e182 Spiritual Affirmations Change Your Self-Talk (the power of what God has promised us)

Here’s the gist, human. There are countless scenes in the Bible when someone stopped and laid down a personal affirmation of God’s promise, the Messiah’s purpose, an affirmation of God’s nature, his promises. Moses. Joshua. Daniel. Martha. The woman at the well. The people Jesus healed. The apostle Paul. People who had come face to face with the truth. And proclaimed it. Affirmation of what we believe can do all kinds of things: change our direction, our minds, our decisions. In that moment when we find ourselves turning away, or choosing to sit in our own self-pride, our own pride infested self-talk, or perhaps a paralyzing spiritual stupor. As if we couldn’t remember one of God’s promises, as if we couldn’t recall one phrase that Jesus said, or muster even a mental comma to gain spiritual clarity. 

But God knows us. In all of this earthy-ness we live in, he can tame our wild will for his purpose. By leaving our self-talk trail to live within his divine determination to make his home in our mind and heart. 

Join us. E182. Spiritual Affirmations Change Your Self-Talk (the power of what God has promised us)

Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd. 

In Romans 12:2 Paul says, 

2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

That’s a pretty large order, isn’t it? The renewing of the mind. While we know that this is the work of Holy Spirit, that we will be convicted to make sound spiritual decisions, that we will recognize and embrace God’s promises. And that this process will certainly transform us. 

And to consider this: how God made our brains for just this purpose. 

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

I am talking about neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. It allows neurons (nerve cells) to adjust their activities in response to new situations, learning, or injuries. Essentially, the brain is “plastic” or moldable—constantly rewiring itself based on experiences, habits, and environmental input.

Self-Talk or Spiritual Affirmations? Which is Mapping Our Brains?

I thank God for this. Because he knew I would need this type of plasticity to navigate my free will in the context of his divine purpose for my life. 

Jesus addresses this:

Mark 12:30 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

So I think of these neural connections as little free will trails in my brain, paths I walk regularly when I respond to relationships, circumstances, and the often unsolicited off-roading our emotions drive us toward, over the edge of self-control. When control of our free will slips out of our hands into the grip of what we are feeling in any given moment. 

Research has shown that what we repeat we migrate toward. It becomes our mantra for living. Research also shows that what we affirm influences our actions.

And the greater good here, the divine good, is that our spiritual affirmations create what I call “kingdom trails.” These are trails that lead to our full sanctification when we are living with Jesus in the new heaven and new earth. 

Our spiritual affirmations are an invitation. Who are we inviting to what? 

We are inviting Holy Spirit to keep us on that affirmation trail, and destroy the trails that lead to any place that God does not dwell. He cannot, because he is Holy.

When we affirm his promises about who we are, we are creating the trails that lead to his Will for our lives. So this spiritual self-talk is a sure road to, as Paul puts it, testing and approving “what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

And just like a deep prayer life that is contemplative, not complicated, spiritual affirmations immediately put our free will in the center of his Will. This requires a shift from who we think we, who we tell ourselves we are, to who God says we are. 

Affirmations about how God will protect you.

Affirmations about what you believe and will die for. (just like Jesus)

Affirmations of your love for your Creator.

A deeper relationship with Jesus is about a daily life that is immersed in his Spirit. It is not a generic “my life is immersed in his Spirit” – it happens daily, morning to night. 

Three Spiritual Affirmations and My Whys

I want to share three affirmations and my spiritual WHY today. If you search on spiritual affirmations in the Bible you will have plenty of cues for affirmations that speak to your current spiritual growth right now. For remapping your brain toward his glory. To be clear, your affirmations are not a static list, but a process by which we invite Holy Spirit to deepen the trails that lead us toward the kingdom way. Why is this so powerful? Because confusion, indifference, spiritual lethargy are strategies of the enemy. Because even in the darkest of moments, the most frustrating wake-ups on any given day, I promise you that an affirmation you believe through the morning brain fog is not too high on the mental shelf for your reach. 

When you are feeling fantastic but wondering what to do with all your energy, or on the other end of the spectrum, when you are feeling like a spiritual drifter, when you are feeling like you want to go back to sleep, when you are in the middle of your day, and anger or frustration is about to overcome you, what will give you immediate clarity?

This question: What do I believe?

And this question:  What has Jesus promised me? 

And this question:  How do I show my love for Jesus?

So here is my response to these three prompts, say, today.

Affirmation #1 – what do I believe?

Psalm 27:1 

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

Stronghold, the Greek word, ochuroma, has stuck with me ever since I learned the context of this word in one of Paul’s letters: In 2 Corinthians 10:4 he “says, The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 

The context in which he physically lived, the dangerous environment with respect to the earthly terrain – the cliffs, the mountains, was a geographical metaphor that spoke to the spiritual ideology he was battling with his enemies, that their misled faith was a stronghold that needed breaking. That the only stronghold we need is Jesus Christ. And that such an image would resonate with all who lived among him at the time. All I have to do is apply it to the spiritual battles of the enemy in my life. And to know that David had long since called the Lord his stronghold, having shared that same experience of caves and cliffs, the power of the Biblical geographical context. That at any turn of a path, he could face his enemy. 

So I affirm that God will protect me from the enemy, that the enemy cannot make the steep climb into the spiritual fortress he has built for me. I get that, and when I say it, I feel the spirit-rush and my free will folding into his Will.

Affirmation #2 – What has Jesus promised me?

John 14:2-3

“My Father’s house has many rooms… I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.” 

I can’t even track how often I tell myself,  “in my Father’s house are many rooms,” that what I am living toward is living with Jesus in his home. This jumpstarts my spirit. Think about what you learn about a person when they invite you into their home. This is when you get a real sense of their daily life, and where that person is most comfortable. I fall toward this affirmation for many reasons:  when I am feeling victorious, that I have moved forward spiritually in preparing for my eternal home, my eternal sleepover; when I am disappointed, that I have invested in something that only has earthly gain, that I can’t take with me to my new home with Jesus. And when I am needing reassurance in the power of a promise made by the Son of God. He keeps his promises. Don’t I know it, and don’t I need to help others know it? He is preparing for us and this assurance from our strong, divinely determined Savior is backed up by his reign as Lord, at the right hand of the Father. 

I am willing to die for this promise Jesus has made to me. I believe he is coming for me.

Affirmation #3 – How do I show how much I love you, Jesus?

John 14:23

“Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

This is a hard question to ask myself. Because I know the answer. It’s a hard stop on obedience. The result is that the Father and His Son will love us so much that they will make their home with me, with you, with anyone who professes with their mouth and believes with their heart that Jesus is the Son of God and died for their sins. 

But the gift that comes with asking ourselves this is that we are opening our heart to how Jesus, how Holy Spirit will cue us to that obedience. It brings clarity to our steps. When I affirm my belief in the words of Jesus here, I am inviting Holy Spirit to prompt, to make abundantly clear what my obedience looks like in that moment, on that day. 

Immerse Your Free Will in Spiritual Affirmations About God’s Nature

There are hundreds of scripture prompts, affirmations in God’s Word to inspire you. It is a beautiful way to gain clarity in any circumstance, or to start or end your day.

Tell God what you believe about his Promises. Submerge your free will in affirmations about his nature. 

Show someone how you live in the power of his promises through your affirmations. What it looks like in a given moment. This is a solid example of how to share the presence of Jesus in your life. Share a little of your life with Jesus with someone who is living in a not-God world. 

Show someone how his Promise turned you toward his purpose for you. In that moment.