God's Word and Power are gifts for us to use, among other things, for the healing of our souls, and anyone wanting emotional health and restoration must have access to it.

God wants you to know the "exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Ephesians 1:19), this is so He can "strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being" (Ephesians 3:16 NIV).

You can't conjure up, take, or demand God's power; you can only receive it from Him.

"This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope." La 3:21 NAS

Your Self-Talk
Lamentations 3 describes how despair engulfs us, and how we can conquer it.

Jeremiah's downward spiral starts in Lamentations 3:1, "I am the man who has seen affliction" (v. 1 NAS), and morphs into an unhealthy preoccupation with his troubles.

The fact is, when our circumstances deteriorate, our self-talk sounds a lot like Jeremiah's.

• He blamed God for his physical symptoms,
• His emotional anguish,
• And his sense of entrapment.
• He rehearsed God's failure to answer his prayers,
• And his fear that he'd been singled out as an object of public ridicule: all classic elements of depression.

No wonder he felt powerless and hopeless! (Lamentations 3: 18).  

That kind of self-talk initiates and intensifies despair and depression and feeds our negative outlook. The turning point came when Jeremiah changed his self-talk: "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope."  

He changed his thought process by recalling God's goodness and mercy:  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed...his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"

When you change your thoughts-you will change your mood!     

It doesn't happen automatically; you have to deliberately refocus your thinking at the very time you feel like doing it least. Notice: Jeremiah's circumstances didn't improve-his outlook did.  

A stream of encouraging thoughts triggered a change in his self-talk-and his depression lifted: "'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I have hope in Him'" (v. 24 NAS). That's how important your self-talk is!

Oswald Chambers says that God's purpose for me is, "that I depend on Him and His power now." By depending on God's power instead of your own, you are fulfilling God's purpose for your life.

If you feel powerless and weak in the face of your circumstances, then thank God that even though you are weak, He is not. He says: my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Just as Jesus was crucified in weakness and lives in all power now, the same is true for us if we come to Him in weakness.   

Our power comes from the Holy Spirit working in us.

Jesus told His disciples,

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. - Acts 1:8

We are always in need of a fresh flow of the Holy Spirit. Ask for one daily. Every morning, say; "God, I need a fresh flow of Your Holy Spirit power working in me this day. I am weak, but You are all-powerful. Be strong in me this day." This is a power-full prayer of blessing.

Don't be a victim of your circumstances.

• Don't allow yourself to be tormented.
• Don't simply sit back when life seems to be falling apart.
• Don't live your life in terms of human energy.
• Ask for the blessing of God's Holy Spirit power.
• Let His power enable you to rise above the limits of your life.

If you ever become overwhelmed by how much you think you have to do to arrive at complete wholeness, or if you have doubts about whether you can actually do all that's required, then you need to remind yourself that the Holy Spirit accomplishes wholeness in you, as you allow Him. Let Him do it.

All you have to do is tell God that you want His ways to become your ways, and then take one step at a time in the right direction as it is revealed to you. You only need to be concerned with the step you're on.

What good is God's power to you if you never receive and use it? Open the gift of power and blessing He has given you. Your life depends on it.

Speak Wholeness

Romans 4:17

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Since we are made in His likeness and His Spirit dwells in us, we have the power to speak our own worlds into existence too.  

When we speak negatively about ourselves or our circumstances, we cut off the possibility of things being any different.

Early in my walk with the Lord I spoke many negatives like, "I'm a failure," "I'm ugly," "Nothing ever goes right," "Nobody really cares about me," until one day the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart through Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

A quick inventory of the things I had said aloud and in my mind revealed that I had been speaking words of death and not life. This thought was frightening.

Over the next few days, certain Scriptures came to my attention. Isaiah 32:4:
The stammering tongue will be fluent and clear;
and I have put My words in your mouth. - Isaiah 51:16

Afterward, each time I was tempted to give in to discouragement, I spoke those Scriptures to myself and said, "Thank You, Lord, for helping me to speak slowly and clearly. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   

"Praise You, Lord that You will give me the words to say and anoint them to have life." 

I no longer said, "I'm a failure," because God's Word says the opposite is true about me. I stopped saying, "I'm hopeless," and started acknowledging God as the hope of my life.

I took all my fears to the Lord in prayer and didn't let my mouth say that I was going to fail. I spoke God's truth instead of voicing my own negative opinions.