“When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” (the Bible,
Psalm 94:18-19, NIV)
“When I said”...We all talk to ourselves, all the time. And what about you, friend? What do you usually repeat over and over again to yourself in the secret place of your inner dialogue? What words are you feeding yourself?
Some of us think that we’re…
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Not strong enough in our faith,
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Not obedient enough,
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Not bold enough,
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Not talented enough,
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Not extroverted enough,
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Not patient enough,
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Not intelligent enough,
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Not beautiful or handsome enough,
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Not enough to be loved, etc.
Maybe you’ve repeated these sorts of things to yourself for years. But God is talking to you as well, and today His voice is resonating more strongly within you: “You are worth enough that My only Son would die for you. You are worth enough that My love for you pursues you tirelessly.”
The connection between our internal self-talk and our faith is very clear. Look with me at Jeremiah, who prayed this honest, heartfelt prayer when he was losing hope: “So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’ I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.” (
Lamentations 3:18-20, NIV)
How true it is that “...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (
Matthew 12:45, NKJV)! Jesus taught us to consider the source of our words, for it’s the things deep within our hearts that form the words and confessions we speak.
Yet the Lord also knows that changing the words we speak to ourselves takes time. Jeremiah, in his same prayer, says, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’” (
Lamentations 3:21-24, NIV)
I encourage you today to listen (or listen again) to the song
“You Say” by Lauren Daigle, which expresses how to start declaring what God says about you.
friend, to release your worries and find joy again, start by listening to what you’re saying to yourself...and changing the programming. God is patient, and if you let Him, He will help you. As
Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (NKJV)
With Him, your internal dialogue will be transformed! :-)
