Our most important conversations take place when nobody else is in the room with us. At least not physically.
Prayer takes the top spot. But right behind it are the conversations we have with ourselves.
Self-talk has a tremendous impact on our attitude and our behavior. Negative self-talk produces bad attitudes, poor efforts, giving up. Good self-talk leads to good attitudes, motivation, and perseverance.
But, positive self-talk has one glaring short-coming: it’s usually self-centered. It’s telling ourselves things like “You can do it!” or to quote Al Franken’s SNL character Stuart Smalley, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me.”
Positive self-talk is way better than negative self-talk, but the truth is sometimes we’re not good enough, sometimes we’re not smart enough, and sometimes people don’t like us.
In his book Sun Stand Still, Steven Furtick, offers an alternative idea…
Preach to yourself
When we face obstacles, when things get tough, or when negative self-talk creeps into our heads, instead of giving ourselves a pep-talk to build our confidence in our own abilities, Steven Furtick suggests reminding ourselves of who God is and what he has promised us.
Here are 3 examples:
- I am fully forgiven and free from all shame and condemnation. (Romans 8:1-2; Ephesians 1:7-89; 1 John 1:9)
- I am fully resourced to do everything God has called me to do (Deuteronomy 8:18; Luke 6:38; Philippians 4:13)
- I have the wisdom of the Lord concerning every decision I make (2 Chronicles 1:7-12; Proverbs 2:6; Ecclesiastes 2:26; James 1:5)
The book includes 9 others. To give myself a constant reminder, I’ve printed all 12 of them out and taped them to my bathroom mirror at home and near the desk in my office.
What are your thoughts on preaching to yourself and positive self-talk?
Do you ever preach to yourself? If you do, what are the most common things you say to yourself?
If you missed it yesterday, you can read my review of Sun Stand Still and win a copy: Get a Free Copy of Sun Stand Still by @StevenFurtick
Paul, I think you are absolutley right about self talk being focused on our abilities instead of who God is and what He has done in us! Most of my self talk in the past has been the selfish kind. I am going to have to change it to focus on Christ and not me! Thanks for the post!
Twitter – @jacobricker
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. People starve spiritually when they rely on someone else to preach to them once a week. We need constant preaching to ourselves, pastors included.
Thanks Matt! BTW, I look forward to seeing you again at the Catalyst bloggers meet-up.