Whether you are young or old, male or female, or introverted or extroverted, you have more conversations with yourself than you have with anyone one else in the world. There was a study completed by a large university that found that the average person hears twelve hundred words a minute of self-talk. The study found that eleven hundred of these words are negative in most people! If you add to that fact that we tend to trust ourselves more than anyone else, what do you think happens when we talk down, punish or talk negatively to our self? I’ll tell you what happens; it destroys our confidence, kills are self-esteem and yields the fruit of depression, hopeless and fear.
Christians should be the happiest people on the planet! Think about it, Jesus prayed, “But now I come to You (Father); and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves” (John 17:13). Jesus wants us to be full of His joy! The book of Hebrews says the Jesus was anointed with joy beyond His companions (Hebrews 1:9). This means He was happier than the people He hung-out with. Now that’s a lot of JOY! To make us even happier, God sent His Holy Spirit into our lives to comfort us. Isn’t it amazing that He wants us to be comfortable? But wait, it gets even better. The Bible says that the fruit or evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in us is,” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). There’s that joy word again. We have the joy of Jesus and we have the joy of the Holy Spirit. Did you get that? We have a double anointing for joy.
The Apostle Paul put it this way, …no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church. (Ephesians 5:29).”
The Greek word “thalpo” is translated “cherishes” in this passage. Paul’s uses the same Greek word again in 1Thessalonians 2:7. He wrote, “…we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.” The word,”tenderly cares” is the word “thalpo”! Is that amazing! We have been commanded to take care of our flesh the way a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.
It is about time we start speaking kindly to ourselves and experience the joy of our Master! Just try it sometime. Take yourself aside and talk to yourself the way the Jesus does. It will change you forever.
Kris Vallotton
