Encourage Yourself

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. " Ps. 27:13

We're living in a time where it's easy to lose heart. Other translations of this verse even go so far as to say despair. It's easy to focus on what is going wrong in our lives, dreams that have not yet been fulfilled, and to become very disappointed.

So what was it that David saw when he wrote this verse that I'm missing? I mean, he had a whole heap of things going wrong in his life. His city had been burned down, his wife kidnapped, and his men wanted to kill him. I don't think anyone of us has it that bad. What was his response? It says that he encouraged himself in the Lord. Instead of focusing on the negatives that surrounded him, he chose to focus on God's faithfulness to him in the past.

That's a pattern we can follow. Yes, things may not be the way that you want, but look at how far God has brought you. Each of us can ask ourselves the question, "Where would I be without the goodness of God?". Webster's defines goodness as " the very best part of something". It takes discipline, but let's set our minds to focus on the very best part of our future. That is God. He is the God of more than enough, the God who can and promises to do exceedingly above all you can ask or imagine.

This Sunday is going to be incredible. We're going to be hearing from members of our own community about the incredible faithfulness of God. Let's begin by setting the stage in our own hearts. I want to challenge you to meditate on His faithfulness to you this week. How far has He brought you? What promises has He fulfilled in your life? By the time Sunday comes around we won't be able to contain ourselves but will undoubtedly declare that He is an AWESOME God.