flesh reacts, but our spirit man responds to adversity in a Christ-like manner. When our thoughts are fleshly, our roots will shrivel. When we meditate on the Lord, our roots spread out to gather in the moisture from His word.

Meditating is an intentional discipline to bring God’s word from the printed page into our hearts and make them our own. Meditating interweaves His word like threads intertwining into the tapestry of our lives. 

Are you prospering in whatever you do? Prospering is God’s promise to meditators. Jeremiah linked trust with meditating. Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

2 Kings 19:30 was written about Israel, but we can apply it personally. It says, “…shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.” Years ago our church had a slogan: the deeper the root the sweeter the fruit.

Meditating in His word is God’s way to take our roots deeper. Mark 4 is the parable of the sower. Verse 17 described the seeds that fell on the stony ground. It says, “And they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”

Moses addressed the children of Israel after the situation at Baal of Peor. Numbers 25. In Deuteronomy 4 he commanded them to obedience. Verse 3-4 says, “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did…But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today…”

Moses taught them God’s statutes and judgments. Verse 6 says, “Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding…” 

Psalm 119:97-98 says, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.”

Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it…”

Psalm 1:3 recorded the fruit of meditating. It says, “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

I always pause when I come to 1 Kings 13 in my reading. It is so sad! A man of God was persuaded away from what the Lord had specifically told him. It was by another man of God who lied to him. Beware. We must hold fast to what God has spoken no matter what.

Our circumstances will change constantly. Yet He remains the same. A mentee wrote this to me. “What I notice in myself is that when I feel better I’m completely happy and I am able to analyze and change my thinking. When I am stuck I feel like I can’t change my state.” Do you recognize the lie she believes?

2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke…” Ask the Holy Spirit to help you hear what you are speaking, Then recognize the lies that you have believed about yourself, others, or your circumstances.

Nothing is impossible for the Lord. We are never stuck as long as we are walking in the Spirit!