If God’s Word is foundational to our reality, we need to take it to heart. Did you know that we have the power of life and death in our very tongues? In the words we speak over our own lives?
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverb 18:21 NASB
There is much to be said about the words we speak to ourselves. It is perfectly normal to realize that we talk to ourselves - even when we do not think we do! What do you think dreams are? We are talking to ourselves and we are conversing with God if we are people of faith - at all times! We are called to encourage ourselves in the Lord, just as King David did.
There was an episode in the life of King David in which he led his army into battle. While they were away, the wives and children of David and his men were taken captive by the enemy. When David’s men realized what had happened, they blamed David and talked of stoning him. Here is how David responded:
Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 NASB
King David encouraged HIMSELF in the Lord. He spoke the Truth to His own soul! In his own words:
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
Psalm 42:5 NASB
Even when circumstances are beyond our control, we have the choice as to how we will respond. We always have a choice as to whether or not we will speak Truth to our own mind! In my own life, I have had several surgeries. After surgery, the pain meds wreak havoc upon my mind, leading me to hallucinate. IN those moments, I would call out to Melinda and ask her to speak truth to me - to give me something tangible to hold on to with my thoughts. She would begin speaking God’s Truth to me out loud. As my mind took stock of what she was declaring, my mind suddenly came to peace having a solid truth to hold on to! This became our practice until the day I was able to be rid of the need for pain medication!
On the advent of the next surgery I faced, we were preemptive. My family made me a Truth Jar - a simple Mason Jar full of small bits of God’s Truth written on card stock and folded. Whenever I found my mind wandering to despair after surgery, I was to reach into that jar and read those nits of truth as needed. Without fail, all it took was reading one of those truths and my mind was brought back to reality, reality being what God calls Truth!
We must learn to use the power of our own words just as King David did. We have the choice in how we talk to our self. We can speak either death or life. Which sounds like the wiser choice to you? Here are some simple truths to declare to your own soul in moments of mental anguish and self-doubt. Speak these Truths to your own soul as needed. This is who you are!
I am dead to sin.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11 NASB
I am born again.
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1:22-23 NASB
I am cleansed by the blood.
…let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:22 NASB
I am alive to God
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11 NASB
I am a victor, destined to win.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 NASB
I am a child of destiny and purpose.
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’
Jeremiah 29:11 NASB
I am eternally His.
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:20 NASB
I am found.
“He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his [fn]life for My sake will find it.” Jesus
Matthew 10:39 NASB
I am free.
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus
John 8:36 NASB
I am holy and righteous.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 NASB
I am an overcomer.
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 NASB
I am redeemed.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us…
Galatians 3:13a NASB
I am crowned with victory.
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:12 NASB
I am restored.
The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psalm 19:7 NASB
…if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
Ephesians 4:21-23 NASB
I am resurrected to new life.
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
Romans 6:4-6 NASB
I am a new creation.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB
I am a servant of the Most High God.
“But the greatest among you shall be your servant.” Jesus
Matthew 23:11 NASB
“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” Jesus
John 12:26 NASB
I am a mighty warrior.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14 NASB
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NASB
I am an ambassador for Christ.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB
I am chosen by God. I am a priest. I am royalty. I belong to God!
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…
1 Peter 2:9 NASB
I am a receiver of visions and dreams
‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says,
‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL [fn]MANKIND;
AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,
AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS…’
Acts 2:17 NASB
I am a letter of grace.
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NASB
I am a minister of reconciliation, leading others to be reconciled with God!
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NASB
I am a delight to my God
For whom the LORD loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:12 NASB
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV
I am accepted.
…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Ephesians 1:6 NASB
I am a Kingdom Seeker!!!!!!!
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Jesus
Matthew 6:33 NASB
But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.
Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB