David Goggins, a retired Navy Seal, who has completed over 60 ultra-marathon, triathlons, and ultra-triathlons, has become a well-known motivational speaker traveling across the country speaking to students, professional sports teams, and countless staff at Fortune 500 companies. In 2018, Goggins released his book, Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, where Goggins reflects on his life, starting with his difficult childhood and into how he transformed himself into the man that he is today. In his book, Goggins provides a powerful, gut-wrenching visualization about when it is time to meet God. In this story, you live the rest of your life the way you live right now and when you die, you get to have a conversation with God. During this conversation, God hands you a piece of paper with the most amazing accomplishment that you could not even imagine and with a confused look on your face, God tells you:
“This is who you were meant to be and what you were supposed to accomplish.”
God has a plan for everyone; however, to be the person that God intended, speaking life is the very foundation.
2020 was a challenging year full of sorrow, hardship, and pain but that does not mean that 2021 is predestined to be exactly like 2020. It is essential to be aware of what is being spoken over your life as it will significantly affect what happens in your life. Proverbs is one of the most influential and insightful books in the Bible written by Solomon, the son of David and King of Israel. The book divulges boundless amounts of Godly wisdom on a multitude of aspects of everyday life and there are countless times where King Solomon talks about the power of words. Proverbs 12:6 and later in Proverbs 12:18, Solomon communicates the idea that words have either the ability to destroy by being a deadly ambush or to build and grow within one’s life. Further along in Proverbs 18:21, Solomon states that both “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” This is a topic that Roxanne Parks discusses heavily throughout all of her work as well. Parks is well-known within the women’s ministry, having written countless books and devotionals while also speaking at events to help everyday people build a strong relationship with God. In one of her devotionals entitled, Speaking Life, Parks elaborates on her interpretation and perspective of how the power held in the tongue is God’s unique and influential gift to his people, but with great power comes great responsibility. Based on what is spoken over your life can dictate where your life goes and how it changes over time. It is crucial to understand and be mindful of what is being confessed over your life.
January may be drawing to a close, but there is always time to make a change; there is always an opportunity to make a shift in mindset. In the future, consider the impact that words can have and then become more cognizant in speaking life-giving truths and not speaking words that sabotage, dismantle, and eradicate what God says about you. Speak life into the person that God put you on this Earth to become.
