Daily Devotional

Watch Those Words

By Tanya S. Martin-James
This week's topic: The Power Of The Tongue

Self defeated. Broken. Disappointed. Hurt. Depressed. Feeling inadequate. When you find yourself experiencing these emotions, you probably are also speaking those emotions. Repeatedly saying things like: “I will never succeed at this.” “I can’t.” “I’m too tired or sad to push through this.” “I always lose and never win.” “Woe is me this, Woe is me that.” “I’m not good enough.”

And as long as you keep speaking those things into the atmosphere, your mind, body and spirit will remain in that state and your every move and response will be rooted in those negative thoughts. Through careless words you have set an atmosphere of failure. Yet you wonder why you are not succeeding.

If you continue to talk yourself out of every opportunity, promise and open door presented to you, then you will continue on a cycle of self destruction. You will always see the negative in every person, and circumstance. Even worse, you will attract others with the same mindset. And by surrounding yourself with people speaking death into their life as well, you will find yourself sinking deeper and deeper into a dark place.

But you have a choice. You can turn it all around simply by taming and re-training your tongue. Make a decision to speak life only and not death. Make a decision to find and accentuate the positive instead of the negative. Find scriptures for whatever your situation is and boldly stand on God’s words by making them part of your daily declarations. Some examples are as follows...

When you find yourself overwhelmed by the task/assignment before you, replace the “I can’t’” with “I can and I will.”

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

When you feel all alone and it seems everyone has turned their back on you and the enemy is attacking:

"For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." Deuteronomy 20:4

When your resources seem to be dried up:

"The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." Psalm 34:10

When you are feeling under qualified:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5

When you are broken and bruised:

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5b

Things may not look good in your life. You may be experiencing what appears to be a major defeat. But don’t let it break your spirit and consume you. Speak life into that situation until you see a change. And make sure your inner circle consists of people that always focus on speaking life.

There is power in EVERY word that leaves your mouth – it’s up to you whether the words you choose will build or destroy.
Choose and speak life!

Scripture Of The Day: "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12:37 (ESV)

Tanya Martin James is the author of From Promiscuity to Proverbs 31: Getting Off the Fence of Sexual Immorality and Coffee Moments: A Work in Progress http://www.armedanddangerous.biz She also blogs at http://www.mycoffeemoments.com

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