What do you say to yourself…that no-one else can hear?

“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification,”  (I Corinthians 14:10)  says the Good Book, but perhaps none so important as the one that speaks softly within your own mind.  The words that you say to yourself, those words that no-one else can hear, shape you and make you the person that you are today!  If those words are harsh words; words of condemnation and self-hate; words of criticism and judgment, if those words are always negative; words that always beat you down, then who, my friends, who will lift you up?  You see, all of us think many, many thoughts in a day.  All the day long we are saying something to ourselves and we have the God-given privilege to determine what those words are going to be.  But, if those words are ever so unkind, so unloving, then how can we ever win?  Has it ever occurred to you that there is something behind that world of negativity that besieges you day by day?  The world around us and the forces that drive it, seek to defeat us and steal away the joy and blessing that life is.  The way it achieves success, in fact the only way it can achieve success, is to somehow garner our agreement.  And alas, when we choose to believe those lies and rehearse them to ourselves, we end up… defeated.

All of us folk that have donned human flesh; all of us have fallen short somewhere, somehow.  If the measure of success in life was determined by the number of mistakes we may have made, then none of us would ever gain success.  The whole ever-present consciousness of sin and error, the propensity to judge ourselves and our behaviors, is part of what makes us human.  But, if we are not even on our own side; if we are continually divided against our own selves, we cease to live and God wants us to live!  So, you aint gonna get much done with that defeated mind-set!  This is why God says:

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  Romans 3:22-24

The price has been paid in full for every silly thing that you and I ever did.  God made us who we are today.  God is the twinkle in our eye, the smile on our face, the joy that is in our hearts.  Instead of constantly expressing agreement with all that is wrong in life, why not get in agreement with all that is right?  The way to do so is to stop saying bad things to yourself.  Here’s another one:

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  Romans 8:31

Well, who can be against us?  No-one can and that even includes yourself!  It doesn’t glorify God for us to walk around all downtrodden and defeated day after day.  In fact, it only glorifies the one behind the misery.  So why not stand up, throw your shoulders back and be the person God called you to be!  Speak to yourself as you would speak to someone who you love.  Be kind with yourself.  Be patient with yourself.  Give yourself a frikkin break!  Life aint all about what we do and don’t do, it’s all about the God who called us and gave us life.  So honor what He gave you by getting yourself in agreement with Him.  Stop analyzing yourself.  Stop critically examining yourself.  Stop judging yourself.  Stop doubting yourself.  This persuasion cometh not from Him that calleth you!  Instead, decide to speak new words to yourself.  (Joel O’Steen anyone?)

Folks, you have to be on your own side.  You have to at least be for you first, if anyone else is going to be for you.  That’s what it means to be confident, to have confidence.  If all you ever think is about is what’s wrong with her; what’s wrong with him; what’s wrong with me, you cannot triumph.  Decide that you (with God’s sweet and tender help) are right and walk out on it!  It must be better to find out you were wrong after you made a move than to never make a move because you might be wrong.  Haha  Make a decision!  Make a bold move!  Walk out on it! Stand for something!  Go get what you need and don’t let anyone (especially you) talk you out of it!

If it is true that what a man thinks in his heart, he is, then we would do ourselves some good by thinking some good thoughts (sounds like a great blog name).  Do not allow anyone, even yourself, to speak ill of you.  Be kind and loving with yourself and treat yourself as you would treat the very best of friends.  If you do this, if you carry a consistent good attitude about yourself and who God made you to be, you will find that it will start to leak over to other people.  Your good heart and your good words will start to warm someone else up and then your life will really start to heat up.

You may be surprised about the things that you are saying to yourself.  You may not even recognize how negative and critical you are being.  But, your heavy heart knows… The sadness that you feel; the frustrations that you live with; the lack of success that you may be experiencing, all stand as a testimony to what you think about the most.  Change your thoughts and change your life!

“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification,” so why not let your voice signify all that is good and wonderful in life?  As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…