Let's Speak Gold and Silver Words, Instead of Alloys

I've no doubt we're living in the era of the positive affirmation. A glance at the self-help section of our libraries and book shops makes this clear. Best-sellers on this topic abound, from the writings of Louise L Hay to "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and her team of experts. Others with similar themes, such as "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill have been around long enough to attain classic status. This is the thinking climate those of my generation have grown up in and publishers are still churning them out.

For years, I'd studied these books carefully. I'd decided the theory behind them made sense. In a nutshell, if your conscious mind is bombarded with a beneficial message over and over, your subconscious mind will eventually be worn down to join the party too. Furthermore the metaphysical theory behind this tells us that we attract similar vibrations (aka vibes) to those which we subconsciously give out. The world is our mirror, so to speak. If we think prosperously, prosperity will be drawn to us. Although some fellow Christians seemed to think this dodgy and new-agey, I thought it seemed harmless enough for me to give it a go.

My books are best-sellers.
My kids are thriving in their goals.
We are able to travel overseas.
By dd/mm/yy I will have an extra $20 000 in my bank account.
We own a 2-storey home with a stunning view and my own study (LOL)
We never scrape the bottom of our bank account.

So what happened? The same thing that happened sometimes to seeds I tried planting seeds in my garden. I don't have a green thumb. Mostly, my plants would give a half-hearted spurt of growth and then bite the dust. People would say things like, "You should've fertilised them with blood and bones/chook manure/cow manure... kept the harsh cook manure away from them... tried putting them in a more open/more sheltered position, planted them during the summer/winter, etc." To summarize all this, I didn't really have a clue. So I assumed that the paltry returns on my affirmations meant that I was clueless there too.

I believe that was true, in a way I didn't expect. In a thought-provoking article by American pastor, Tom Brown, he remarks that our world has become like Babylon, using the messages of confession to get what it wants. People are using Biblical truth principles (it is all based on truth!) in a very watered-down and limited manner. I'd been right. I spent all that time trying to plant seeds without giving them the quality of water, fertiliser and sunlight they really needed. 

His article goes on to explain that the affirmations we speak must be found within the pages of our Bibles; God's Word to us. This is the only word which is still as pristine and powerful as it originally was during the creation of the world. The words spoken by men and women who are spouting the 'affirmations of the day' from these books have lost part of the original 'zing' they contained before the Fall. They are perishable and often likely to fizzle out. When we speak out our own dreams, imaginings and desires as affirmations without checking to see whether they line up with God's words, we might fail to receive what we're believing for because our words are weaker, like metal alloys whose quality can't be trusted. God's Word, on the other hand, is still like the most pure, flawless gold and silver.

It's not the mere positive confession per se, which brings results into our lives but the confession of God's words. My days of declaring and confessing just anything that sounds good and expecting it to come to pass are over. God's Word hasn't promised to give me a specific sum of money by a certain date or a house with a view or a new car. This is just jumping beyond what His word promises.

What He has promised is to be my healer (Exodus 15: 26), supply all my needs (Philippians 4:19), finish the good work He started in me (Philippians 1:6), surround me with favour as a shield (Psalm 5:12) and bless the work of my hands (Psalm 90: 17), among many other things. Charles H. Spurgeon said that whenever God has made a promise, we can reasonably expect Him to make it good. This has nothing to do with metaphysics, manipulating God, witchcraft, mind-over-matter or sorcery.

Thank God for giving us His Word, the imperishable seed, for when we make His words our own and declare them in faith, then our words are imperishable too. I believe that when we declare the same words about ourselves that God speaks, we'll soon see results in our lives.

Paula Vince is the award-winning author of nine fiction novels set in her home state, South Australia. She also writes articles, blog posts, reflections, book reviews and creative non-fiction. She loves to dig around in old classic literature and consider its relevance for our 21st century era.