Mountain View - Encourage Yourself in the Lord By Paula Friedrichsen
Writer Author Church On The Mountain
Christian Column
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Encouragement
- Fiction No
We all need encouragement from time to time when the journey of life seems just too trying. Sometimes we will find the hope we need when the Lord sends another along our path to speak words of life to us. But many times God is waiting to see if we will take advantage of all that he has given us, to encourage ourselves!
Some days I get up excited about the day before me. I’m feeling happy, inspired and full of the life of God. But what about those other days….
As you step out of bed in the morning you can feel the coat of depression being slipped on. It’s a perfect fit and you’ll wear it all day - maybe even the next if you don’t resist it! As you make the family oatmeal you spill the oats all over your kitchen (that actually happened to me this morning). Your kids seem loud and needy. Depressing feelings and thoughts swirl around you like a mini tornado.
We all have times in our life when things we were planning on didn’t work out, and we’re faced with the feelings of disappointment, failure, or stupidity. And it’s at that point that we can choose to have a pity party, or begin to encourage ourselves in the Lord. In Psalm 42:5 we see a perfect example of what it looks like to “encourage yourself in the Lord.”
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5)
The Psalmist doesn’t say that someone else came along and told him to be of good cheer and put his hope in God – he told himself to put his hope in God. After acknowledging the fact that he is indeed depressed, he then commands his soul to line up with Gods word, telling himself to cheer up because there is hope in God!
While it’s true that there will be times in life where we are genuinely downcast and disturbed, there may not always be someone around to speak life-giving words to us and encourage us. At that point it’s up to us to speak to our own souls (our mind, will and emotions). Our words are more important then we realize. The Bible says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). So when we are dealing with a spirit of heaviness or we feel like a black cloud is over our heads, we need to encourage ourselves with the Word of God. As we find verses in the Bible that really speak to us we can pray those scriptures out loud and we’ll be speaking the truth over our lives. We can cry out to God in prayer and stir up our faith, thereby remembering who we are in Christ and that he lives on the inside of us!
Paula Friedrichsen is a member of Church on the Mountain, a vibrant community of believers in Crowley Lake. We meet at 9:30 Sunday mornings. Call for more information: 935-4272 or www.ChurchOnTheMountain.org
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
State:
California
Country:
United States
Email:
Paulafriedrichsen@live.com
Website:
www.churchonthemountain.org
Profile:
Click here!
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