We have what we say! That statement has probably already raised some red flags, but I promise, this isn’t just “name it and claim it,” so please hear me out.
Proverbs 18:20-21 (Amplifi ed) says: “A man’s moral self must be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied, whether good or evil. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. They who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it, for death or life.”
The fruit of the mouth is words. We’re created in God’s image; given the ability to speak creatively. Sin has made our words destructive. These verses show that the tongue has the inherent ability to produce life and death. If we choose to indulge death in our words, we must also choose to be satisfied with it, or change how we talk. Our life experience mirrors our thought and speech habits.
Through Biblical Guidance counseling, I find most people are dissatisfied with life as they have it, but are confused and hopeless about how to change it—often blaming other people or circumstances. We may also fail to change because we have the American “instant gratification” expectation, and when an suggested solution doesn’t work by the second or third day, we sigh, and go back to the same old self-talk and choices. So I’m challenging you to a six-week commitment to change your life. We’ll start with words; looking at some specific thought-habits and how to change them.
Contrary to popular opinion, talking to oneself is not a sign of craziness! We all have constant, internal mental conversations with ourselves. This is called self-talk and is natural and healthy. We have about 50,000 thoughts a day, most of which are so automatic, we really aren’t aware of them.
Self-talk is a mixture of positive, negative and neutral thoughts. The self-talk of an emotionally healthy person is about two positive thoughts to every negative thought. It’s essential to understand that this internal dialogue produces our emotions, and drives our choices. When self-talk is mostly negative, harsh or unrealistic, it exaggerates any stress we’re experiencing.
We talk ourselves into joy or misery. In this silent self-talk we may become judge, jury and executioner with no right of appeal and no extenuating circumstances. When we call ourselves worthless, stupid, failure, horrible and terrible, it’s a form of abuse and can literally become daily torture. How we talk to ourselves overflows into how we talk to family and friends and will either build or destroy opportunities and relationships.
The problem with self-talk is that we don’t question negative statements repeated internally. We learn to believe it’s true even when it’s completely a lie, or contains only a grain of truth, because our emotions have come into agreement with our statements. “If it feels so true,” we think, “it must be true.”
Now, let’s replace the thoughts. For believers, every statement wemakehastofitwith“inChrist.” Forexample,“In Christ, I am worthless” doesn’t fit at all! Here’s the truth: “In Christ, I am worth the very life of Christ. He said so, and it’s true whether I feel like it or not.” Our internal self-talk has to change to agree with the Word of God. When that changes, how we feel about ourselves will begin to change as well. Commit yourself to noticing and replacing negative self-talk with truth from God’s Word daily for six weeks.
Biblical Guidance counseling offers life-changing teaching about how our self-talk affects life and relationships. Email [email protected] or call 580-774-2884 for more information about your personal appointment today!
