Strengthen and Encourage

But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30: 6

When we are down and out it is not always easy to put on a happy go lucky face. Many times our circumstances are forecasting that we are going to be swallowed up by what we are going through. Our faith rises to say that we are going to come out on top. Through it all it is a continual warfare to look past what we see and trust what God said.

In 1 Samuel chapter 30 a young man named David found that while he was away from home his wives and children had been captured. In addition to that, the town he lived in had been destroyed by fire. The Bible records David as being down and deeply distressed. David's men were in distress too for their wives and children had been taken as well. David and his men cried for they were heartbroken. The men spoke of killing David because this tragedy had occurred. Despite all this, the Bible says that David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord.

So how is it possible to encourage yourself when everything seems hopeless and things have gone awry? This can only happen by completely trusting and depending in God. There comes a time where we have to learn to encourage ourselves. It is because of the faith and relationship that David had with God that he was able to encourage himself. It is imperative that we have a relationship with God, so we won't faint when adversity happens. David knew that even though things looked bad, it wasn't over. He encouraged himself by remembering all the times God rescued him.

After David encouraged himself, he prayed to God. God told David to go after the men who had stolen their families. He assured David complete victory and recovery of all their families. In order to hear clearly from God, we have to have the proper mindset. Our mindset has to be full of encouraging declarations from within; knowing that God is continually with us no matter how bad it looks. The Bible goes on to tell us that David and his men recovered everything that God said he would. Had David not encouraged himself with the proper mindset, he may have never even sought God for the answer.

Ladies, God wants us to have our hope, faith and trust in him. When we do this, we will hear clearly from God. In doing this, we will be strengthened and encouraged from within.