“Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” (Psalm 4:4 NIV)
Galatians chapter five tells us that one of the nine fruits of the spirit is self-control. I am doing a short series discussing things that God has given us the ability to control. Here is another one.
Self-control of your self-talk, i.e. what you say to and about yourself
We alltalk-to and think-to ourselves. It’s what we call self-talk. There are different kinds of self-talk; some are positive and some are negative. Here are some of them.
Foolish self-talk
“And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool!’” (Luke 22-19)
“The fool says within his heart, ‘there is no God.’” (Psalm 14-1)
“The wicked man says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.’” (Psalm 10:11)
Negative self-talk
It may surprise you how often you criticize yourself. The problem is that a lot of us are like Job, who says, “Everything I say seems to condemn me;” (Job 9:20). If you are typical to the human race, you are your own worst critic.
How do you eliminate negative self-talk so you can become a more confident person?
Learn to recognize your inner negative voice and replace it with encouraging uplifting statements from God’s Word.
The Bible teaches the principle of replacement. “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right … Think about all you can thank God for and be glad about.” (Phil. 4:8 TLB)
Positive self-talk
The Bible in Matthew tells of a woman who was very ill and reveals her positive self-talk when she says, “If I can but only touch his coat, I will get well.” (Matt. 9:21). Of course, this boosted her faith and she was healed!
Quotes:
Saying to yourself, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthens me” (Phil 4:13), is a positive and constructive example of self-talk.
“Your most important talk is your self-talk.” – Zig Ziglar
“Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.” – Napoleon Hill