Sermon for today by Joyce Meyer : Thoughts, Words, and Habits

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 Topic: Thoughts, Words, and Habits

What we think leads to the words that come out of our mouths.

What we think and speak may be one of our most important habits because it determines the other habits in our lives. In my opinion, thoughts and words are the starting point for forming all good habits and breaking all bad habits.

I am in a beautiful place right now working on this book. I need to go to the gym this morning because I did one of myconferences over the weekend and was unable to work out. I normally work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but
could not work out Monday because I was traveling. Today is Tuesday and that means that I really need to do it today. The
thought came to me briefly that I could just skip today so I could have more time to write, but since I know the power of
thoughts and I also know what I need to do, I didn’t entertain the thought. Instead, I said to Dave, “I briefly thought about not
working out, but I know that I need to and so I am going to.”

My thoughts and words could have aided me in doing something I would have regretted later, but instead they helped
me keep the habit of exercising regularly.
I had to get rid of the wrong thought as quickly as it came because if I had meditated on it, before long I would have been saying, “I don’t really feel like going to the gym today,” and shortly after that I would have found an excuse not to go.

This same principle can be applied to any area of your life.
When you are trying to develop a good habit or break a bad one, always remember that words precede action. Or, as I
frequently say, “Where the mind goes, the man follows.”
I have done extensive teaching and writing on the subject of thoughts and words, and I know from experience and God’s
Word that they are both key factors in success or failure. We must learn to say what we truly want, not what we feel, or
even what we currently have. Let’s just say that a person sincerely wants to get out of debt, but right now is deeply in debt. That person can think things like, “I am so deeply in debt that I will never get all my bills paid off.” Or “This situation I have is impossible to change, it is too late for me.”
People who think like this will also talk like this. Their desire may be to be debt free, but their own thoughts and words can prevent them from taking the necessary steps to accomplish what they want to do.

They will stay stuck in the rut they are in unless they start agreeing with God’s Word that teaches us that all things are possible with God. Such people should start purposely thinking, “It is not God’s will for me to be in bondage to debt, and I am going to do all I can to get out of debt. If I do what I can do, God will do what I cannot do.

This may take a long time, but I willstick with it until I am free.” Thinking like this will give them a mind-set geared toward victory. It will change their words as well as their entire attitude.
We can literally talk ourselves into victory or defeat. We cannot merely get anything we think and say, but we can have
anything that God says we can have in His Word. Don’t ever settle for anything less than the best that God offers you. This
is one of the main reasons we need the Word habit.

If we know what God promises in His Word, we can have direction and be encouraged to go for the best that God offers us. God’s
Word says that we should owe no man anything except to love him (Romans 13:8), so why should we settle for being in debt
all our life? We shouldn’t and we don’t have to.

Jesus told people that they would have what they believed (Matthew 9:29). They had to renew their minds to think like
God thinks, so they could have the blessings that God wanted them to have. I hope this is not the first time you have heard this principle, but if it is, please believe that this amazing and powerful truth works for everyone who will work it. God’s Word is always the same, and it has the power to change things.

But we are not all the same. Some will believe God’s Word and do what it says and others will not. Anyone who refuses to believe or is too lazy to make the effort to follow God’s instructions will keep their bad habits that are producing bad results in their life. Likewise, anyone who is willing to learn and change can break bad habits and form good ones.