Affirming Message: I Have the Power to Speak Life over Myself.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit—Proverbs 18:21

We know other people can wound us to the point that small pieces of life, joy, hope, and courage ebb away; until something inside us seems to vanish, disappear or die. Over the course of our lifetime, we can be hurt by the things people do, the words they say (or do not say) and their attitude toward us. That old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm/hurt me” is just not true. What may surprise us are the wounds we inflict upon ourselves. Those that begin with our own thoughts towards ourselves. Our thoughts plant a seed and then move to the things we say over and about ourselves. Eventually have influence over our actions and behaviors toward ourselves; impact whether we value ourselves as living beings.

If we don’t think highly enough of ourselves based upon our heavenly Father’s thoughts, that he purposely created and loved us, first, believing we are truly wondrously and fearfully made as God has said (Psalm 139:13-14) then we do not see the truth about ourselves as God sees us: that we are precious, valuable, worthy, and an important being and part of God’s plan of creation.

Strong, consistently demeaning, hurtful messages to ourselves erode our internal, mental, emotional, and even spiritual wellbeing and go against what God wants for us.

Solomon wrote, “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Loving ourselves as God loves us, speaking life over ourselves, which are the life-affirming messages God speaks to us throughout his word, will produce beautiful fruit in our being and in our life. We will become more confident, assured, stronger and less inclined to listen to the negative messages and untruths the devil loves to whisper to us. When we fill up on and feed ourselves the good things (truths from God’s Word) then we are less inclined to crave junk and lies, less inclined to entertain anything that is not true. It will go in one ear and out the other as quickly as it has been spoken.

When God, our creator speaks to or over us he does not speak death, he does not degrade us or put us down. He is always careful to be kind to us, knowing how fragile we are. He does not look at us and say to himself how much he hates us, hates how we look, dislikes the way we do this or that, is dissatisfied with us, doesn’t like how we talk, walk, communicate, etc. But he speaks loving, affirming messages; “you are mine, “you are the apple of my eye, You are strong, you are brave and courageous, you are smart because you have the mind of my Son, Jesus “Yes, you are a work in progress but I will bring you to completion” “I have loved you with an everlasting love, I gave Cush and Seba as a ransom for your soul” “You are precious to me, “I made you in my image.” God did not send his own Son Jesus to die for junk, no-count people, but he sacrificed his own Son to die for his beloved creation so we could continue to belong to him and eventually come home to live with him for all eternity. He wants this even more than we do.

When we learn to match God’s voice, speak his love language, and affirm his messages over us we join in his power to recreate life and good over ourselves. We open ourselves up to experiencing his purposes for us come to fruition.

Genesis says that everything God made he loved and said “It is good (Gen 1).” He did not create anything and demean it or call it bad, ugly, unsuitable, mediocre, or not good. God was so (and continues to be) invested in his creation that, even when we sinned against him he went through the pangs to redeem us for himself so we would regain his image. We lost perfection, this is true, but we have not lost our Creator’s love for us. He still smiles when he sees us; he still longs for us and desires intimate relationship with us.

The word of God extols us to learn to speak the truth in love. Speaking that truth in loves does not only apply with what we speak to others, but to ourselves. It pleases God when we learn to see ourselves as his special creation, dearly loved, his beloved sheep, his son or daughter; we are God’s family. When we can look in the mirror and recognize who we are and acknowledge/own /claim the truths about us from God’s word we take power away from the enemy to destroy us or keep us apart from God’s plan, purposes, and power. Let’s Pray,

God, I release any habit of speaking negatively about myself, putting myself down, or accusing myself and give myself permission to speak life to myself and bear fruit that comes from what I say to and believe about myself, in this way and through these activities I participate in and affirm your truth about me which confirms life in me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

Affirm God’s message in your being by speaking and living it: “I Have the Power to Speak Life over myself then put what I know in action.”