Tackling Negative Self-Talk


Outline:

  • Self-Talk
  • Origins of Our Self-Talk
  • Connection to Our Core Beliefs
  • Acknowledge it
  • Combat it
  • Soul Ties
  • Cut Off Ungodly Soul Ties
  • Replace it


Self-Talk

  • We hear a “script” running in our head, sometimes narrating what’s going on, sometimes accusing/condemning us and other times comforting us.
  • It represents our view toward life/world view/expectations toward life.


Origins of Our Self-Talk

  • Our expectations toward life are informed by our observations and experiences.
  • We could have heard someone saying certain things about us; about them; about life in general – and if we’ve heard it from our family of origin (especially from our parents), we tend to embrace them without much conscious awareness or questioning.
  • A lot of our self-talk came from our Core Beliefs.


Connection to Our Core Beliefs

  • Our Core Beliefs came from our earliest experiences as infants – before we had words.
  • We unconsciously “reason” our experiences to “make sense” of them – even though we did not possess the ability to reason nor to make sense as infants.
  • Our Self-Talk were formed back then - without the ability to make sense of/use logic/analyze what we have experienced.
  • Our Self-Talk can be expressions of our Core Beliefs


Acknowledge It

  • It’d be helpful for us to become aware of our Self-Talk.
  • Acknowledge its existence.
  • Do not pass judgment on its existence.
  • Do not deny its existence.

Combat it

Ephesians 6:10, 16-17 ~ “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

  • When we put on the full armor of God each day, we would be able to battle our negative self-talk, knowing that there could be a spiritual component to it ~ Revelation 12:10b - “…the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night…” 
  • Using the Shield of Faith: Imagine a Roman soldier fully clad in a battle armor. This shield has fire-retardant properties, so when a fiery dart comes at him, he raises his fire-retardant shield to block the dart, and the shield extinguishes the fiery dart. Our shield is equipped by our faith. We use our faith in God’s sovereignty, unconditional love, and omnipotence to protect ourselves from the lies from the enemy, and the negative self-talk.
  • The Helmet of Salvation covers our head – our thoughts. Each time a negative/accusatory thought forms in our head, we remind ourselves that we are saved through Jesus’ blood – we are now righteous, holy, and cleansed. God sees us as sinless and perfect because Jesus paid for all our sins on the cross. 
  • The Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God - is an offensive weapon. We actively use the Scriptures to battle the lies and accusations from our negative self-talks. When Jesus was tempted by Satan, He always responded by quoting to Scriptures. So, read, digest, and memorize God’s words so we can do battle daily, in and with our minds/thoughts/negative self-talk!
  • Embrace God’s Word as our final authority about everything, including our view toward ourselves.
  • Revelation 12:10c, 11a ~ “[Satan] has been hurled down…They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”
  • Know that Jesus’ resurrection triumphed over Satan and all his works - and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire on Judgment Day. 
  • The way we win this battle of our mind is by claiming Christ’s blood and reminding ourselves how God has helped us in the past. He will do it again, now!
  • As soon as words of a thought begin to form in our heads, we take captive of the thought and STOP it from completing the sentence ~ “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
  • Choose to forgive the origin of this negative self-talk: Our parents, our self, teachers, peers, social media, culture, bullies, etc…
  • Confess as sin our giving into our negative self-talk (and the values, motivations, and the world or life views they came from).
  • Repent from it.
  • Renounce and Reject it.


Soul Ties

  • Soul Ties are formed between two people who open their hearts with one another and is connected to each other emotionally.
  • The concept of Soul Ties came from 1 Samuel 18:1, 3-4 ~ “As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul…3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.” Jonathan was the rightful heir to Saul’s throne, but because he loved David as his own soul, he offered the throne to David. 
  • Godly Soul Ties help us grow closer to God.
  • Ungodly Soul Ties causes us to stray/pull away from God.
  • We form Soul Ties with family members, friends, and people who open up to us and we open up to them.
  • We can have both Godly and Ungodly Soul Ties with the same person: Parts of our relationship with the person help us to draw closer to God, while other aspects can cause us to doubt God or pull us away from an intimate relationship with God.


Cut Off Ungodly Soul Ties

  • When disciplining our minds to stop giving into our negative self-talk do not work, it’d be wise to consider the part an Ungodly Soul Tie might be involved.
  • Ungodly Soul Tie is a spiritual stronghold. Thus, we need to battle it spiritually.
  • Consider from whom we received our negative self-talk.
  • We pray to cut off ungodly soul tie between us and the origin of the negative self-talk with this prayer: Cutting off Ungodly Soul Ties


Replace it

  • Replace the negative self-talk with faith and trust in God. God loves us and has His best plans for us. Our loving God has taken care of our damnation, hopelessness, powerlessness through what Christ has done for us on the cross, as evidenced by the empty tomb.
  • Romans 8:1 ~ “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 
  • Replace the lies with God’s truths.
  • Analyze what our usual negative self-talk’s themes are and replace them with the OPPOSITE truths from God’s Words.

A few of Bible passages that we would do well to meditate, chew on and to memorize, so we can replace the negative self-talk with God’s truths:

• Romans 8: 1-39

• Colossians 3:1-17

• Ephesians 4:8



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