Putting on a Helmet

Praying through the Psalms in the New Living Translation I came across this verse, “The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me (Psalm 118:6)?” The verse struck me at the confidence we are to have in the LORD as we are moving through life. God is for us. As a result, we should have no fear. This is such a powerful truth to stand on in life.

However, as I thought more about the verse, my mind turned to the second phrase. Mere people can do a lot of damage to each other, especially through words. I heard once that for every harmful word said to you it takes at least seven words to undo the damage done. Others may use a different ratio, but the concept is still the same. Negative words do so much damage to the mind.

This topic of speech has continued to be something God is stirring in me. Right now, I do not have a vocal platform to speak from on a regular basis, but I have used speech in conversations or the written word to speak into others’ lives. God is convicting my heart to think more about my speech. These past few months I have watched as words I have spoken have changed friendships. I have experienced hurt from words spoken to me. Therefore, what I am noticing as well is my hunger for words of affirmation to combat the negative words spoken.  

Mere people can cause harm just by the words spoken to each other. Words have power to speak life or death. Countless times I have heard sermons preached on controlling the tongue or how the tongue is one of the strongest muscles in the body. Yet, even knowing all the truth about the tongue does not keep our humanity from hurting one another with speech.

Sometimes negative words can be gift wrapped in a saying such as, “I am just speaking truth into your life” or “I say this because I love you.” I have had that done to me, and I have unfortunately done that to others. There may be words one needs to hear, but the words must be carefully thought about before being spoken and sometimes your actions are better than words.

A few weeks back I had some negative words spoken over my life. The result has been a lot of doubt and fear. I have found myself plagued by questions of validity from those words spoken. As I am applying to jobs, I wonder if everyone really thinks what that person thought.

Friends have thankfully continued to speak life and encouragement into my life, but the negative words seem to not get out of my head.  It feels as if no matter how many good words are spoken into me, they cannot outweigh the negative ones.  My tendency is to over assess what is said to me.  Does anyone else do this too?

Reading Romans 8:6 I am reminded, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” Letting the negative words circle in my head is letting sinful nature rule my mind leading me to death. Instead of thinking with the Spirit’s mindset and idea of who I am in Christ, I have let a mere person, specifically his words, crush me. The enemy has gained ground in my life because I have not let my mind be controlled by the Spirit.  

When the Spirit is in control, pointing back to Psalm 118:6, I can easily say and think God is for me. The Spirit in control allows me to think of whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Control of the Holy Spirit keeps me centered on what really matters.

Just this week I was talking with a pastor friend about the importance of knowing our identity in Christ. Part of the emphasis of this identity in my life is trying to give the Spirit more control. When I know my identity in Christ, my thoughts circle less around the negative words to more about what God thinks.

Throughout all of this thinking of speech and control of the mind, I am realizing how important the helmet of salvation is to the armor. The helmet of salvation is a reminder of the valuable identity God places on us. God died to save us because He sees us as such importance to pay the price for us.  

Wearing the helmets of champions

Daily I make the conscious decision to put on the helmet of salvation.  Sometimes I even need to readjust the helmet during the day. God is still teaching me this lesson. I know it will be a life-long lesson of controlling the tongue, letting the Sprit control my mind, and adjusting the helmet of salvation. In response to the negative words spoken over me I need to follow Elsa’s famous words, “Let it go. Let it go.”