I’m a verbal processor. I can talk… a lot.
I’ve been considering my words recently. There’s a lot of power behind the things you choose to say. We’re made in the image of God, and God created with speech. What he said came to be.
I don’t think very many people realize the power of our own speech as a reflection of God.
Because like his, our words create.
And they mostly create our perspective. It’s easy to speak negatively, out of doubt or discontent or a thousand other things. But how I speak about my life not only changes how other people see me – it changes how I see myself. Speaking negatively only hones my ability to see the negative.
It’s like working a muscle. When you work it repeatedly, it grows.
When you repeat a word, it grows into a belief.
You can’t speak without it affecting your soul.
So here’s the question I’ve been considering:
God spoke life, and it was.
What do I speak?
When I walk into a room, a situation, or a conversation – does what I say and do agree with what God says about me and about those around me? Or am I agreeing with the enemy, the liar who wants to steal my worth and blind the vision God has for me?
I’m determined to speak life.
Over the last several months, I’ve been trying to figure out what that looks like.
And God’s been dropping hints, because everywhere I turn, I keep reading or hearing things about praise – about being in worship, about speaking back to God how wonderful he is, and how good he is toward us.
Praise is a simple concept, but one that’s hard to put into action sometimes.
I’ve come to think of praise as the outward action of a heart that knows the goodness of God.
But I used to think that praise was the overflow of what I was feeling toward God.
It was just the default definition I had in my head – though I had never really considered it, it showed in my actions. I thought you praised God when something made you happy. When you got the job you wanted, the friend you needed, or the surgery outcome you had prayed for.
I used to think it started in the heart and became praise.
Now I think praise changes my heart.
The action of praise works and changes my heart, like lifting weights changes a muscle. It’s hard, especially at first. It takes time and effort. But what I’m finding is the act of praise makes me look for God’s goodness, for something to praise – and when I seek, I find. It’s everywhere – even where I don’t expect it. By looking to praise him, I opened myself to find the goodness of God.
When I choose to go through each day agreeing with God, no matter what the circumstance looks like at the beginning – I change my circumstances. My life hasn’t really changed, but I’ve changed the way I see it. I’ve finally chosen to agree with him – agree that I can expect his goodness towards me, because that’s who he is. He’s our good Father.
And when I speak of God’s goodness with my mouth, my heart believes it.
Maybe it sounds backwards. It’s definitely hard. But try it.
You have the power to speak life.
