According to Proverbs 23:7, we are the sum of our thoughts. It says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” My mentee wrote that even at work she had times where her eyes teared up from sadness.. She wrote, “I just feel like I failed myself…” She referred to previous mistakes that she couldn’t take back.

Our thoughts dictate to our brain what it needs to instruct our body to do. When we dwell on past mistakes, our brain interprets that as stress. What happens in our bodies when we are stressed? Fight or flight kicks in as though there is danger ~ even when there is none.

Digestion slows or stops because it isn’t needed. Heart rate and breathing increase, as well as adrenaline pumps into our muscles to prepare us to fight or flee. All thoughts precede actions. It is imperative that we consider how our thoughts might be affecting our health.

Meditation is an intentional form of focusing on one subject. It takes place in our conscious mind, and it involves the present. Jumping thoughts have no focal point other than trying to figure something out. It can be either something future or an event that took place. It is a futile activity because we are in control of nothing in our future or our past.

Meditating on Scripture involves our spirit man ~ shutting out our flesh. According to 1 Corinthians 2:14, meditating is spiritually discerned. Meditating causes us to be like a tree whose roots spread out near a water source, bearing fruit in season. No withering leaves. Meditating is a healing modality or remedy for spiritual dryness.

Meditation is an act of worship. Psalm 145:5 says, “I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.” Lost in communion with the Lord ~ blocking out all distractions and concerns. It is singular focus on the Lover of our soul.

In Psalm 104:34 the psalmist wrote a prayer with an intention. It says, “May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord.” What we dwell on with our thoughts is a form of meditation. We bring the thought in and out of our conscious mind, sort of like oil pulling.

Abraham and Isaac were both contemplators. Romans 4:20. Genesis 24:63. 1 Chronicles 28:9 Amplified says, “…For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts…” It is a delight to let our minds wander in and out of phrases of truth as we meditate in His word ~ rich insights seed into our hearts.

In Proverbs 8:22-31 wisdom was speaking. Verse 30 says, “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” Does that describe your delight in the Lord?

Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength.” Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful: but…” 

God often adds a but to highlight a contrast. The verse goes on to say, “…his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Capture how meditating and delight connect.

I have been stuck in Psalm 119:23-24 for several days as I continued to think about delight in connection to meditating in God’s word. It says, “…Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.” As we meditate in God’s word, delight begins to stir within our heart. 

News Flash! I recently heard this: when our mind jumps back and forth, it causes our gut to churn ~ destroying good bacteria.

God’s way is to bring every thought captive ~ we can do that instantly by expressing thankfulness to Him when our thoughts start to careen out of control. Negative dialogue is a destructive habit.

“What if…” “I should have…” These types of thought patterns exercise our flesh. Trying to figure something out is futile ~ there is no substance.

Our flesh is a quagmire. Here is a definition of a quagmire in case you are wondering. A soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot. It reminds me of the man who built his house upon the sand ~ no stability for the storms of life. 

In Luke 6:49 Jesus said, “But he who heard and did nothing…” We can read God’s word daily, yet if we don’t adhere to it by applying it, then we are building on sand. 

Nothing is in vain or a waste. The Lord will redeem everything. His promise in Romans 8:28 is that He will work it all for our good. Thoughts that bring doubt, fears, unbelief are lies. I have a mentee whose faith was shaken because she embraced thoughts causing stark fear ~ paralyzed in her tracks.

2 Timothy 1:7 says that fear is a spirit. Fear is a tormentor, designed to waylay us in our progressive sanctification journey. Renounce the fear and affirm the rest of the verse. It says, “…but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” The Greek definitions for a sound mind are: good judgment, disciplined thought patterns, and the ability to understand and make right decisions.

Our trials are essential in our spiritual growth. The Lord uses them to strengthen our faith. When the fiery dart lies come, we must hold up our door shield of faith to quench them ~ remaining steadfast and immovable.

2 Peter 1:4 says that through God’s exceedingly great and precious promises, we become partakers of His divine nature. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son is the perfect imprint (Amplified) of the Father. We are created to exemplify the Lord ~ His image stamped deep into our hearts.

We certainly cannot represent Him in our own strength. The verse says, “Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power…”

Our faith is purified in the crucible of our trial. Through the intensity of the fire, the dross is brought to the surface and removed. Our ‘alloy’ of buried lies that we have believed are exposed. They lose their power of control when brought into the light. We then renounce them and affirm the truth. 2 Corinthians 4:2.

I copied this from the internet. A.W. Tozer wrote, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. God actually rises up storms of conflict in relationships at times in order to accomplish that deeper work in our character. We cannot love our enemies in our own strength. This is graduate-level grace.”

There is no grace when we act independent of God. He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4:6. Are you struggling with difficult interpersonal relationships? He uses our adversity to hone our character.

Character is developed through our hard trials. Romans 5:3-4 Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also 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. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity)…”

John 15:5 says that without Him we can do nothing ~ not one thing that will bear fruit for His glory. His way is for us to walk in the Spirit. When we do the Holy Spirit will resist our flesh when it rises to assert itself. Galatians 5:17. 

Self-help books abound. They are not the answer. Korah wrote Psalm 87 about the city of God. Verse 7 says, “Both the singer and the players on instruments say, All my spring are in you.” Our Source Of Life is in Him. 

Psalm 36:8-9 says, “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.”

John 4:14 says, “…the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 

Galatians 5:16 says, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Romans 8:5 helps us understand the two results of our thoughts. It says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

When we contemplate His ways, 1 Corinthians 2:13 says that we compare spiritual things with spiritual. We know that God is Holy. No sin can touch Him. 1 Peter 2:22 says that no deceit was found in His mouth.

I love 2 Timothy 2:13 which says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” Titus 1:2 says that He cannot lie. As we meditate on His word and contemplate His ways, we are given a template of truth. We know about the Lord through His word. Experiential knowledge ~ His character becomes ingrained in our thought processes.