LOSING MY MIND - TALKING TO YOURSELF

Recently we’ve been talking about that all too familiar phrase…I must be losing my mind, or I feel like I’m losing my mind.

We also discovered that God wants us to lose our mind, not go crazy, have a breakdown, or anything that drastic, but just get a new mind.

Thats exactly what he tells us in Ephesians 4 “Get a new mind and a new heart. Be a new person. A new person that is made like God.”

It’s often been said that those who lose their mind also tend to talk to themselves.

Guess what? God wants us to talk to ourselves too.

Perhaps some of us already do that. But is a good talk or is it one filled with negativity, doom, and gloom?

If so, stop listening to yourself and that old mind and start talking to yourself from your new mind.

Now before you run off thinking I am talking like those who recommend we have “self-talks” just listen a bit further.

Many who subscribe to us having “self-talks” their source is rooted in self-centeredness and self-fulfillment. That’s not what I’m speaking of here.

Long before that idea ever came to them for self-talks, God had already introduced the concept to his people, those who follow him.

Look at what one psalmist said to himself. “Bless the Lord, My soul”

This psalmist was reminding himself to thank God for what he has done.

The difference between the self-talk promoted by personal help gurus and those in the Bible is the motivation.

Self-talk is designed to get you to believe in yourself. Talking to yourself from your new mind is designed to get you to believe more in the power of God.

Self-talk promotes idolatry, the god of I. Talking to yourself in your new mind promotes the Almighty God and spiritual health to your soul.

This is not a call to speak affirmations to yourself. This is a call to speak God over yourself.

There are countless other Biblical examples of those who talked to themselves.

Listen as David commands his own soul to focus on the Almighty God with every fiber of his being and not on the situation that is before me.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul; and every part of my being, bless Gods holy name. Bless the Lord O my soul, let us not forget all he’s done for us.”

In another place he says, “O magnify the Lord, O my soul”. He’s reminding himself that God is bigger than anything he will ever face. Magnify God, not the potential for a bad outcome.

Esther spoke to herself and said,” I was made for this!” Esther 4

Timothy reminded himself, “God, you gave me a sound mind.” Tim 1

“The Joy of what God has done for me, will be my strength”, is what Nehemiah told himself.

Paul said, “I am chosen and loved dearly by God” Colossians 3

What should we say when thoughts of condemnation come to us?

“Lord thank you for forgiving all my issues, you have healed me, you have redeemed my life, you crown me with your loving kindness and tender mercies. I have been renewed.”  Psalm 103

Not everything we say to ourselves will be upbeat. Sometimes we need to be raw and real with ourselves like Jeremiah the weeping prophet was, “I am pained in my very heart. I cannot hold my peace” Jerm. 4

These types of talks help us sort through our deep and true feelings about a matter. Whether sorrowful or joyful, God wants us to be real.

Sometimes people refer to someone talking to themselves as babble or babbling. They relate it to the Biblical account of the Tower of Babel.

Did you know the Tower of Babel was constructed by a man named Nimrod, who was Noah’s great grandson. Yes, the same Noah who built the ark to save everyone from the great flood.

The word Bable or in Hebrew Babhel means gate of god. Nimrod was just trying to establish a way to talk to God, like his great grandfather Noah did.

We have our own gate to God, through our new mind and talking to ourselves. We can babble to him anywhere or anytime we need to.

Biblical talking to yourself requires honest, godly assessment, rather than subjective self-centered conclusions.

We should be speaking hopeful, heartfelt resolves over our lives, as opposed to death calamity, and destruction.

We can use God as our example. When everything all around him in Genesis was dark, void, and lifeless, he talked to himself about new life and new beginnings, and it sprang forth all around him.

Try talking to yourself from a new mindset this week and watch the difference it will make in your life.

Remember no voice is more influential than your own. Because no one talks to you more than you do.

Speak Light and Life to yourself every new day!

This is a Thompson Truth