5 Great Ways to Improve Your Life
This post contains paid and/or affiliate links.Our words have power or so they say. Is it true? Can we create just by what we speak? There’s so much happening around us every day. Do we actually have the power to speak and create things? Can you use your words to improve your life?
There's more to it, but in the simplest form, the answer is yes. Our choice of words, the words that we speak have creative power. By our words, we have the ability to give life to something or someone or improve our own lives.
You can create the life you desire, change your situation in the future, or even start or stop a blessing. You can do this just by the words you think, then speak.
God tells us in His Word that the tongue has incredible power. We can use our tongue to bring blessings and life or curses and death. Proverbs 18:21 says it this way, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."
It's kinda like, you will have what you say you will have. You will not have what you say you will not have. That’s a powerful concept, right?
Thoughts are powerful; thoughts are things!
Proverbs 23:7 shares that “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” Woah!!! What a strong statement relating our thoughts to our identity. In the book As A Man Thinketh, the author James Allen illustrates quite well that our lives are the result of thoughts. The thoughts we think and continuously encourage are how we create our lives. If you want to improve your life, then change your thoughts.
Listen, don’t let yourself be hung by the words you speak. The author, Francis P. Martin, shows us relevance through the use of scripture in his book, “Hung by the Tongue: What You Say is What You Get.” It’s easy to do…to be hung by the words we speak.
My encouragement to you is to change the way you think. Change the words you choose to speak. You’ll then see change in the life you live. Trust me, our actions line up with what we think.
Life Winners do this consistently, which is to work on their thoughts and what they say. They self-improve and constantly evaluate what’s working in their lives to determine what needs to change. All that mental work is actually refining their thoughts. If you believe thoughts have a point of origin, then why not believe the Word of God. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
You can find many resources on the subject of using your words to create the life you want. Today, I want to highlight 3 such authors. They each speak on
the creative power of your tongue,
using your words to create, and
the many benefits when you learn and apply these principles.
5 ways to improve your life you have what you want
1. Creation is within your power.
The young author, Taneka Rubin, makes the case about creativity in her book, Winners Win: Unlocking The Potential To Live Your God-Given Dreams. She shares that God is the creator, referring to Genesis 1 where God spoke the earth into existence. And because we were created in His image, we have creative power, as well. Taneka shares that
“Creativity is at the forefront of God’s mind, and we possess the same quality. We have enormous potential for creativity…”
Taneka Rubin
The truth of these words is the basis of the Author’s encouragement to the reader. They’re life winners with the potential to live their God-given dreams.
Taneka shares how easy it is to hide this creative power because of “…laziness, apathy, and fear of criticism...” As a believer, embrace the Word of God about who you are. It makes it easier to accept that you were created for something bigger than yourself.
There’s a winner in you. Let it out!
2. It’s your choice.
In the book As a Man Thinketh, Mr. Allen makes the statement that
“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
It’s your choice to control your thoughts, choose your words carefully and wisely. Let’s look at this couple in the Bible; they’re Nabal and Abigail. Before David was King, he and his army of men hid in the wilderness because King Saul wanted to kill David. That’s another story for another time.
Nabal’s men (employees), were shepherds, not warriors. During this wilderness experience, David and his army of men were in the same location and naturally provided protection for these shepherds.
As time goes on, David asked Nabal for food for he and his men. He didn’t think it was an unreasonable request since David made sure all of Nabal’s workers were safe. Nabal foolishly used his words to tell David an emphatic “No.”
Abigail, Nabal’s wife was told about the situation, how her husband would not help David and his army of men. She was told that David was angry and was preparing to do battle against her home. Abigail immediately sprang into action and had a significant amount of food loaded up and sent ahead to David. She followed behind.
Meanwhile, David and 400 of his men were prepared to kill all of the men connected with Nabal. In route to Nabal’s home, David met Abigail and all the food she brought to David and his men.
Abigail wisely chose to apologize. She acknowledged the foolish ways of her husband. Read it for yourself in 1 Samuel 25, she also pointed out that she wasn’t around when all this happened but asked to bear the blame. She brought gifts of food and words of encouragement to David. There’s a full story to be shared here, as well. The point is she soothe David’s anger and he did not kill any of the people.
Nabal, on the other hand, became a victim of circumstance. The result of his evil heart and the words of his mouth resulted in immediate sickness. Less than 2 weeks later, he died of a heart attack.
You too have a choice in what you will say and how you will handle a situation, with blessings or curses, good or evil. The choice really is yours to make concerning your life.
3. Don’t let your tongue hang you!
We can absolutely say that Nabal’s tongue hung him. In the book, Hung by the Tongue, Francis P. Martin reminds us that
“…we can and must think like God thinks…we must trust God’s ways for our decisions; as we go through life, there are decisions to make.”
The basis of Mr. Martin’s comments is Proverbs 3:5-6. Trusting God and not our understanding will always lead us to right thinking. When we think right, our words are right, and our actions are right.
What you choose to say can set you up for success or failure. It’s up to you.
4. What you think about, you will bring about.
Think lack, receive lack. Think abundance, receive abundance. In the book, As a Man Thinketh, the author points out “…man is the master of thought…”
How can you bring about what you want? Do this by setting your focus on what you want and do not be deterred. Mr. Allen effectively states it this way,
“As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the Lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills.”
You hold the key to creating the life you want. Do not accept what you do not want. Get your mental focus set properly. This is all about the mind. Remember what you think about is what grows. What you think will come out of your heart.
Then get to work. Put in the necessary actions to have what you want. Hard work pays off. Have a mindset of winning, going the distance, and not quitting. Do the work!
Taneka tells a story in Winners Win that sums up this concept very well. From early childhood, she told everyone that she wanted to play basketball overseas. Despite the obstacles she had to overcome, Taneka maintained her focus on that one goal. Even when her personal decisions could have destroyed that dream, it was embedded so deep in her heart, thoughts, and words.
That’s the life she created. Taneka put in the physical actions that lined up with the life she created with her words. You can follow her overseas professional basketball career and her current endeavors.
5. You have not because you ask not.
Here’s another principle scattered throughout the Bible. We do not have because we do not ask for what we want. The act of asking is such a simple concept that many times we dismiss.
Believe that you can have what you desire. Those are life-giving thoughts that can improve your life.
For those who do not ask, it’s because we don’t believe we’ll get it. Doubt and disbelief make belief ineffective. So why ask if you’re going to talk yourself out of it. When you speak a thing, make sure you’re actually speaking what you want. Trust and believe that you will receive it.
Speak what you desire. That’s life-creating. And when you speak it’s based upon what you think in your heart. Can you improve your life? You can if you believe you can.
Finally, take action to get what you want. The result of your right thoughts will be the life you desire.
Practical application
Allow me to close with this little story about a phase in my life. For many years, I was in a situation peppered with problems. I get it, this is the case for many people. As I progressed through life, in some cases, I desired different results. The problem was the outcome most times was outside my control.
I controlled what I could and despite the situation had a wonderful life for nearly 30 years. At year 18, I decided to finally speak what was in my heart all along. I desired to be treated differently, better. I wanted peace, happiness, and contentment.
I did a lot of praying and reading the word of God. Then I took action. I voiced my desires to the one who had some level of influence to make it happen. I hoped and believed that life would be better; however, in some ways it became worse. 10 years later, I walked out of that situation knowing that better was available to me. It took time, but my better came in the form of less stress, internal peace, and happiness.
I believe at that 10-year point, I started to create the life I really wanted. My words expressed my heart’s desire and my thoughts aligned with that better life. In the absence of change, the actions I took ultimately gave me what I desired. I am no longer in a negative and toxic environment. God is showing me in the most amazing ways that His plan for my life still exists and as long as I stay focused on His plan, then an even better life is on the way.
Again, my encouragement to you is to change the way you think. Change the words you choose to speak. It truly is up to you to have what you want. Check your heart, your thoughts, your words, and your actions. You can do it.
