A wise man’s heart guides his mouth, and his lips promote instruction. (Proverbs 16:23, NIV 1984)
One of my favorite parts of watching a tournament on TV is following the conversations between caddies and players preparing for a shot. I find these exchanges fascinating.
The focus is always on the target. The discussions center around factors such as distance, wind, spin, flight, and club selection, with the primary goal being to zero in on execution of the shot. There is never a discussion about what to miss. No comments like: “keep it out of the water,” “don’t miss it to the right,” or “look at that huge bunker—better stay away from that.” However, when we mere mortals are playing at our home courses, these types of inner conversations regularly enter our minds.
While I sometimes find myself thinking about what hazards to miss, most of the time my object is to eliminate the negative thinking. Results may not always be perfect, but a positive thought followed by a bad result is much better than a negative pre-shot thought followed by, “I knew that would happen.”
In our spiritual walk with Christ, such trains of thought can lead to habitual negative self-talk and open the door to Satan’s voice.
We go to the Scriptures, God’s word of life, for our daily bread.
In a recent devotion entitled, “Who Controls Your Thoughts,” author Tony Evans stated the following:
God says, “You can, in spite of what has been done!” The enemy says, “You can’t, because of what you have done!” God will never define you by your past issues, but the enemy will try confine you by them. Whether it is the good, bad, or ugly that dominates your life up until now, it is Satan’s goal to keep you chained there…
Always remember that Satan’s number one strategy is to plant unhealthy thoughts in your mind, repeating them over and over until you start to think they are your own thoughts…
So, be mindful of the devil. Don’t let him have free reign in your mind.
Rather than giving Satan a place to move us into negativity, we need to keep listening and speaking words that bring life. We go to the Scriptures, God’s word of life, for our daily bread.
Proverbs 16:24 teaches us that good words are sweet to the soul: “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (NASB). This is something I fight to remember. Jeremy Camp’s song “Word of Life” resonates with me when I feel myself slipping into the negative self-talk that can be soul draining. The first verse of the song is outlined below:
Speak to my weary heart
Strengthen my broken parts
Lead me to Your open arms
Word of truth
Illuminate all these lies
The enemy speaks inside
In freedom I will rise
Go get Christ’s words of life for yourself today, speaking them to your own weary heart.
—
Chris Hermann
July 21, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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