Hey guys, I’m Sean. I’ve been at YWAM Honolulu for the past year. In that time I’ve done a DTS and an SOME. Now I’ve moved to Asia to work as a long-term missionary.
It’s a cold night here (I was born and raised in Hawaii so low 50’s is like a near death experience;)
I like patterns and systems. Here’s one I believe is true.
Self-talk leads to everyday thought leads to faith (or belief) leads to action leads to habit leads to result
Self-Talk
You’ve probably heard this term before. Self-talk is the constant flow of internal dialogue about yourself that happens in every person’s thoughts. Most of us aren’t even aware of a majority of this conversation.
“Today is a good day” and “I don’t think that will work” are to typical examples of self-talk.
Most times you’ll hear self-talk classified as either positive or negative. But I think a much more effective way of dividing it is into truth or lie.
Truth is any thought that lines up with the word of God.
“I can do this because I am in Christ who strengthens me”
False is anything that is contrary to the word of God.
“I failed last time so I’ll probably fail again”
I dare you to listen to your self-talk for just one whole day. Listen and write down what you hear. You might be surprised by the end of the day.
Take your self-talk under control and decide what you will listen to. Will it be truth or lies?
Everyday thought
It’s fairly easy to see how a constant flow of either truth or lies over a fairly short time will determine your everyday thoughts. It will affect your emotional state.
Good luck being joyful if everyday I’m aware of the “fact” aka lie that I’m just not good enough to do _____.
If in contrast, I’m constantly telling myself that “The one and only creator of the universe wants to be the Father I never had”, then you can’t keep me from being excited to live.
Overtime these everyday thoughts will turn into
Faith (or a belief)
Faith is like a stronghold in your mind— a stronghold that is anchored in truth, aka the word of God. Faith isn’t reliant on circumstances; in fact it’s often contrary to our circumstances.
“God loves me and cares for my needs” If I’m feeding myself truth through my self-talk, it will turn into an everyday thought. This overtime builds faith.
Now why did I say (or a belief)?
We established that faith is like a stronghold in your mind— a stronghold that is anchored in truth. But a belief is just a stronghold in your mind. It may be based on truth it may not.
Faith is extremely powerful.
Faith is extremely powerful not because you’ve unlocked some kind of elite human secret, but because it’s anchored in the truth. Truth is true. It’s not just a belief that has power; it’s belief in the truth. Faith.
If you have faith in something like, “God wants to give me more then enough money so that I can give to others in need”, then you will be eager to act on this faith.
Someone will say “but Sean, look at your bank account. You’re broke, you’re in debt, you’ve got more expenses then income. You’re dreaming.”
What will I do? I’ll go back to my faith. My faith is based in truth— in the word of God. What does truth say?
“God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work”. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Well, that someone is wrong, because they’re disagreeing with truth.
Action
You’ve already built up your faith in something. Now, no one can stop you from acting on it.
Why?
Because you’ve already made up your mind.
As soon as I have faith that I can have a successful marriage, watch out. I’m going to do whatever I can to make it happen. Why? Because I’ve already made up my mind that it’s available for me.
Everyday when I wake up, I’ve made up my mind that It’s available for me. Therefore, everyday I’m going to act on that belief.
This creates a
Habit
Habits are actions that we do consistently. We don’t have to contemplate, “hmmm should I do this today?” You just do it because your action has become a habit through consistent repetition.
We all have habits. I’m willing to bet that your habits are just like mine: they were created by actions based on faith or a belief, which came about by an everyday thought that you essentially programed into your mind by your self-talk.
Results
A habit creates a result, and a consistent one at that.
Our results are a culmination of our habits and our habits established by…
You get it; I’m not doing it again.
You can think of it as a machine. The SEFAHR machine (you’re right, that’s not a very memorable acronym)
In goes a truth or a lie in the form of self-talk. Out comes a result.
If you put truth into the machine, you’ll eventually get a positive result. If you put in a lie, you’ll eventually get a negative result.
Self-Talk
Everyday Thought
Faith (or Belief)
Action
Habit
Result (positive or negative)
If you want to seem more of my work oversees —> HOPE ILLUSTRATED
Sean Robbins
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