My boys like to jump up, grab the bar that holds the net on the trampoline, and challenge themselves to see how many pull-ups they can do. You know, they’re Ninja Warriors in training 😉 After my youngest child, Dylan, had done this MANY times, his big bro, Connor, started psyching him out.  When Dylan went to jump, Connor would yell, “Epic fail” or “You’re weak!”  Just hearing those negative words caused Dylan to suddenly be powerless.  My husband, Jerod, started coaching Dylan to tune it out and focus.  Connor said, “I’m just trying to make him tough!”  After this went on for a bit, I told Connor to stop because I could see Dylan was getting really upset.  Honestly Connor is usually such an encouraging big brother, and I’m not sure where this “tough talk” technique came from. But it definitely sparked a great family conversation about the power of words.

The power of life and death are in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).  

Words have power. We can en-courage (give courage) or we can dis-courage (take courage away).  We talked about how important it is (as a family) to encourage each other and the people around us. But in this world we can count on discouraging words coming our way…so how do we stay strong when other people are negative against us?  The #1 way is to be in God’s word daily so that we will recognize garbage vs. truth.  If we know who we are in Christ Jesus, ugly words may sting, but they will not become our truth! We have to choose to reject the lies and not allow them to be categorized in our hearts and brains as truth.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We can take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  We have the choice to agree with Jesus’ thoughts toward us or the enemy’s thoughts toward us! Just read the book of Ephesians every day until you know that you know that you know who you are in Christ! The key is to replace the negative words with God’s positive WORD!

Daily time in God’s Word:

• grounds us in the truth
• reveals who we REALLY are in Him  
• strengthens us
• exposes the enemy
• keeps us pressing on AND
• empowers us to overcome!!

 And by the way, as soon as Connor changed his tune and began encouraging Dylan, his little bro did the most pull-ups he’s ever done before!  And I believe as he gets older and gains more understanding, he will be able to deflect insults and negativity…

like a BOSS!