12/11/2014

Ways I Encourage Myself

I listened to a very helpful sermon a while back. It's a bit difficult to share the sermon as there is not a direct link, so thought I would share the notes I wrote down, but they are written in my own words. I hope they make sense! (The sermon was by Jeff Fugate.)

"David encouraged himself in the LORD." 1 Samuel 30:6
There are times when there is no source of encouragement or times when no one understands and we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord.

But first we have to ask ourselves....
Do I want to be encouraged or do I want to wallow in self-pity??
You'll never accomplish the will of God by feeling sorry for yourself.
We all have the tendency to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to want to be encouraged.
You can't do the will of God and be discouraged.

We also have to be willing to control our thinking.
We shouldn't listen to feelings. We must stay on the top side. Refuse to live in discouragement and depression.

6 Ways to Encourage Yourself
1)Remember the blessings of the past.
Write them down. Teach your children what God has done for you in the past.

2) Think of others.
The will of God doesn't focus on me but on others. Think of other people like missionaries etc. who don't have much.
Try and be the encouragement rather than always wanting to receive it. That is spiritual maturity.
One day we'll face those who died for the cause of Christ and how big will our problems seem compared to theirs??

3) Think of the need all around us.
People need Christ. We don't have time for a pity party.

4) Remember when I encourage myself it will encourage others and they in turn will encourage me. (I didn't quite get that point as the way it was said was a bit of a tongue twister!!)

5) Look for the lesson in the trial.
Don't complain, you have a chance to grow.
Nothing can happen that God doesn't allow.

6) Expect problems.
You'll handle them better if you expect them. We have to go through trials to get to the place of blessing. Just like you go through boot camp for military training.

We need to stay on top. Other need it. And it is good for our health.



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