Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 1)
There is a thin line between doubt and disappointment. Doubt & disappointment, if unchecked, can lead quickly to despair - the loss of all hope.
When we find ourselves in the midst of discouragement, we need to get on a road that leads to an encounter with Jesus. Meeting Jesus through the Word, through the life of a fellow believer, through worship, or through prayer is the surest remedy for discouragement.
If your heart is hurting within you because of despair, you need to encourage yourself in God's Word - hear from Jesus Christ. Discouragement and despair cannot exist in His presence.
The Bible says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. There are at least 3 spiritual disciplines that, when practiced, result in encouragement.
How do you battle discouragement "when all else fails" and there is no one there to encourage you to go on?
The solution is a biblical one - you learn to encourage yourself. It is biblical because we find that one of our Old Testament heroes, David, encouraged himself during a dark period in his own life. His story is found in 1 Samuel 30, and it recounts part of the period of David's life when he was being persecuted by King Saul. When David killed the Philistine giant, Goliath, he became the toast of Israel. Everyone in Israel praised David's courage and valor - everyone except one person, that is. King Saul was consumed by jealousy and set out to destroy David.
David lived in the wilderness for a period , running and hiding from Saul and his soldiers. David's own men became upset at David when they discovered the Amalekites had invaded and burned Ziklag and kidnapped their wives and kids, so his men threatened to stone him. (1 Samuel 30:6)
In modern terminology, we might say that David was having a bad day. He had 400 ruffians about to stone him, several hundred missing women and children, including his own wives, and a bounty on his own head from the King of Israel. Though he was surrounded by people, David was completely alone in his agony. There was not one person there to encourage him or support him. Yet David took it upon himself not to give in to his circumstances. So David "strengthened himself in the Lord his God(1 Samuel 30:6)
Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 2)
The key to surviving those times is to remember that God has given us everything we need for righteousness, godliness, and victory in our lives. Though we are to bear one another's burdens, we are also to learn to bear our own when we find ourselves alone. The resources God has given are more than sufficient for encouraging and strengthening ourselves in the Lord.
3 Things David could have done to gain perspective when his world came crashing down. Encourage himself through solitude, through Scripture, and through song.
Solitude: It's almost an unknown concept in today's world. Most people are very uncomfortable with silence - they have to have a radio or something playing in the background when they find themselves alone. Yet it is not difficult to find examples of biblical characters who isolated themselves in order to gain encouragement and direction from God. Elijah was such a man. After facing King Ahab, God sequestered him by the Brook Cherith and dealt with him in isolation. Then after he went to Mount Carmel and had a great victory over the prophets of Baal, he got depressed and ran away. But God put him in a cave on Mount Horeb and dealt with him there until he could hear the still small voice of God. God often seems to have built isolation into the lives of people He wanted to use. In the noisy culture we live in today, we must learn to isolate ourselves - figure out how to be alone with God. I have always loved the story of Susannah Wesley, the mother of 19 children, 2 of whom were John & Charles Wesley. They only way she could be alone for a moment with God during her busy day was to sit down and pull her apron up over her head in order to talk to God. Must of us don't have to go to that extreme to find a place of solitude; but if we need to, we should. Psalm 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God. David wrote Psalm 62 "Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation" ISaiah 0:15 "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" Anyone who thinks his time is so valuable that he cannot find time to be quiet and be alone will eventually not be valuable to anyone but himself. In order to have anything to give to other people, we must first receive from God. The purpose of solitude is to talk with God and to let God talk with you. And the place of solitude is anywhere you can find that provides an opportunity for quiet reflection and communication with God. Jesus withdrew to 2 places primarily: the mountains and the seashore. Meeting God in a place of quietness and solitude is a step any believer can take in the process of encouraging himself.
Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 3)
ISaiah 0:15 "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" Anyone who thinks his time is so valuable that he cannot find time to be quiet and be alone will eventually not be valuable to anyone but himself. In order to have anything to give to other people, we must first receive from God. The purpose of solitude is to talk with God and to let God talk with you. And the place of solitude is anywhere you can find that provides an opportunity for quiet reflection and communication with God. Jesus withdrew to 2 places primarily: the mountains and the seashore. Meeting God in a place of quietness and solitude is a step any believer can take in the process of encouraging himself.
Scripture: The 2nd way any believer can encourage himself is through the Word of God. David was familiar with the promises of God as recorded in the 5 books of Moses. His psalms are filled with references to the covenant promises made to Israel and delivered thru Moses. David lived on the basis of those promises and used them to bolster his flagging faith. Romans 15:4 is a perfect example of how the Word of God can serve to build the faith and hope of the New Testament believer. Paul says, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" In Greek, the word "comfort" is the same word that means "encouragement" Encouragement and strength are to be gained through the reading and study of God's Word. Once encouragement is received, hope is renewed. Verses Psalm 27: Psalm 34:4-9a Psalm 43:5 Psalm 46:1-2,10-11 When you are discouraged, the best friend you have apart from your personal prayer relationship with God is the Scriptures.
Song: The last way we can learn from David to encourage ourselves is thru song - the offerings of praise to the Lord thru music and song. I believe, apart from Scripture and a personal relationship with the Lord, music is the most blessed of the gifts God has given to us. There is one song in the Old Testament that few believers have ever read because it is tucked away in the little book of Habakkuk. It is a song born out of discouragement. Habakkuk had been called by God to minister during a time of great wickedness in Israel. Habakkuk wanted God to judge Israel for her sin, but was shocked to learn that God was going to use an even more wicked people, the Chaldeans, as His means of judgment. He was totally discouraged by God's actions because he didn't understand at all what God was doing. But when we get to the end of Habakkuk's prophesy, we find a hymn of faith that Habakkuk wrote in the midst of his discouragement: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation"
Song: The last way we can learn from David to encourage ourselves is thru song - the offerings of praise to the Lord thru music and song. I believe, apart from Scripture and a personal relationship with the Lord, music is the most blessed of the gifts God has given to us. There is one song in the Old Testament that few believers have ever read because it is tucked away in the little book of Habakkuk. It is a song born out of discouragement. Habakkuk had been called by God to minister during a time of great wickedness in Israel. Habakkuk wanted God to judge Israel for her sin, but was shocked to learn that God was going to use an even more wicked people, the Chaldeans, as His means of judgment. He was totally discouraged by God's actions because he didn't understand at all what God was doing. But when we get to the end of Habakkuk's prophesy, we find a hymn of faith that Habakkuk wrote in the midst of his discouragement: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation"
Habakkuk was saying, "In spite of what I don't understand about the circumstances, I will nevertheless rejoice in the Lord." He encouraged himself by singing a song of praise to the God whose actions he didn't understand, but whom he was willing to trust anyway. The Hebrew words Habakkuk uses in this hymn would cause some raised eyebrows in some of our churches - but such is Habakkuk's desire to praise his God in song. The first Hebrew verb of verse 18 literally says, "I will jump for joy in the Lord." And the second verb he uses says" I will spin around to the God of my salvation." Habakkuk was in the moment of his deepest discouragement, yet used music to bring himself up out of it. He was ready to jump and spin around for joy because of who God is! Songs who have encouraged others "Great is Thy Faithfulness" "It Is Well With My Soul" and "Through it All" by Andrae Crouch.
The next time you are discouraged and alone, take the 3 steps you have learned in this lesson to encourage yourself: Get alone, get in the Word, and get a song of praise on your lips.
4 comments:
Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 1)
There is a thin line between doubt and disappointment. Doubt & disappointment, if unchecked, can lead quickly to despair - the loss of all hope.
When we find ourselves in the midst of discouragement, we need to get on a road that leads to an encounter with Jesus. Meeting Jesus through the Word, through the life of a fellow believer, through worship, or through prayer is the surest remedy for discouragement.
If your heart is hurting within you because of despair, you need to encourage yourself in God's Word - hear from Jesus Christ. Discouragement and despair cannot exist in His presence.
The Bible says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. There are at least 3 spiritual disciplines that, when practiced, result in encouragement.
How do you battle discouragement "when all else fails" and there is no one there to encourage you to go on?
The solution is a biblical one - you learn to encourage yourself. It is biblical because we find that one of our Old Testament heroes, David, encouraged himself during a dark period in his own life. His story is found in 1 Samuel 30, and it recounts part of the period of David's life when he was being persecuted by King Saul. When David killed the Philistine giant, Goliath, he became the toast of Israel. Everyone in Israel praised David's courage and valor - everyone except one person, that is. King Saul was consumed by jealousy and set out to destroy David.
David lived in the wilderness for a period , running and hiding from Saul and his soldiers. David's own men became upset at David when they discovered the Amalekites had invaded and burned Ziklag and kidnapped their wives and kids, so his men threatened to stone him. (1 Samuel 30:6)
In modern terminology, we might say that David was having a bad day. He had 400 ruffians about to stone him, several hundred missing women and children, including his own wives, and a bounty on his own head from the King of Israel. Though he was surrounded by people, David was completely alone in his agony. There was not one person there to encourage him or support him. Yet David took it upon himself not to give in to his circumstances. So David "strengthened himself in the Lord his God(1 Samuel 30:6)
Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 2)
The key to surviving those times is to remember that God has given us everything we need for righteousness, godliness, and victory in our lives. Though we are to bear one another's burdens, we are also to learn to bear our own when we find ourselves alone. The resources God has given are more than sufficient for encouraging and strengthening ourselves in the Lord.
3 Things David could have done to gain perspective when his world came crashing down.
Encourage himself through solitude, through Scripture, and through song.
Solitude: It's almost an unknown concept in today's world. Most people are very uncomfortable with silence - they have to have a radio or something playing in the background when they find themselves alone. Yet it is not difficult to find examples of biblical characters who isolated themselves in order to gain encouragement and direction from God.
Elijah was such a man. After facing King Ahab, God sequestered him by the Brook Cherith and dealt with him in isolation. Then after he went to Mount Carmel and had a great victory over the prophets of Baal, he got depressed and ran away. But God put him in a cave on Mount Horeb and dealt with him there until he could hear the still small voice of God. God often seems to have built isolation into the lives of people He wanted to use.
In the noisy culture we live in today, we must learn to isolate ourselves - figure out how to be alone with God. I have always loved the story of Susannah Wesley, the mother of 19 children, 2 of whom were John & Charles Wesley. They only way she could be alone for a moment with God during her busy day was to sit down and pull her apron up over her head in order to talk to God. Must of us don't have to go to that extreme to find a place of solitude; but if we need to, we should.
Psalm 46:10 says "Be still, and know that I am God.
David wrote Psalm 62 "Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation"
ISaiah 0:15 "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength"
Anyone who thinks his time is so valuable that he cannot find time to be quiet and be alone will eventually not be valuable to anyone but himself. In order to have anything to give to other people, we must first receive from God.
The purpose of solitude is to talk with God and to let God talk with you. And the place of solitude is anywhere you can find that provides an opportunity for quiet reflection and communication with God. Jesus withdrew to 2 places primarily: the mountains and the seashore. Meeting God in a place of quietness and solitude is a step any believer can take in the process of encouraging himself.
Excerpts from "The Joy of Encouragement" by Dr. David Jeremiah (Part 3)
ISaiah 0:15 "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength"
Anyone who thinks his time is so valuable that he cannot find time to be quiet and be alone will eventually not be valuable to anyone but himself. In order to have anything to give to other people, we must first receive from God.
The purpose of solitude is to talk with God and to let God talk with you. And the place of solitude is anywhere you can find that provides an opportunity for quiet reflection and communication with God. Jesus withdrew to 2 places primarily: the mountains and the seashore. Meeting God in a place of quietness and solitude is a step any believer can take in the process of encouraging himself.
Scripture: The 2nd way any believer can encourage himself is through the Word of God. David was familiar with the promises of God as recorded in the 5 books of Moses. His psalms are filled with references to the covenant promises made to Israel and delivered thru Moses. David lived on the basis of those promises and used them to bolster his flagging faith.
Romans 15:4 is a perfect example of how the Word of God can serve to build the faith and hope of the New Testament believer. Paul says, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope"
In Greek, the word "comfort" is the same word that means "encouragement"
Encouragement and strength are to be gained through the reading and study of God's Word. Once encouragement is received, hope is renewed.
Verses
Psalm 27:
Psalm 34:4-9a
Psalm 43:5
Psalm 46:1-2,10-11
When you are discouraged, the best friend you have apart from your personal prayer relationship with God is the Scriptures.
Song: The last way we can learn from David to encourage ourselves is thru song - the offerings of praise to the Lord thru music and song. I believe, apart from Scripture and a personal relationship with the Lord, music is the most blessed of the gifts God has given to us.
There is one song in the Old Testament that few believers have ever read because it is tucked away in the little book of Habakkuk. It is a song born out of discouragement. Habakkuk had been called by God to minister during a time of great wickedness in Israel. Habakkuk wanted God to judge Israel for her sin, but was shocked to learn that God was going to use an even more wicked people, the Chaldeans, as His means of judgment. He was totally discouraged by God's actions because he didn't understand at all what God was doing.
But when we get to the end of Habakkuk's prophesy, we find a hymn of faith that Habakkuk wrote in the midst of his discouragement:
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation"
Part 5
Song: The last way we can learn from David to encourage ourselves is thru song - the offerings of praise to the Lord thru music and song. I believe, apart from Scripture and a personal relationship with the Lord, music is the most blessed of the gifts God has given to us.
There is one song in the Old Testament that few believers have ever read because it is tucked away in the little book of Habakkuk. It is a song born out of discouragement. Habakkuk had been called by God to minister during a time of great wickedness in Israel. Habakkuk wanted God to judge Israel for her sin, but was shocked to learn that God was going to use an even more wicked people, the Chaldeans, as His means of judgment. He was totally discouraged by God's actions because he didn't understand at all what God was doing.
But when we get to the end of Habakkuk's prophesy, we find a hymn of faith that Habakkuk wrote in the midst of his discouragement:
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation"
Habakkuk was saying, "In spite of what I don't understand about the circumstances, I will nevertheless rejoice in the Lord." He encouraged himself by singing a song of praise to the God whose actions he didn't understand, but whom he was willing to trust anyway. The Hebrew words Habakkuk uses in this hymn would cause some raised eyebrows in some of our churches - but such is Habakkuk's desire to praise his God in song. The first Hebrew verb of verse 18 literally says, "I will jump for joy in the Lord." And the second verb he uses says" I will spin around to the God of my salvation."
Habakkuk was in the moment of his deepest discouragement, yet used music to bring himself up out of it. He was ready to jump and spin around for joy because of who God is!
Songs who have encouraged others "Great is Thy Faithfulness" "It Is Well With My Soul" and "Through it All" by Andrae Crouch.
The next time you are discouraged and alone, take the 3 steps you have learned in this lesson to encourage yourself: Get alone, get in the Word, and get a song of praise on your lips.
Post a Comment