Peace - Get off the Emotional RollercoasterChikamu

Today we are finishing the five practical steps in abiding in the Lord so we can live in the fullness of joy. 

The fifth point is to choose to encourage yourself in the Lord. This is a hard one, because when you’re acting in your worldly emotions, it’s difficult to transition from “I’m angry,” to “Oh, Father, help me encourage myself.”  

Remember David from 1 Samuel 30. They came home from war. Their wives and their children were gone. Their town burned down. They had zero possessions. Imagine yourself going home tonight and there’s nothing to greet you. That’s what they came home to. They wept till they had no strength. Who wouldn’t do that? David’s army got so angry that they were thinking about killing their leader. They thought, “He led us here. It’s his fault.” But in 1 Samuel 30:6, it says, “In David’s distress, he encouraged himself in the Lord.” 

David encouraged himself in the Lord. What does that mean? What’s that look like? What did David think? He probably thought how was God with him when he was in the shepherd fields, how God helped him beat the lion and a bear, and how God helped him deliver Goliath the giant down. He had all these victories and amazing miracles where he got to witness God! God was with him every step of the way. Because he encouraged himself in the Lord, he got God’s plan. And not only that! He was also able to encourage all 600 men to decide not to kill him and they went after everything that they had lost and they waged war against their enemy. 

We need to be a body of Christ that encourages ourselves in the Lord. And we’ve got to choose to do it. It’s a choice. It takes great strength to come out and choose to encourage yourself in the Lord. But it’s worth it! He’s worth it!