You have the ability to change the entire direction of your life with that little thing under your nose: your mouth. Yes, it’s as simple as it seems. We all talk to ourselves, and our own voice is the one we believe more than anyone else’s. So don’t you think it’s important what words we are saying to ourselves?

Successful people take a proactive approach to their dreams. They don’t wait to see what happens with their lives. They prophesy their future. Unsuccessful people speak of things the way they are as if they will always be that way. The truth is, as long as you continue to declare negative statements over your life, that’s exactly what you will continue to experience.

After years of failed diets and believing his weight problem would never go away, Shad Helmstetter heard about Olympic athletes hiring self-talk trainers to help them win gold medals. So, he decided to try it regarding his weight loss. Shad wrote out details affirmations and positive declarations about his weight loss goals, then audio recorded himself reciting them.

He listened to these affirmations every morning while shaving, and over the course of ten and a half weeks, he lost 38 pounds, without dieting! His wife even lost 25 pounds eavesdropping on his declarations as she got ready each day! You see, your words create your reality.

I am so grateful my parents taught me the power of the tongue, and I’ve done my best to guard my mouth from speaking death or detrimental words over myself. However, I didn’t necessarily practice the habit of doing the opposite: proactively speaking positive words over my future. At least, not with any intentional effort.

Like the Lord told Joyce Meyer, “Joyce, you have stopped saying negative things, but you have not started saying positive things.” It’s one thing to stop speaking negative, debilitating words over yourself (I’ll never live in a house like that. I have a slow metabolism. I’m not qualified.), but you’ve got to take it a step further by replacing those words with positive declarations over yourself and your future.

If your first image of giving yourself a pep talk reminds you of Saturday Night Live’s Stuart Smalley and his catchphrase, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” then you probably think this is some kind of ridiculous joke you’re playing on yourself. I understand.

However, you can’t argue with results. When you’ve experienced dream after dream occur in your life as a result of speaking them out loud, ol’ Stuart doesn’t seem so crazy after all. But be encouraged, I do not sit in front of a mirror and slowly talk to myself (with a lisp)!

What would happen if you set aside the potential of feeling silly and traded your limiting, negative self-talk with motivational, positive declarations of faith? Your life would move in that direction.

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You have the ability to change the entire direction of your life with that little thing under your nose: your mouth. Yes, it’s as simple as it seems. We all talk to ourselves, and our own voice is the one we believe more than anyone else’s. So don’t you think it’s important what words we are saying to ourselves?

Successful people take a proactive approach to their dreams. They don’t wait to see what happens with their lives. They prophesy their future. Unsuccessful people speak of things the way they are as if they will always be that way. The truth is, as long as you continue to declare negative statements over your life, that’s exactly what you will continue to experience.

After years of failed diets and believing his weight problem would never go away, Shad Helmstetter heard about Olympic athletes hiring self-talk trainers to help them win gold medals. So, he decided to try it regarding his weight loss. Shad wrote out details affirmations and positive declarations about his weight loss goals, then audio recorded himself reciting them.

He listened to these affirmations every morning while shaving, and over the course of ten and a half weeks, he lost 38 pounds, without dieting! His wife even lost 25 pounds eavesdropping on his declarations as she got ready each day! You see, your words create your reality.

I am so grateful my parents taught me the power of the tongue, and I’ve done my best to guard my mouth from speaking death or detrimental words over myself. However, I didn’t necessarily practice the habit of doing the opposite: proactively speaking positive words over my future. At least, not with any intentional effort.

Like the Lord told Joyce Meyer, “Joyce, you have stopped saying negative things, but you have not started saying positive things.” It’s one thing to stop speaking negative, debilitating words over yourself (I’ll never live in a house like that. I have a slow metabolism. I’m not qualified.), but you’ve got to take it a step further by replacing those words with positive declarations over yourself and your future.

If your first image of giving yourself a pep talk reminds you of Saturday Night Live’s Stuart Smalley and his catchphrase, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” then you probably think this is some kind of ridiculous joke you’re playing on yourself. I understand.

However, you can’t argue with results. When you’ve experienced dream after dream occur in your life as a result of speaking them out loud, ol’ Stuart doesn’t seem so crazy after all. But be encouraged, I do not sit in front of a mirror and slowly talk to myself (with a lisp)!

What would happen if you set aside the potential of feeling silly and traded your limiting, negative self-talk with motivational, positive declarations of faith? Your life would move in that direction.

In 2007, I made a list of declarations to speak over myself. To begin with, most (if not all) of these positive statements were the opposite of what I was experiencing at the time. However, I wrote them and spoke them by faith. Some of the declarations included: “I am proactive.” “I am in the best shape of my life.” “I am bold and courageous.” “I am a voice impacting France for Jesus.” “I am confident to minister on television.” “I am confident to minister to thousands of people.” “I speak at the largest conferences in the world.”

When I began this demonstration of faith, I had never ministered in the nation of France, and the largest crowd I had ever spoken to was about 300 people. However, each morning before driving to the office, I would go in my guest bedroom, grab my homemade notebook of declarations and speak them out by faith.

We see this written in Isaiah 46:10 that God “declares the end from the beginning.” That’s exactly what you’re doing when you declare your dreams before they happen.

I’ll never forget the evening of March 12, 2012, as I stood on the front row of the largest evangelical church in the nation of France. As I was preparing to take the stage, my daughter, Kassidi, leaned over to me and asked, “Mama, are you a little nervous?” Rightfully so, as I was preparing to minister to approximately 10,000 people in Paris, France. I answered, “I am confident to minister to thousands of people. I speak at the largest conferences in the world.”

Why did I reply so courageously? Because what you repeatedly hear, you eventually believe. And like I said before, you believe your own voice more than anyone else’s.

When you consistently give yourself a pep talk by declaring what you believe about yourself instead of what you feel, eventually, your actions will line up with your words.

In addition to positive declarations, there is nothing more powerful than speaking God’s Word out of your mouth. If you’re wondering what God’s will is for your life, His Word is His will. When you align your mouth with what God’s Word says, you are activating the power of God to go to work in your life.

If your dreams and goals appear hopeless and there’s no indication things will improve any time soon, let me encourage you to start using your words to change your life instead of just describing it. God always places a bigger dream in your heart before you have the ability to achieve it. Speaking your dreams into existence is part of the process in achieving them.

Whatever your need may be, instead of talking about what you don’t have, start speaking the Word, “I seek the Lord, and I do not lack any good thing” (Psalm 34:10). Declare out loud, “I don’t worry about anything; instead, I pray about everything, telling God what I need and thanking Him for all He has done” (Philippians 4:6). Find the promises of God in His Word and declare them over the need and over your life.

Don’t get me wrong. You might still think those negative thoughts, just don’t speak them! You cannot talk failure and live in victory. The reverse is true as well: You cannot talk victory and live in failure.

The Bible tells us we serve a God who speaks of “nonexistent things” AS IF they already exist. He expects us to apply the same principle. What nonexistent things do you need to begin speaking as if they already exist? There are some things in your life that will not change until you begin to speak them out.

You can start changing your life today by changing what you say. I know it works because I’ve experienced it myself. I am literally watching things happen in my life that I know are direct results of declaring by faith the desires God’s placed in my heart. And you can too. Determine to stop saying the wrong things and take it a step further to start saying the right things.