We often look to others when we are discouraged for them to say just the right thing to encourage us. It is good to be surrounded by encouraging people. I am blessed to have people in my circle to care and encourage me. God however is our reason to be encouraged.
At times God is quiet and we get discouraged. He wants us to be like David and encourage ourselves. There are times when we have to dig down deep and find encouragement within. Job had to find his strength to keep going on because the enemy had been allowed to remove anyone who would be encouraging. Job believed God and determined within himself to keep going.
1 Sam 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
David was another one that was deeply discouraged. His army wanted to destroy him after their families had been taken at ziglag. But David prayed and God told him to pursue his enemies. He overtook them and recovered what the enemy had stolen.
We cannot allow the enemy to steal our peace. He cannot have our strength. We cannot allow him to discourage us. It is going to take us digging deep to find that encouragement. Remembering what God has already done for us will go a long way in us finding what we need to keep going.
Until next time,
BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS LIKE, SHARE AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE ENCOURAGME
The title of today’s episode: WAITING FOR STRENGTH
All around us are people who are growing battle-weary. They are facing terrible things and have been praying it seems like a long time for their answers. Almost anyone who has been around Christians or church any length of time has heard the following verse.
Is 40:31 – But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
We often are encouraged and want to soar like an eagle above our issues and problems. But even though we read it, we often do not allow the Wait part of the verse to sink into our thoughts. They that wait upon the Lord. That is an important part of the process.
There are times when we barely get finished saying a prayer and it is answered. That is awesome and wonderful, other times he wants us to wait. There is something to be said about the waiting process. In the waiting, we learn to trust. In the waiting we learn that God has a plan and lessons to teach us. We are strengthened by the process.
Once we have gained this amazing strength, God is growing in us, we will be able to run and not be weary. We will walk and not faint or give up by falling to the side. During the wait we often have to encourage ourselves, and find strength to keep trusting, because things do not look like we are praying for them to look. But he is still God in our trials, in our problems and in our victories. He is still God.
Being a child of God is not always an easy road. Anyone who tells you that life is always wonderful when you are a Christian is a liar. We are subject to the same ups and downs in life as anyone else. We often have more issues, because the enemy tries to put things in our path to see how we will deal with them. He uses people to try to trip us up.
But those who wait….will gain strength. Think about the eagle’s wings. They are large and powerful. An adult eagle can lift their body weight. They can fly between twenty and thirty miles per hour.
Learning to wait on the Lord is often a difficult process. We are the instant generation. We want everything right now. God says there is something to be said about the waiting.
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
This verse again tells us to wait on the Lord and we will gain strength. This says strengthen thine heart. Often, it is our heart that needs courage and strength. God will provide what we need, but first, we must go through the growing process. In our waiting, we learn to trust.
Psalms 37:7-9 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. 9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
It is easy to get discouraged as we see the wicked prosper and we seem to struggle. But their prosperity is only temporary. His word says that the evildoers will be cut off and not inherit the earth or eternal life. We should not be discouraged everything in this life is temporary both good and bad.
Psalms 130:5 – I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits for God to move but in his word (which he promised to strengthen us) I do hope. Every word in the Bible is there for us to be strengthened and encouraged. It is there to teach us to trust and what will happen if we don’t fully trust in him.
We can be sure that God will strengthen us to run our race to the end, as long as we wait on Him.
The title of today’s episode is: OVERCOMING WEAKNESS AND DISCOURAGMENT
We often come under the attack of discouragement. The enemy will try to distract us with spiritual discouragement. The google definition of discouragement is 1. a loss of confidence or enthusiasm; dispiritedness. 2. an attempt to prevent something by showing disapproval or creating difficulties; deterrent.
The enemy is out to try to get us to lose confidence in God. He will do all he can to destroy the enthusiasm of our faith walk. He will create difficulties to deter our progress. We often call them trials. As we grow in our faith walk, the enemy comes to a point where he knows he cannot stop us. Since he cannot stop us, he switches tactics to putting stumbling blocks in our way.
If we allow ourselves to become discouraged, we are not walking in the joy of the Lord. Which means we are walking in a time of weakness. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Without Joy we do not have strength. This is why depression and discouragement are two of Satan most used tools.
When the enemy tries to strip us of our joy by causing depression and discouragement, he wants to make us weak. If we are weak, we will not have the energy to press on and do God’s will. We will not be able to fight the good fight of faith against the spiritual attacks of the enemy.
Look at David at Ziklag: 1 Samuel 30—David had been at war and when he returned home to Ziklag the city had been burned to the ground and all of the soldiers families had been taken captive. The attack of their enemy was so distressing that David’s soldiers were talking about stoning him.
He felt discouraged for a moment, but then he realized that he had to encourage himself in the Lord.
I Sam 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
We can encourage ourselves too, by remembering all the times God delivered us. It is good to think of all the times things looked hopeless and God came through for us personally. It can be encouraging to read scriptures about how God helped others in his word. We cannot be too proud to reach out to someone we can trust for prayer.
There is no shame in having weak moments. We are human and will allow our emotions to take control from time to time. But even though we have fallen into discouragement, we have to be like David and pick ourselves up.
II Cor 12:9 — And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
One thing that is often hard to admit is when we are feeling weak. We think we have to have be strong and not show weakness. But we can find strength in our weakness. When we admit we are weak to God, He will come along side of us with the strength we need. As we learn to push through the attacks of the enemy and give God the glory we will find strength. We will be able to take the next step, walking in God’s strength.
Galatians 6:9 – And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.
There are times when we are battle-weary and discouraged. We can rise above it, and we will reap a harvest for all of our faithfulness. The key is that we cannot allow the enemy to get us so bogged down that we can’t move forward.
Isaiah 41:10 – Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
We have nothing to fear because God is with us. We have no reason to be stressed or discouraged because he will give us strength to pick ourselves up and press on in faith.
People go to the gym to gain physical strength. They push themselves to lift a little more weight than they did the day before. This consistency gives them muscle strength. We can gain spiritual strength by exercising our faith. We can find the determination to keep going. In pressing on, we will find that God gives us the strength we need.
GOD FOCUS--Psalm 34:3 O magnify the Lord with me.... 