Proverbs 18:21 gives us a sharp reminder that, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” In context this passage of text is referring to gossiping, but it also implicates the negative thoughts and words we choose to tell ourselves. Yehuda Berg once said, “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.”

It’s acutely obvious that when communicating with others we should choose to speak with mindfulness, in a way to solidify peace and compassion in our characters. However, that’s not the main point of my encouragement today.

Oftentimes, it’s not so much the words we convey about or to other people, rather it’s the words we speak to ourselves-over our own lives. For example, “I am not good enough”, I am not worth it”, “‘I can’t do it”, It’s too late for me”, I am too old”, “My life sucks”, and so on…

No cap, the struggle against negative thinking is real. However, the apostle Paul encourages believers what to think about: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). Outside of defining what thoughts should fill our minds, this text implicitly teaches that we can control what we think about. When a negative thought comes, the thinker who has the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) has the ability to push it out of the mind and replace it with godly thoughts, but developing this mindset takes practice and persistence.

The reality for most of us is that as long as we live in a fearful, wicked and stressful world negative thoughts will come, but we mustn’t forget that we posses the power to use self-reflective words to speak life, vitality, and inspiration over every negative and self-condemning thought.

In the spirit of transparency and honesty, I was formerly my own worst critic. In comparing my life to other people’s lives, I use to speak those same words I mentioned above into my very own life. God taught me that comparison always leads to a false sense of reality. Author and Speaker Joyce Meyers said, “God will help you be all you can be, but He will never help you be someone else.”

My brothers and sisters, self-value is a far more useful construction than self-esteem. Therefore, don’t undervalue the value God has placed on you and don’t compare your value with someone else’s value. We each have value and abilities far beyond what we’ll ever credit ourselves with. Never believe the lie that you have nothing to offer. Your worth is invaluable and your potential is limitless because our God is limitless, and we are created in His image. Embrace who God made you to be and use the special blend of gifts and talents that He has entrusted to you.

If you only knew how powerful your words are, you would most likely never speak a negative word to yourself more less to someone else!

After you take a good look at the enclosed picture, I challenge you to add a positive word in the jar or comment section that starts with the first letter of your first name!