Self Talk

(by Vincent M. Newfield)

Without a doubt, God LOVES us. His Word is His endless “love letter” to you and me, and throughout it He repeatedly proclaims His love for us. But knowing God loves us in our head is not the same as knowing He loves us in our heart. There are a number of things that keep us from having a heartfelt revelation of God’s love, but I believe one of the greatest things is our self-talk—the way we talk to ourselves.

All of us talk to ourselves; we do it externally, or out loud, and internally with our thoughts. It’s the internal conversation of 600 to 2,000 words a minute that paints a clear picture of how we see ourselves and paves the way for what we say about ourselves out loud. As Jesus said in Luke 6:45, …out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart [the] mouth speaks.

What Words Are Whirling Around in You?
Are they negative words of self-criticism, judgment, condem­nation, anger and aggravation? Or are they positive words of God’s love and acceptance? For years I had a mental monologue of criticism and condemnation repeatedly playing in my head. Negative phrases bombarded my brain, such as, You’re ugly. You’re stupid. Nobody likes you. You’re weird. Words of doubt and distrust danced in my mind daily, like, I can‘t believe you did that! You’ll never change. You make the same stupid mistakes over and over. What’s wrong with you?

Sound familiar? But where does this negative chatter come from? For me, negative self-talk resulted from believing the cruel and spiteful words spoken to me over the years. While there were numerous people who spoke positive words into my life, for some reason the negative words seemed to carry greater weight. Satan saw the soreness it brought to my soul and continued to use both peers and professors to deepen the wounds with more hurtful words.

Out of ignorance and in a weakened state, I accepted their cutting comments as true and began repeating them both internally and externally. It was as if a “CD” of discouragement, despair and destruction had been burned on my brain—and the songs were set on repeat. I knew God loved me, but the truth of His love was drowned out by thoughts of rejection, insecurity, fear, doubt and even self-hatred. I began to believe I was defective, unattractive and that something was wrong with me. Through my negative self-talk, I became my own worst enemy.

Let God’s Love Be Unleashed in You!
If you’re in the midst of a mental and emotional mess like I was, I encourage you to cry out to God. When I did, He began to show me the truth of His great love. He helped me see that …I am fearfully and wonderfully made….(Psalm 139:14) He showed me that before He formed me in my mother’s womb, He knew and approved of me as His chosen instrument.(Jeremiah 1:5) He explained that He has …indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) [me] on the palm of each of [His] hands, (Isaiah 49:16) and that His thoughts toward me are continual and uncountable. (Psalms 40:5; 139:17-18) As His child, I am special and He protects me like the apple of His eye. (Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalm 17:8; Zechariah 2:8)

As I meditated on and spoke aloud the truth of God’s Word, an understanding of the Father’s love for me moved from my head to my heart and destroyed the lies Satan had sown into my soul. Slowly but surely, the wounds of rejection, criticism, condemnation and the like were healed by the power of God’s Word and Spirit. Every now and then, the enemy tries to reopen those old wounds. But like David, I encourage and strengthen myself in the love of the Lord.(1 Samuel 30:6)

Please realize that nobody’s words carry more weight or power in your life than YOURS! Why? Because next to God, you have the greatest amount of authority in and over your life, and with that authority comes power. Your words, spoken out of your mouth, will either produce death or life in you. (Proverbs 18:21) So I challenge you to dig deep into God’s Word and discover for yourself His immeasurable love. Let Him put a new song in your heart filled with the lyrics of His overwhelming love!

Source: Joyce Meyer