Encourage Yourself in The LORD
PSALM 27:13-14 “I would have fainted, unless I had BELIEVED to see the GOODNESS of The LORD in the land of the living. WAIT on The LORD; BE OF GOOD COURAGE, and HE SHALL Strengthen your HEART: WAIT, I tell you, on The LORD.”
In hard and trying times BELIEVE that The LORD will come to you and work ALL things out for your GOOD(ROMANS 8:28). BELIEVE IN SPITE OF whatever you see going on around you, leaning not on your own understanding of those things, but on what the WORD of God says and who it says that GOD IS, and all that GOD PROMISES to do for you, even in those hard and trying times. Because “GOD IS NOT A MAN THAT HE SHOULD LIE…”, and “…HIS WORD SHALL NOT RETURN TO HIM EMPTY….”(NUMBERS 23:19; ISAIAH 55:11). Meaning that God does not make empty promises as man does; what God says He will do, He does. GOD does what He says He is going to do, all you have to do is BELIEVE. And when you CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IN SPITE OF, you may have to wait on The LORD to do what He does best. But in your times of waiting CONTINUE to Believe no matter what your circumstances may suggest. Now, that requires courage, but not any type of courage, GOOD COURAGE. Meaning you cannot allow yourself to be discouraged in those times, you have to encourage yourself in the LORD, like David the psalmist often did. How does one do that? What comes to mind when I think of encouraging myself in the Lord is remembering the promises of the Lord and all the things that He has brought me through and delivered me from in the past. It could also be praying to the Lord and HONESTLY telling Him how you feel, and asking HIM to fulfill His promises to you, BELIEVING that you WILL receive them. Because “Ask(in JESUS name), and you shall receive,” “You have not because you ask not, and you ask amiss(in vain)” and “Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.”(MATTHEW 7:7-8; JOHN 16:24; JAMES 4:2-3; MATTHEW 21:21-22) Alternatively, it could be as simple as reminding yourself of God's promises and speaking them aloud to help them take root in your mind and spirit. Or just read Psalms and see how David did it and how God always showed up in his life, encouraging yourself through the word of God.
The LORD WILL give you the strength not to grow weary when you continue to wait in FAITH. Isn’t that amazing? When faced with difficulties, we never have to lean on our own strength(PHILIPPIANS 4:13). We have the WORD of GOD filled with promises of His GOODNESS waiting to be fulfilled. ALL we have to do is believe in FAITH WITH PATIENCE and The LORD WILL strengthen and uplift us in His Divine Timing, to help us endure and overcome ANY and ALL difficulties of this life. So, if you are feeling weak, broken, depressed, weary, or just discouraged, about whatever it is you are going through, BELIEVE that The LORD will show up and reveal His GOODNESS to you. BE PATIENT and HAVE FAITH, and The LORD WILL STRENGTHEN you, in His PERFECT TIMING. TRUST and WAIT on The LORD.
Further Scripture Breakdown/Analysis
“I would have fainted(given up) unless I had BELIEVED to see the GOODNESS of the LORD in the land of the living(earth). WAIT on The LORD: BE OF GOOD COURAGE(Be Encouraged), and HE SHALL(that’s a promise) STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART(because out of the heart flows the issues of life, PROVERBS 4:23): WAIT, I tell you, on The LORD.”
- This is a testimony of David. David actually saw the goodness of the Lord. The Lord fulfilled His promise(s) to David because David believed that God would show up and fulfill His every need EVERY TIME. Which is why David repeatedly tells us to WAIT ON THE LORD, because He knows that God will also show up in the lives of others and fulfill His promises if they too WAIT and BELIEVE that they will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. David repeatedly encouraged himself in The LORD as he faced hard and trying times. We see this throughout the book of Psalms; how David expressed himself HONESTLY to the Lord, but also reminded himself of who he was expressing himself to, the same God who helped Him defeat a giant, and continually delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, despite himself and what his circumstances looked like. That the God he served was a GOOD GOD, and would not let the wicked, or his enemies, triumph over him. Our circumstances may not look like David’s, but there are similarities, especially if we look at it figuratively. You may be facing problems that seem bigger than you, but remember that the God we serve is ALMIGHTY and created ALL things. And our Savior, Jesus our Lord, has overcome the world(JOHN 16:33). No problem is too big for God to fix, and our God will never fail. In fact, He can do all things but fail; our God has never lost a battle, and He never will(DEUTERONOMY 31:6). ANYTHING is possible when we do it with GOD(MARK 10:27). He won’t give us anything we cannot bear(JOHN 16:12). Even if we put ourselves in positions that we can’t get ourselves out of, if we confess our wrongdoings to God, repent with a repentant heart, then surely God will show up and deliver us out of ALL OUR TROUBLES, as He promised in His word(PSALM 91:15). It’s in our nature as humans to sin, but that’s why the Father gave us Jesus. All we have to do is BELIEVE that GOD WILL, WAIT PATIENTLY, and BE STILL (don’t try and fix it ourselves, PSALM 46:10) and let God do His Good God things. In JESUS name, Hallelujah, AMEN.
BONUS SCRIPTURE
II CORINTHIANS 1:20 “For ALL the promises of God in Him(Jesus) are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
