How to Talk Yourself Happy
In Part Two of a two-part series, the former 700 Club co-host shares the biblical prescription for speaking your way to happiness.
In Part One of this two-part series, former 700 Club co-host Kristi Watts revealed her struggle to smile after a series of life challenges. She shared how it wasn’t until she fell into a conversation with her mother and began recounting all the good things God had done in her life that she felt her spirits lift and that she had “talked myself happy.” This idea grew to become the subject and title of her new book, Talk Yourself Happy: Transform Your Heart by Speaking God’s Promises.
Today, in part two of her series, Kristi reveals the practical, biblical path for speaking joy into our hearts. In a word, it begins with the Word.
So, how? How do we talk ourselves happy? Some may say my book’s title is nothing more than a catchy motto with a feel-good tagline. Or that it’s just another book filled with clichés and pep talks. But did you know that the concept of talking yourself happy is actually biblical?
To talk, to say, to speak the Word is a mandate found throughout the Bible. From the beginning when God spoke creation into existence, to the New Testament when God not only revealed his power in the spoken Word but became the spoken Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The Word carries transforming power, and when we’re in Jesus — the incarnate Word of God — we will find pure joy and happiness.
Joy is like a garden. Happiness is the flowers that make up the garden. And our words are what gives life to the flowers, allowing our happiness and joy to flourish and bringing us an immeasurable amount of pleasure. The words we speak have power to breathe life into our circumstances.
Our words not only carry power — words are power!
Good words, as in words that align with the Word of God, can turn an entire situation around. Words build our faith, transform our hearts, and change our perspectives, specifically when we see as God sees, speak as God speaks, and believe as God tells us to believe.
The purposeful act of aligning our words, our hearts, and our minds with God’s Word — both Jesus himself and the Scriptures — is the key to happiness. Why? Because our words not only carry power — words are power! The ability to talk ourselves happy is a paradigm shift that will leave us transformed!
When we recognize the impact of our words and are intentional with them; when we choose to continuously speak words that reflect the heart and mind of Christ; when we remember God’s blessings and verbally claim his promises, positive thoughts are planted in our minds, which then affect the condition of our hearts and help us to live from a place of happiness.
Happiness is a choice. To live a life of happiness is to intentionally and continually speak words that align with the Word of God while allowing that Word to transform us in the process.
If our words are rooted in the truth and come by way of the Word of God, then good will ultimately come forth. Not only will our lives be fed by the goodness found in the Word of God but our faith will be established and built up in the process! But on the flip side, when our words focus on our faulty perspectives of our circumstances, then it’s inevitable that over time our own words will have a negative impact on our lives.
We’ll be discouraged, discontent, and disheartened. Our words can derail our faith in God and cause a sense of hopelessness rather than happiness. What we do with our words has an impact, one way or the other.
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45)
Another aspect of the power of our words is how they reveal what’s in our hearts. Good, bad, ugly, or indifferent, our words are a direct reflection of the role we believe God plays in our lives. Our words reveal how much we know of God, and even the personal experiences we have with God.
Do the words you speak reveal the hope of God?
The healing power of God?
The deliverance of God?
The provision of God?
And the love of God?
Or do the words that you speak reveal a void where God might have been? Our words not only reveal how we perceive God but also how we think he perceives us. How do you think God sees you?
We must realize that our words are living and active. That’s why words can create, build, define, heal, edify, free, protect, support, direct, and love. Words have the power to change. They can change your emotional state, your outlook, even your sense of hope. Words have power, but when the spoken word is backed by a person’s personal belief system, as well as a mind-set based upon her knowledge, understanding, and experiences, then those words become like missiles shooting through the atmosphere and creating her destiny.
Are your words bringing forth life or death, blessings or curses?
In order to talk yourself happy, you have to recognize:
- The power of your words and the importance of being intentional and consistent with the words you speak.
- The impact your words have on your perspective.
- To have a right perspective or right understanding, you have to live right where God is.
- Your words reflect what’s in you. If you don’t like what’s coming out of you, then change what is in you by taking in the good of God’s Word.
- When your words are rooted in the truth of God’s Word, they will act as a catalyst to transform your mind and heart to reflect the mind and heart of Jesus Christ.
Happiness is a choice. To live a life of happiness is to intentionally and continually speak words that align with the Word of God while allowing that Word to transform us in the process.
In doing so, our faith in God will grow, and our thoughts will reflect God’s goodness within our lives.
Words have impact, and when we use them to bless, heal, uplift, exhort, and speak the truth of God’s Word in and over our lives, then we will suddenly realize we’re talking ourselves happy — all day, every day, regardless of what life throws at us!
But here’s the coolest part of all. God has so much more for us than happiness when we abide in him and speak words that reflect his heart. In this process of aligning ourselves with God, he unpacks more gifts of blessings that promise to transform our lives. Gifts such as hearts of compassion, the ability to forgive, walking in gratitude, and living in a place of hope that springs eternal — all blessings that naturally come during the pursuit of true happiness.
So if you’re ready, it’s time to take the journey and allow God to teach you how to talk yourself happy!
On Thursday, February 16, Kristi appeared on LIFE Today with James and Betty Robison to discuss the struggles and discoveries that lead to her new book. You can enjoy that entire conversation by clicking here.
