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Let the Words of My Mouth (Psalm 19: 14)

During the creative narrative in Genesis, we see that nothing happened in the universe until God spoke.  This lets us know that God's universe is word activated.  Since we are God's image bearers, our words have similar creative power.  The only real difference is time; what God's word does immediately, our words can do eventually...at least within the context of our own lives.

The importance of words is also expressed in the New Testament.  Romans 10: 17 says that "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God."  The Greek word used for "word" in the text is "rema", which means "spoken word" or "a word spoken. So, one could say that our faith comes from hearing the word of God spoken to us.  What we believe about or come to know about God is connected to what we have heard and are hearing about God.  It is also connected to what we ourselves say about God. Words are what we use to create our "God Image" or our understanding of who we believe God to be. 

This may also be the process we use to create our self image.  So if I were to change the words of the text in Romans a little bit it might read, "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the words of (insert your name here)".  In essence, what we believe about ourselves and others, may be found in the words we use about ourselves and others. As I mentioned before, God's universe is word activated, which is why it is so important that we are careful about what we bring to life with our speech.  The book of Proverbs says that "death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18: 21). 

So here is a question for you:  what kind of inner world have your words created for you?  What have the words you say to yourself or about yourself brought forth?  James Allen wrote, in his classic book As A Man Thinketh, man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace."  This idea has its origins in the Bible.  Proverbs 23: 7 says "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he," while Luke 12:  34b lets us know that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."  Therefore, the seed of our thoughts gives birth to the fruit of our lips.  And it is the fruit of our lips that makes our life a palace or a graveyard.

Here is another question for you: what kind of outer world have your words created for you?  If your life is full of people and circumstances that do not affirm or strengthen you, you may want to ask yourself what role you are playing in creating that world.  Do your words attract or repel strong, positive people and situations?  Do your words help you to perceive opportunities to create prosperity or confirm the "reality" of scarcity?  

Finally question:  what kind of world has your world created for others?  Ephesians 4: 29 says "let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers."  In other words, don't criticize unless it is constructive, building up and creating something positive in another person.  It is so much easier to destroy than create.  In fact, in many families, 10 negative statements are made for every 1 positive statement made.  Is it any wonder that so many of us are walking around with low or questionable self-esteem? Look at the poisonous fruit we feed one another in family life! Here's another eye opening statistic, it takes 5-7 positive statements to repair the damage done by 1 negative statement.  Why is this?  Well it may be because it takes a person 48% longer to process a negative statement than a positive one.  This is one of the reasons why "I'm sorry," by itself, is not as powerful as "you make me sick." 

The psalmist reminds himself and us in Psalm 19:14 to "let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer."  So what is it that would be acceptable in the Lord's sight?  Perhaps one answer is words and thoughts that do not treat His beloved creation with contempt, animosity, or outright disrespect.  We and our fellow human beings are God's creation, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139: 14).  If you don't believe that, perhaps now is the time to ask what you DO believe?  And to replace that belief system with one that serves more than your cynicism, your fears, and your doubts.

 

Additional Concepts

Emotional triad:  The way to create any emotional state

1.     A pattern of physiology - the way you use your physical body.

2.     A pattern of language - your words and voice quality.

3.     A pattern of belief/focus - what you focus on and what you believe about it.

Belief - a feeling of certainty about what something means.

 

Words of Affirmation

"Nothing has any meaning accept the meaning I give it.  The past does not equal the future-unless you live there."  Anthony Robbins

"If you are going to doubt something, DOUBT YOUR LIMITS" Don Ward

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" Gandhi

 

Mastering Your Communication (i.e. the Power of Presentation)

Words represent 7% of what actually influences human behavior.

Voice qualities (volume, tonality, timbre, tempo) represent 38% of what influences another human being. 

Physiology --- the way you use your physical body --- represents the majority --- 55% of what actually influences people when they communicate.  This includes: facial expression, gestures, muscular tension.

Have you ever had someone say something to you and you say to yourself "it's not going to happen?"   That's because your brain is wired to find

incongruencies.  This is when the voice, the body, and the words don't match.  This is most valuable when you are speaking to yourself. The goal of empowering self-talk is to get you congruent, so that when you are going to do something, all of your shows up, not just the words.

 

Exercise:  Answering the Relevant Question

(adapted from Unleash the Power Within by Anthony Robbins)

How do we improve the quality of our self-talk?  By asking a better quality of question.  You want to stay away from "why" questions, because they tend to be infinity loop questions.  In other words, they will have you going 'round and 'round, but will lead you to no productive end.  What you want to do is use the 4W and 1H to create your relevant questions.

4W:  Who, What, Where, When

1H:  How

For example, "if you ask the question, why am I so fat;" your brain has to come up with an answer so it says because "you're pig".  So then you ask "how can I lose weight?" An answer here is diet, but diet equal pain.  Since human have two basic drives, the need to avoid pain and the need to gain pleasure, you will more than likely avoid because diet equals pain.  So now we try a new question, how can I lose weight and have fun at the same time?  Answers could include things like:  rollerblading with your children, bike riding with a friend, or taking walks with your spouse/significant other. It could also include like reducing the portion size of your favorite foods, but not cutting them totally out of your diet.

And by the way, you can use this process to bring improvement to any area of your life (financial, spiritual, intellectual, personal, etc.) 

This is a way you can generate and answer the questions that are truly relevant to your life.  The relevant questions are the questions that deal with what truly matters in your life and the relevant answers are the ones that creates lasting and effective solutions to the problems in your life.

 Dr. Wayne Evans