Thursday, October 31, 2013

Are You Using Positive Words As Your Success Strategy? Test Yourself

By Zeynel Bakema


When I asked myself if I consider the world a friendly or hostile place I quickly and smugly responded 'friendly'--then I was shocked to discover myself currently responding as if 'they're out to get me'. This morning I woke up thinking about a health assessment I agreed to participate in to lower my health insurance costs. What surprised me was HOW I was thinking about it--'as if they were out to get me and knowing they planned to use my personal health information against me'.

Every word that we say has an effect. All spiritual disciplines warn us to be very careful of the words that we speak. Negative words can remain with a child all his life as can positive words. A moment of irritation can cause a parent to say "You never do things right." Many a child has heard a parent or relative say, "You will never make anything of yourself." How damaging that can be, when as an adult he is applying for a job.

When you choose to see the world as a friendly place you set a positive expectation that where ever you go, loving, caring people are ready to help you succeed. You step out into the world knowing even if there are scam artists and evil doers; there are good people out there ready to guide you to positive outcomes. You are the one who makes decisions for your life and the faceless 'they' can only influence your decisions if you let them. You are the driver of how you deal with the world. You decide to deal with the world as if it is hostile or as if it is friendly.

God created us to be like Him. He made us to be speaking creatures with the ability to cause change through the power of our words. Everyone lives under the power and influence of words. Words really control everything in this realm and in the Eternal Realm.The manner of life that you are living, positive or negative, has been brought about by words spoken to you and over you, or that you spoke over yourself, words that were thought upon and accepted. These words formed an inner image on the inside of you. By inner image, I mean the way that you view yourself and life in general on the inside, in your heart and mind.Please understand, you speak and live out what is in you in abundance.The condition of your heart and mind determines what you think, how you speak and how you live and treat yourself and other people.Proverbs 4:23 (King James Version of the Bible),"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."The word, keep, means to guard. And the word issues, means, out-flowing. So this verse of Scripture is telling us, to guard what we allow to get into our hearts, for we will live it out. Why is this so? Because words paint pictures. They paint pictures inside of us, in the subconscious area of our souls. And from these inner pictures, we live our lives.

If negative, abusive and destructive words have been spoken to us and we have allowed these words to take form and develop in us and believed them, we are living under their control.However, if we choose to cast down those words and throw away those paintings, and choose to let God's Word paint new pictures of love and wholeness, purity, prosperity and ability in us, we will find a new way of living. Here is an example of the power of negative words: Some time ago, I sang in church pretty often. I loved to sing, and still do. And people enjoyed when I sang. But one day, someone that I respected told me that I could not sing. This produced in me an inner image of failure in the area of singing. I stopped singing. And when I was asked to sing, I would make excuses so that I didn't have to sing.

All I could seem to see was what that person told me. One of my pastors saw me backing off. She attempted to pull me back into singing. Also, other people who had a musical background and had heard me sing before begin to paint another image inside of me, with positive inspiring, motivating words. They encouraged me by telling me I could sing. So I began singing again, reluctantly I might add.It took a long time, years in fact to get pass that negative and destructive thought that had been planted as a seed and produced a picture of inability, fear and unproductiveness.On the other hand, her is an example of how good, wholesome and positive words produced after their kind: I continually speak good and positive words to and over my children. Through the application of these kinds of words my son, Sheldon Jr. achieved a four-point grade average.At this writing he is eight years old.I remember one time when he came to me and ask me if he was stupid. I told him that he was not stupid. I told him not to let anyone tell him that. And I told him that he was a smart boy.I feed his mind with the words, "You can do all things through Christ which strengthens you"He believed those words.And through the avenues of positive thinking, based upon God's Word, and help from his mother in his studies, he achieved excellence. And he will get better.

The Book of Proverbs says it like this, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (Proverbs 18:21, The Holy Bible) To doubt the power of our words on our lives as well as the lives of others who believe in what we say, will work against us, if we do not pay heed to ensuring that what comes out of our mouths is positive, good and right.

Let us look at a few examples. If you are in dentist's waiting room and the nurse comes in and says, "I do apologize for the delay, but the dentist has had to do an emergency treatment. I would be more than happy to help you if it more convenient for you to make another appointment.". Or if you have to walk into a supermarket and the manager explains "We are so sorry for the inconvenience, but we are changing the display to make it easier or our customers" If you are anxious about a situation and a friend tells you "Don't worry, everything will turn out alright." What a healing, calming effect those positive words have.

Words are containers. They contain positive things, or they contain negative things. They contain faith or they contain fear. They contain joy and peace or they contain worry and misery. And if those words ore wrapped in belief, then we will find ourselves having the same things that we say.If you and I desire to be truly successful in life, we must ensure that our words are positive and filled with faith. We must continually say that we are able to do what is in our hearts to do, and that we can accomplish great things because we have a great God.

God's Word is alive.God's Word has transforming power.The word, transform means: to change from one form to another. (And in the context of this book, we are indicating that change to be for the better).So God's Word is able to give you such a new and glorious and powerful inner image that you will literally change in your manner of life.Words form and create the inner image and produce a lifestyle after their kind.That is why it is so important to be careful what you hear and what you speak.Words are seeds. And your heart is the ground in which the seeds are planted.If the wrong seeds of despair and inability were planted they will produce after their kind.However, God's Word is powerful seeds of truth that can up-root the bad seeds and produce wonderful fruits in our lives.Through the affirmations of God's Word, we see ourselves and our conditions from His perspective and we are enabled to change things as His Word changes us on the inside.At one point in my life, I felt like I was a failure. It just seemed like I had not accomplished anything noteworthy with my life.And I was constantly plagued with the thought that I was a nobody.It was depressing.But thank God for His Word.Through affirming His Word over my life concerning the reality that I am a child of God, I rose above the depression that tried to hold me down.You see, God is my Father. And because I belong to Deity, the one thing I am not is worthless.I am His Child filled with His power, His Spirit and His Ability.I am created for good works in Jesus Christ.That means I am created to do some good things.And so are you.Ephesians 2:10 (King James Version of the Bible) "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them."You are created to do good things. You are created to accomplish awesome things.Affirm this Word from Your Father, Jehovah God, over and over until it forms an inner image of success and victory on the inside of you.Let it wash away those destructive thoughts of worthlessness.God's Word in your heart, changing and shaping your mind in the light of His Truth, will change you.Change your mind through the power of meditation, and change your life.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More