This morning, God blessed me in an incredible way. By God’s grace, I had the opportunity to listen to the message that CJ Mahaney recently preached at New Attitude entitled “The Troubled Soul - God’s Word And Our Feelings“. You can listen to CJ’s message and all the messages by going here. CJ’s text was Psalm 42 and I wanted to share with you this morning.

“Paul Tripp writes: I find myself saying it all the time. When people hear it, they laugh. But actually I’m being quite serious when i say it here it is no one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do. You’re in an unending conversation with yourself. You’re talking to yourself all the time. Interpreting, organizing and analyzing what’s going on inside you and around you.

You may be talking to yourself about why you feel so tired. Or maybe you woke up this morning with a sense of dread and you don’t know why. Perhaps you’re reliving a conversation that didn’t go too well or preparing yourself for a conversation that may be difficult by conjuring up as many renditions as you can imagine so you can cover all the contingencies. Maybe your mind has traveled back to your distant past and for reasons you don’t understand you’re recalling events from your early childhood.

The point is that you are constantly involved in an internal conversation that greatly influences the things you decide, say, and do. What do you regularly tell yourself about yourself? About yourself, God, and your circumstances. Do your words to you encourage faith, hope, and courage? Or do they stimulate doubt discouragement and fear. Do you remind yourself that God is near or do your reason within yourself given your circumstances that He must be distant. Do you encourage yourself to run to God even when you don’t understand what He’s doing or do you give yourself permission to back away from him when you are confused by the seeming distance between what he’s promised and what you’re experiencing. When others talk to you is your internal conversation so loud that it’s hard to concentrate on what they’re saying. End quote”

Here’s the question:How faith driven and Christ-centered is the conversation that you have with you every day? No one is more influential in your life than you are because no one talks to you more than you do. You’re in an un-ending conversation with yourself. This conversation never ceases. It began when you awakened this morning and it will continue till you fall asleep this evening. It’s actually taking place within you right now even as I speak.”

Take an hour and listen to the whole thing.