Power of the Spoken Word
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7, KJV).
Have you thought about this verse recently? Like a precious stone, have you held it in your hand, examined it closely, turning it over, and over again, making sure not to miss one detail? It is essential to our Christian walks that we hold this bit of scripture close to our hearts every day: that we hold ourselves accountable to the principles that this small, yet magnificently powerful bit of wisdom conveys. What is is verse really telling us?
Jesus tells us in Luke 6:45 that, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks". From His mouth, to my ears!
"FOR OUT OF THE OVERFLOW OF HIS HEART HIS MOUTH SPEAKS".
Wow. So what this tells me, is if I speak negatively, that is a reflection of my heart. So how, then, can I be a light unto a dark world and be a representative of Jesus Christ, if my very words are reflecting that same darkness?
God calls us, time and time again in His Word to have a positive mind: to take all our thoughts captive under the authority of Christ Jesus:
"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"(2 Corinthians 10:4,5).
Spiritual warfare is in fact all around us, and the enemy LOVES to meddle in our thought lives, because he knows how easy it is to break down our defenses in this area. And trust me: I know how easy it is to fall into a negative thought pattern; it's all too easy to get stuck in a rut of focusing strictly on the negative. However, negative thinking can turn into a very cyclical pattern. Negative thinkers would like to argue that they are they way they are because of all the misfourtune that they have experienced throughout thier lives. But here's my question: which came first? The chicken or the egg? Are you a negative thinker because you've endured countless hardships and you just can't seem to catch a break? Or are you enduring those hardships because you have convinced yourself that they're going to happen anyway? You expect them. It's almost as if you *will* them to happen. What if you started focusing on the positive? What if you started believing God for great, amazing, wonderful and powerful things for your lives and the lives of the ones you love? Just look at Phillipians 4:8,9:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you".
There's our answer right there! The peace of GOD ALMIGHTY will be with us if we just practice positive thinking. But did you also notice that we must not only focus on the positive, but on all things praiseworthy as well? So if we're praising God throughout our days, this will bring Him glory, and we in turn, will be blessed for it as well! I think that's a fair deal, don't you?
Our thought lives and our words affect us (and even those around us) a great deal more than we sometimes give them credit for. If we believe that we're sick, well, we can pretty much expect to start experiencing symptoms of illness, because our body is reacting to the signals our minds are sending out. In similar fashion, our day to day lives are just as affected by our thoughts and our words.
I just want to leave you with one more thought for the day, and that is this: God SPOKE this world into existence. So think about that the next time you feel the urge to give into anxiety, or the next time you want to berate yourself for tripping up the stairs, or missing a deadline. If you take a more positive approach to these situations and rebuke the enemy's antagonistic attempts at filling your mind with fear, doubt, and self-loathing, you will undoubtedly move out of the darkness, and become a true beacon of Christ-like light for the whole world to see.
Information derived from http://www.godsaidmansaid.com/printtopic.asp?ItemId=717 , Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer<-- I HIGHLY recommend this book! Phenomenal!
Have you thought about this verse recently? Like a precious stone, have you held it in your hand, examined it closely, turning it over, and over again, making sure not to miss one detail? It is essential to our Christian walks that we hold this bit of scripture close to our hearts every day: that we hold ourselves accountable to the principles that this small, yet magnificently powerful bit of wisdom conveys. What is is verse really telling us?
Jesus tells us in Luke 6:45 that, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks". From His mouth, to my ears!
"FOR OUT OF THE OVERFLOW OF HIS HEART HIS MOUTH SPEAKS".
Wow. So what this tells me, is if I speak negatively, that is a reflection of my heart. So how, then, can I be a light unto a dark world and be a representative of Jesus Christ, if my very words are reflecting that same darkness?
God calls us, time and time again in His Word to have a positive mind: to take all our thoughts captive under the authority of Christ Jesus:
"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"(2 Corinthians 10:4,5).
Spiritual warfare is in fact all around us, and the enemy LOVES to meddle in our thought lives, because he knows how easy it is to break down our defenses in this area. And trust me: I know how easy it is to fall into a negative thought pattern; it's all too easy to get stuck in a rut of focusing strictly on the negative. However, negative thinking can turn into a very cyclical pattern. Negative thinkers would like to argue that they are they way they are because of all the misfourtune that they have experienced throughout thier lives. But here's my question: which came first? The chicken or the egg? Are you a negative thinker because you've endured countless hardships and you just can't seem to catch a break? Or are you enduring those hardships because you have convinced yourself that they're going to happen anyway? You expect them. It's almost as if you *will* them to happen. What if you started focusing on the positive? What if you started believing God for great, amazing, wonderful and powerful things for your lives and the lives of the ones you love? Just look at Phillipians 4:8,9:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you".
There's our answer right there! The peace of GOD ALMIGHTY will be with us if we just practice positive thinking. But did you also notice that we must not only focus on the positive, but on all things praiseworthy as well? So if we're praising God throughout our days, this will bring Him glory, and we in turn, will be blessed for it as well! I think that's a fair deal, don't you?
Our thought lives and our words affect us (and even those around us) a great deal more than we sometimes give them credit for. If we believe that we're sick, well, we can pretty much expect to start experiencing symptoms of illness, because our body is reacting to the signals our minds are sending out. In similar fashion, our day to day lives are just as affected by our thoughts and our words.
I just want to leave you with one more thought for the day, and that is this: God SPOKE this world into existence. So think about that the next time you feel the urge to give into anxiety, or the next time you want to berate yourself for tripping up the stairs, or missing a deadline. If you take a more positive approach to these situations and rebuke the enemy's antagonistic attempts at filling your mind with fear, doubt, and self-loathing, you will undoubtedly move out of the darkness, and become a true beacon of Christ-like light for the whole world to see.
Information derived from http://www.godsaidmansaid.com/printtopic.asp?ItemId=717 , Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer<-- I HIGHLY recommend this book! Phenomenal!
posted by Stephanie @ 9:14 AM
11 Comments:
Wow stephanie this is great. We are to take every thought captive, to set our mind on things above.
Wonderful words and truth. You always open my eyes to things, I love that about you.
That was a very timely reminder to me to look on the positive side of things.
I keep "seeing" you around everywhere I go, so I thought I'd drop by! Very nice place you've got!
Katie: "You always open my eyes to things, I love that about you." Likewise, my friend! :)
Kristi: You beat me to the punch! I was going to totally pop in by you today to say hello! Well, I'm going to do it anyway, but in the meantime, "hi!"
You know, we do run in the same "blog-circle" after all, it's about time we get to know each other! (Especially now that we have both been elected as "elite cube heads"! lol)
Wow…I really needed to hear this. The last portion of your post got to me. I totally believe God led me to read this post. I made a huge stink out of something so frivolous the other evening and I was actually ‘verbalizing’ hatred for myself. How negative is that? Words are so powerful, and we can either control them or speak positively, or we can let the devil win---and speak negatively about ourselves. I’m learning little by little. It’s sometimes hard to ‘not’ self-loathe. It’s a battle I think a lot of people struggle with.
This post was beautifully written. You definitely have a way with words and have a way of captivating your reader.
Thanks for the great read!!!
KrisT: VERY CONVICTING to me too! hahaha that's why I wrote it, because I struggle with this very issue quite a bit!
Deb: You and I particularily are cut from the same cloth when it comes to stuff like this. Oh my word, girl, if you could learn positive self-talk (as cheesy as it sounds, think "Stuart Smalley: I'm good enough, I'm smart enough..." hahaha), and really BELIEVE what you say (and of course believe in God's promises for your life, you'd watch that anxiety melt away! (I'm working on that very thing right now!)
Thanks for the nice comment over on my site.
Also, if you ever decide to go with a new design on your blog, I will hook you up with one for free. You have been part of the clan for long enough that you deserve a free Eddo design. I don't however, want to step on Ben's toes, but I think he will understand.
Hmm..very convicting. I have been in such a funk this week. Maybe I should start thinking more positively??
Love Joyce Meyer.
Great post! Love the posts that build up christians!
Logan: You'd be surprised how easy it is to see the negative side of any and all situations. It's also a matter of how people were raised, etc... But with God, all things are possible! AND I thank Him for people like you who bring happiness and encouragement to everyone around you!
Eddo: You.are.the.man! I will ONLY do it if Ben doesn't mind :) (and of COURSE I would hang on to this design so I could go back and forth! ;)
And yay! I'm part of the clan! lol
Shenna: We should ALL start thinking more positively!
I love Joyce Meyer too: man is that woman annointed!
Don't mind at all... have at it Eddie.
Great post btw.
Speaking of which... where is our new template Eddie? Stuck?
Steph, what a great post! In my opinion, one of your best. The Battlefield of the Mind is one of the new books I have yet to read, but I will soon. A good book along the same lines is "Mastering the Silence" by Doug Jones. Thoughts are vital...especially when you consider what they influence:
thoughts>words>actions>habits>
character>destiny
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