The Power of God’s Voice

By David VanEpps

If you want to live a joyful, purposeful, successful life, you need to learn how to manage your subconscious mind. Neuroscientists have done numerous studies that have concluded that 95% of our thinking is done by our subconscious mind.  Our subconscious mind is also about a million times more powerful than our conscious mind.  So not only is our subconscious working more, but it’s working faster, which means that our subconscious mind controls our life.  Our emotions, thoughts, actions, and decisions are all primarily subconscious responses.

Programming Your Subconscious Mind

From the time we’re born, our brain is constantly being programmed and re-programmed.  In fact, by the time we’re 6-7 years old, our cumulative life experiences have already programmed our brains in ways that will manifest throughout our entire lives. Things we see, things we hear, and things we experience shape our subconscious mind, and later in life when we encounter situations that we’re familiar with, we typically respond without thinking.  We just respond.  The good news is that 95% of our brain activity is on a pre-programmed autopilot.  Imagine if we had to consciously process every emotion, every thought, every action, and every decision!

The challenge is to take control of how your brain is being programmed, by taking control of your self-talk.  Self-talk doesn’t come in the form of audible voices, but rather it’s a series of thoughts or suggestions about who you are.  When self-talk is positive and affirming, it can be a powerful tool that programs your subconscious mind for success.  However, when self-talk is negative and destructive, it often has the opposite effect.

God’s Perspective

Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10, NIV). Satan’s goal is to destroy our lives and lies are his number one weapon.  His lies will sneak into our self-talk, so it’s important to recognize what self-talk comes from the enemy and what comes from God’s word.

Self-talk driven by lies from the enemy:

• You’re not good enough
• You don’t have what it takes
• You can’t do this
• You aren’t loved by God
• You don’t deserve to be happy

Chances are, you’ve heard these messages before from your own self-talk.  Hopefully, you were able to quickly identify their origin and reject them as the lies that they are. 

Self-talk driven by truths from God’s word:

• Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”
• Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
• Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”
• Matthew 5:14 says, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”
• Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
• Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Hopefully, these examples resonate with you as things you’ve heard before in your self-talk and that you’ve chosen to accept them as truths about who you are.

The Challenge

• Learn to recognize when you’re talking to yourself.  We all do it, and we do it all the time. 
• Think about where the self-talk is coming from.  Is it a lie from the pit of hell?  Or is it a truth from above?
• Decide what to do with the self-talk.  If it’s a lie, reject it and pray that God helps keep Satan’s voice away from you.  If it’s a truth from God, thankfully accept it and allow it in to positively program your subconscious.
• If you’re struggling to recognize where the self-talk is coming from, spend some more time in the Bible. Pick a chapter from one of the Gospels (my personal preference is John) and see what Jesus said during His time on earth.

Lastly, believe.  Start with the fundamental belief that you’re as good as any human being out there.  That you are unique and have been carefully designed by the Creator of the universe to do great things. That you were created to not just lead an incredible life, but that you were created to leave a legacy of greatness for generations to come.  Now make it happen.