SPEAK IT!

"See What You Say"

In Proverbs 18:21, King Solomon; the wisest man to ever live, writes "...death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." And, lately I have been meditating and thinking on how powerful are words actually are, and how wasteful we are with our own words.  We seem to give more credence and attention to the negative circumstances and situations in our life by the volume of words that we attribute to them. The time we spend speaking negatively over our own lives far outweighs those moments of optimism and positivity we use to sporadically offset the overwhelming negativity. But, this is a reality for most of us, especially those of us who are walking with God and know that He is guiding and directing our lives.  It would seem a bit oxymoronic for us as Christians to allow our natural propensity for pessimism and negativity to overshadow our faith in God. And, yet this is what typically happens to each and every one us who are striving to "walk by faith and not by sight." But, it is definitely a challenge. We are constantly being challenged by what we see, problems, troubles, tragedy, etc and what we see causes us to loose faith in the God that we don't see. And, sometimes the problems are so debilitating and severe that we find ourselves degenerating into a bout of negativity that causes you to forget who you are. You start thinking negative, and then you start speaking negative and then you begin operating in an atmosphere of negativity that your words have created. The irony behind this is that we have misappropriated the power given to us through our words and instead  of speaking positivity in our lives we have littered our own lives with negativity. This is the equivalent of verbal suicide.

Why is this the case? Why does it seem much easier to speak negatively than it is to speak positively? I believe it all goes back to sin. It is in our nature. And, whatever is in us will eventually come out of us. We; as Christians, even still struggle with our flesh. Paul speaks very candidly about his own flesh and says that there is a war in my members. "The good that I would do, evil is always present." It so much easier; so much more convenient to speak negatively than to speak positively. It seems so much easier to join with the chorus of pessimists and say, "Nobody knows the trouble I see!" The fact of the matter is that we always want to over exaggerate the negatives in our lives, as a way of distinguishing our trouble from everyone else. So, it is not enough that we are experiencing problems in our life, but we must distinguish our trouble from everyone else so that we can garner greater sympathy for what we're going through than everyone else. But, look at the effects of what we are doing; look at the damage that is being done to our mentality as well as our spirituality. And, can you imagine if you took a minute to reverse that campaign for pessimism into a movement for optimism, what kind of effect that would have on your mentality and spirituality.

If we just understood that the power of that scripture resides within us, we would be more victorious in life's trials and tribulations that we usually are. If we actually redirected our negatives energies towards positive pursuits, we would be far more productive and successful than we actually dreamed we could be. The irony behind this scripture is that the power works both ways, and what we typically use this power for is to tear ourselves and others down, and we can see the disastrous effects of this practice. And, seeing this power demonstrated only causes us to use more it, which continues this destructive course.  But, using this same power to speak positivity, and optimism over our lives and others is a far more beneficial and productive way to conduct ourselves. The question becomes, why does it seem so much easier to speak negative than it is to speak positive? The answer is actually quite simple, it is easier to be negative than to be positive, because there is no reward that comes with it.  Negativity is synonymous with emptiness, and emptiness is equivalent to nothing-ness. And, nothing from nothing leaves nothing. But, the reward is much greater when you choose to speak positive instead of spewing negativity. The reward is greater, because success, prosperity, and optimism, are just a few of the residual effects that come with living a life filled with positive vibes.

Kenneth Brown, Life Coach

Kenneth Brown; motivational speaker, life coach and founder of Ken Brown International coined a phrase that I absolutely love "L.I.F.E," "Living In Freedom Everyday." This is a very simple but very powerful affirmation that we should apply to our lives. And, the first way to do it is to begin speaking positive thoughts and words into our spirits. We cannot afford another negative thought. The cost of negativity is to high, because it now becomes an "opportunity cost" which means the cost of doing what you're doing compared to what you could be doing. And, if the reward of being positive is much greater than being negative, the path of negativity then becomes the price you pay for choosing to do the wrong thing.

So, let's start speaking life today. Speak life into the most important person in your life; You!  Speak life into your careers, your hopes and your dreams. Make the investment today to speak life into yourself, believe me it''ll be worth every penny.


Be Blessed!

Pastor Nimmons
www.michaelnimmons.com

Deep Faith

Alg Mario Sepulveda celebrates after being rescued from the mine

 I was thinking today about what our next blog post was going to be about and I got to thinking about the amazing miner story and how they were rescued after 69 days of being trapped in a hole. 33 Miners were miraculously rescued one by one over a two day period. According to reports the last man rescued was supposedly the one that kept the entire group of miners together and focused on being rescued.  He said, " "We have done what the entire world was waiting for...We had strength, we had spirit, we wanted to fight, we wanted to fight for our families, and that was the greatest thing." What tremendous spirit they exemplified in the midst of probably the greatest challenge they've ever faced.

So many stories have come out of this one story about the rescue, everything from a miner inviting both his wife and his mistress to the rescue site, all the way to which miner wanted to be the last one rescued. But, to me the most profound story of all of those that have come out was one miner who says that both God and the devil were in the hole with them.

According to CNN.com,  "Sepulveda, the second miner extracted from the mine, has advice for those who take undue risks in their lives."I think I have learned a lot of wonderful lessons about taking the good path in life," he said. "For those of you able to call your wives or your husbands, do so. During the time he was trapped inside the mine, Sepulveda said, he saw both good and evil. I was with God, and I was with the devil. They fought, and God won," he said. Sepulveda said he grabbed God's hand and never doubted that he would be rescued."  

The reason that this story resonated more with me than the others was because this miner's statement gives a better picture of the mental battle that each of the 33 miners encountered while trapped in that hole in Chile. It was more than just a physical battle that they were experiencing, it was more than a battle against their will, but this was a spiritual battle that this one miner was able to see in the midst of all else that was going on. I can imagine the devil telling him along with the other miners that you will not be rescued, this mine is going to become your ultimate grave, no one will ever be able to find you. But, in the midst of the negative venom the devil was spewing, God was speaking to that miner and telling him to hold on and hang in there help is on the way. This miner, according to his earlier statement, decided to listen to the voice of God and he decided to grab a hold of God's hand and never doubted that he would be rescued. And, God proved true to his word and brought he and the other miners out just like he said he would.

This story kind of reminds me of the Three Hebrew Boys; who were thrown into the burning fiery furnance by King Nebudchadnezzar for refusing to bow before his graven image. Their courage, determination and loyalty to God was demonstrated when they boldly declared to the King, "We are not careful to answer thee in this manner, for the God that we serve is able to deliver us out of the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hand O'King. But, if not, let be known unto thee O'King that we will not serve your idols nor worship your golden image you have setup."  The King was infuriated with their defiance and threw them into a furnace that was heated 7 times hotter than it normally was. Not much is said regarding the conversations or the mentality of the young men after they were thrown into the fiery furnace. But, as the story goes on the king went to check on them and he saw four men in the furnace and one of them appeared to be the Son of God. So, yes it was abundantly clear that God was with them in that fiery furnace, but it was their faith in God before they went in that allowed them to see that God would be with them. However, the devil wanted them to believe that they would be devoured; that they would be consumed by the fire, but they kept their faith and believed that God would deliver them in spite of what the situation might have looked like.

In life; as children of God, we are going to have two voices speaking to us. One voice, which is the devil; the accuser, who will tell you that you are not going to make it, and you are not going to win. He wants to convince you that there is nothing to look forward to in life, an that your situation has ultimately determined your outcome. And, if we listen to that voice long enough, he will convince you that what he is saying is true. He will convince you that giving up is the easiest thing to do, and if you listen he will convince you that there is absolutely no hope. But, there is another voice that the rescued miner in Chile decided to listen to, and that was the voice of God. And, God is there to encourage you and to lift you and to let you know that if you hold on and hang in there everything is going to be alright. God's voice is speaking to you in the midst of your current crisis, even when the situation looks like it hasn't changed or has even gotten worse, God is still speaking to us and telling us not to quit and not to give up. And, even as the situation keeps getting worse, God keeps saying to us hold on, don't give up. It is up to you to determine who's voice are you ultimately going to listen to. Because the devil never stops talking and as the situation continues to get worse the "righter" the devil seems and the louder his voice begins to resonate. But, your faith kicks in when you allow God's voice to become the prevailing voice you hear even as the situations continues to worsen. And, eventually as the bible rightfully declares, "He that shall come, will come and He will not tarry." It is then you find out there you were listening to the right voice all along.

My question to you today is who's voice are you going to listen to? The miners exemplied what I believe to be "Deep Faith" because they took their faith deep into the recesses of the earth and held on to it even as the days and nights got longer and their rescue looked even more bleak. Can you hold on in the midst of what you going through? Do you have the faith to believe in God despite what the prognosticators are saying. I would love to hear from you. I would love to hear your stories of truimph over tragedy and how you held on to your faith in the midst of a difficult situation. You never know who you are able to encourage with your testimony!  Share those stories and let see how God moves in the life of someone else.

The people of Chile celebrating the 33 miners rescue

Until next time, be blessed!


Pastor Nimmons
www.michaelnimmons.com

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