Live Encouraged
First Samuel 30 records the account of the worst defeat in David’s life. It was so heartbreaking and distressing that the men in his army were threatening to stone him. At his lowest point of discouragement, with everyone bitterly against him, the Scripture says David “encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (v. 6). He rose up, inspired his men to fight again, and they defeated their enemy.
Too often all we see in ourselves is what we’ve done wrong, all the times we blew it. I talked with a young lady who told me about her painful breakup with a man whom she had thought loved her. She said, “I tried to make sense of what happened. What did I do wrong? I got so discouraged that I didn’t want to go to work or go out with friends. I just wanted to stay home. One evening I saw your television program and was encouraged and began to regain a sense of who I was. I realized I felt so hurt, so discounted, and so alone that it was causing me to destroy my life. But as I became encouraged, hope rose. I started to like myself again. Little by little, I would look in the mirror and say, ‘You are beautiful. You are talented. You are valuable.’ Suddenly, this fun person came back into my life—the person I really was.” Then she added this, “And I say to myself, ‘God is going to bring the right person across my path because I’m in the palms of His hands.’”
I love that! Like David, she made a choice about her discouragement. She took the encouragement she received on the inside, and she began to encourage herself. Hope began to rise in her heart, and faith caused her to move forward with her life.
It’s great when family and friends are there to encourage us in difficult times, but we can’t depend on others to encourage us. We have to learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord every day. He made us, He formed us, He fashioned us just the way we should be. Rather than be critical of yourself and what you think are lacks, start celebrating yourself and all your good qualities. Remember what God has done in your life. Get in agreement with God and say, “Thank You, God, for who You made me to be. You made me to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. I’m an overcomer because I have Your Word in me, and I will overcome this.”
Too often all we see in ourselves is what we’ve done wrong, all the times we blew it. I talked with a young lady who told me about her painful breakup with a man whom she had thought loved her. She said, “I tried to make sense of what happened. What did I do wrong? I got so discouraged that I didn’t want to go to work or go out with friends. I just wanted to stay home. One evening I saw your television program and was encouraged and began to regain a sense of who I was. I realized I felt so hurt, so discounted, and so alone that it was causing me to destroy my life. But as I became encouraged, hope rose. I started to like myself again. Little by little, I would look in the mirror and say, ‘You are beautiful. You are talented. You are valuable.’ Suddenly, this fun person came back into my life—the person I really was.” Then she added this, “And I say to myself, ‘God is going to bring the right person across my path because I’m in the palms of His hands.’”
I love that! Like David, she made a choice about her discouragement. She took the encouragement she received on the inside, and she began to encourage herself. Hope began to rise in her heart, and faith caused her to move forward with her life.
It’s great when family and friends are there to encourage us in difficult times, but we can’t depend on others to encourage us. We have to learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord every day. He made us, He formed us, He fashioned us just the way we should be. Rather than be critical of yourself and what you think are lacks, start celebrating yourself and all your good qualities. Remember what God has done in your life. Get in agreement with God and say, “Thank You, God, for who You made me to be. You made me to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. I’m an overcomer because I have Your Word in me, and I will overcome this.”