How’s Your Tongue? By Lane Jordan Burday
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
(Proverbs 18:21)
Did you know that the words we speak to ourselves can have a profound impact on our lives? As the verse above says, the words we say have the power to encourage or discourage, to motivate or deflate, to generate joy or stop it.
Here are some examples of phrases that you and I may have said:
- I’m so tired I just can’t do anything.
- I might as well not even try; it won’t work.
- I hate the way I look.
- I just don’t have what it takes.
- The honeymoon is officially over.
- My life is a mess.
- How will I ever get my house/laundry/meals done or organized?
- Nobody likes me. I shouldn’t even try anymore to have friends.
- Why does the church have to have those songs/that message/those people?
- I might as well stop trying. I’m a failure.
When we think or say words like those above, we are aiming at a life of despair and one lacking in joy. So, what can we do differently?
We can speak to ourselves as if we’ve already fulfilled our highest potential! God already has a great plan for your life, so your future is wonderful. Yes, there will be hurts and disappointments. But God promises that everything in your life will come together for good if you love Him and follow Him!
Speak to yourself with love as if you were speaking to a friend. Take charge of your mouth to discipline your mind, so you stay on the positive path. For the words we speak both reflect our inner beliefs and reinforce those beliefs. Careless words can hurt us; faithful and positive words can give us joy and purpose.
How would you talk if everyone you knew could hear your subconscious words as well as those you speak? I believe you would talk much more positively.
And how do we want our children to hear from us? Gloom and doom or happy and joyful each day? I tell myself not to be an Eeyore but a Tigger!! (from the Winnie the Pooh books).
When we change the way we talk to ourselves, we can change our self-concept, for the words we use today will create the life you’ll experience tomorrow.
I had the great privilege of knowing Zig Zigler, an American author, salesman, and motivational speaker. When someone would ask him how he was, he’d reply, “Better than good!” You might think he had a perfect life, but one of his daughters died from an incurable disease in 1995. Although grief-stricken, he wrote a book, Confessions on Grief, to help others from their pain. And he continued on through his life positively.
As you start speaking words of life to yourself and others, believe you are already the person God intends for you to become. Speak with joy when you pray to God. Forget about the past and focus on today and the future God has for you!
Isaiah 43:18-19 says, Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isn’t that a verse to give you hope? Remind yourself that nothing is too good to be true for a child of the King. Think and talk only about what is “good, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8).
I pray that with persistence, you can learn to control your tongue for good and not bad. And what a joyful life you will have!
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Our latest devotional book, Treasure, just won the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA) Golden Scroll Award for “Devotional book of the Year!” It was also named the “Best Christian Non-Fiction Book” by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. If you have not purchased Treasure, it is not too late. Lane Jordan Burday and Lisa Burkhardt Worley, along with the POP Team, combined their talents to write the book, which is full of wonderful inspiration. You will be inspired by the messages, and receive daily treasure as God will speak to you through His Holy Spirit. To buy Treasure just click on the Amazon link that takes you directly to the page and check out our new e-book. https://tinyurl.com/2uj9sn5x.