Encourage Yourself In The Lord
For days now, this phrase has been going around and around in my spirit----encourage yourself in the Lord. This morning the Lord impressed upon me that we were to talk about this today in our Pearls.
When you look up the word “encourage” in the dictionary, you find some wonderful words to describe it. Coeur is the word for heart. That is the last part of this word. Courage comes from the heart. Listen to these definitions of encourage: To give courage to; to give or increase confidence of success; to inspire with courage, spirit, or strength of mind; to embolden; to animate; to incite; to inspirit.
I find even more interesting the word “encouragement,” which means the act of giving courage, or confidence of success; incitement to action or to practice; incentive.
Encouragement is an action. Encourage is an action.
When we lack confidence in ourselves or lack confidence that the plan of God for our lives will not happen or will not be to the degree we know it is to be, we are to encourage ourselves in the Lord. He gives us courage and confidence of success and the strength of mind to accomplish what we are destined to do.
The scripture in the Bible that keeps rolling around in me is 1 Samuel 30:6 where we are told that David was greatly distressed because of an extremely difficult situation in which the people blamed David for their tragedy and wanted to take his life. The last part of the verse says this: But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God. (Amplified Bible)
When David faced difficult situations, we find him time after time encouraging himself in the Lord. And we are told that David was a man after God’s own heart. The Lord God Almighty has the greatest desire to encourage us and give us the strength, the courage to do His will.
We are to encourage ourselves in the Lord. How do we do that? Jesus is called the Word. So when we encourage ourselves in the Lord, we are encouraging ourselves in the Word. Jesus is Lord over sickness and disease, poverty, defeat, failure, lack, depression and any other bad thing we can think of. When we encourage ourselves in the Lord, we are saying that Jesus is Lord over whatever bad thing is going on in our lives. Someone who is Lord is victorious, the victor over, the overcomer in the situation. JESUS IS LORD!
I think of Joshua in Joshua 1 where the Lord spoke to Joshua after Moses died. I find it interesting that the words that God spoke to Joshua were these: Be strong. Be very courageous. Several times in this passage the Lord told Joshua to be strong and be of good courage. Of course we are all familiar with verse 8 and also verse 9.
Listen to these verses carefully with your whole heart and take them for your own today.
This book of the law (the Word for us) shall not depart out of your mouth.
You shall meditate in it day and night,
that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it;
for then you shall make your way prosperous,
and then you shall have good success (deal wisely in all the affairs of life).
Haven’t I commanded you---be strong and courageous.
Haven’t I commanded you---be not afraid or dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
What God spoke to Joshua, He speaks to us today. This is for you and me also. Encourage yourself in the Lord---take courage to be confident of your success.
When you look up the word “encourage” in the dictionary, you find some wonderful words to describe it. Coeur is the word for heart. That is the last part of this word. Courage comes from the heart. Listen to these definitions of encourage: To give courage to; to give or increase confidence of success; to inspire with courage, spirit, or strength of mind; to embolden; to animate; to incite; to inspirit.
I find even more interesting the word “encouragement,” which means the act of giving courage, or confidence of success; incitement to action or to practice; incentive.
Encouragement is an action. Encourage is an action.
When we lack confidence in ourselves or lack confidence that the plan of God for our lives will not happen or will not be to the degree we know it is to be, we are to encourage ourselves in the Lord. He gives us courage and confidence of success and the strength of mind to accomplish what we are destined to do.
The scripture in the Bible that keeps rolling around in me is 1 Samuel 30:6 where we are told that David was greatly distressed because of an extremely difficult situation in which the people blamed David for their tragedy and wanted to take his life. The last part of the verse says this: But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God. (Amplified Bible)
When David faced difficult situations, we find him time after time encouraging himself in the Lord. And we are told that David was a man after God’s own heart. The Lord God Almighty has the greatest desire to encourage us and give us the strength, the courage to do His will.
We are to encourage ourselves in the Lord. How do we do that? Jesus is called the Word. So when we encourage ourselves in the Lord, we are encouraging ourselves in the Word. Jesus is Lord over sickness and disease, poverty, defeat, failure, lack, depression and any other bad thing we can think of. When we encourage ourselves in the Lord, we are saying that Jesus is Lord over whatever bad thing is going on in our lives. Someone who is Lord is victorious, the victor over, the overcomer in the situation. JESUS IS LORD!
I think of Joshua in Joshua 1 where the Lord spoke to Joshua after Moses died. I find it interesting that the words that God spoke to Joshua were these: Be strong. Be very courageous. Several times in this passage the Lord told Joshua to be strong and be of good courage. Of course we are all familiar with verse 8 and also verse 9.
Listen to these verses carefully with your whole heart and take them for your own today.
This book of the law (the Word for us) shall not depart out of your mouth.
You shall meditate in it day and night,
that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it;
for then you shall make your way prosperous,
and then you shall have good success (deal wisely in all the affairs of life).
Haven’t I commanded you---be strong and courageous.
Haven’t I commanded you---be not afraid or dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
What God spoke to Joshua, He speaks to us today. This is for you and me also. Encourage yourself in the Lord---take courage to be confident of your success.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 8:04 AM
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