From His Heart Daily Devotional 17 February 2022
SELF-TALK
“LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” Psalm 15:1-2
What thoughts play in your mind as you go through your day? Are they thoughts that build you up in the Lord? Are they thoughts that encourage your faith and keep you going, growing, and rejoicing in Jesus?
The answer for many of us is a resounding NO! We don’t build ourselves up; we tear ourselves down. We often speak words to ourselves that illicit fear, doubt, failure, condemnation, and doom. We often speak words that align with the devil and not with God.
FOLLOW DAVID’S EXAMPLE
David was the author of Psalm 15. He was a man who experienced lots of trouble in his life. Although anointed the future king of Israel while just a youth, he was forced to live for years on the run from psycho King Saul and his army. Potential death seemed to dog David’s every step. It would have been easy for him to succumb to the fear and the lies of the devil, but he refused to do so. Instead, He walked in God’s ways and spoke God’s truth in his heart, over and over again.
Listen, it is critical to know the truth and speak the truth in your heart, moment by moment. The destructive lies of the devil are constantly coming at us … and they are typically cloaked in our own voice. Not surprisingly, the lies sound much more believable than the truth because they coincide with our feelings. The lies say, “God doesn’t love you. God has left you. You can’t be forgiven. You will surely fail.” Our feelings quickly join in to concur with the lies, saying, “Yep. Makes sense to me.” And we wonder why we struggle to walk in victory.
The way to defeat the lies is with God’s truth. To be sure, God does love you. He has not forsaken you. He forgives the worst of sins and will provide for you as you trust Him.
Think about David going up against the giant, Goliath. How was he able to courageously stand before that massive mountain of a man with just a sling and a stick? He was speaking the truth in his heart, and he voiced it aloud to Goliath:
“You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)
Today would be a great day to change your self-talk from the lies to the truth. Speak the Word of God and the wonderful promises of God over your own life. Don’t give the devil’s lies time or space in your mind and heart. Feast on the truth, and you will see the truth set you free!
Pastor Jeff Schreve,
From His Heart Ministries
