Encourage Yourself In God

1 Samuel 30:6 (New International Version)

⁶ David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. 

Have you ever felt “greatly distressed?”  I am sure we all have at times.  It’s at these times we can either go under our circumstances or over them.  We have the choice of taking the low road or the high road.  The low road is when our emotions take control.  Remember the last time you did that?  What was the outcome?  Even more distress, right?

The other choice is the high road.  That’s when we look up and see God holding out His hand to us.  We can grasp His hand and let Him help us get on top of our circumstances.

Which one is easier?  Which one is better?  

It’s always easier to naturally let our emotions run wild.  But if we would stop and remember what happened the last time we took that road, we might stop and say, “Not going there!!”

The better way is always to go with God!  His way always leads to peace—and it ends in joy—no matter what you are facing.

David was in deep trouble, but he encouraged himself in God and found his strength there.  You can too!

GPS  (God’s Direction)

I Samuel 30: 1-20

Proverbs 16:3  Amplified Bible

Romans 15:13

Prayer Focus:

Commit your distressing situation to God and see how He makes you successful right in the middle of it.

        Confident in God

Isaiah 50:7  (New International Version)

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.  Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

This promise has the word “CONFIDENCE” written all over it. The first few words indicates that we can have a relationship with the Lord.  We can get to know God’s character by having experiences with Him.  As we partner with God and spend time with Him, we’ll get to know Him personally.

Then comes the promise:  “I will NOT be disgraced.”  Two meanings for the word disgraced are “humiliated” and “shamed.”  Without God in our lives these words can easily become part of our vocabulary and our experience.  But with God we can have the confidence that as we trust Him, He will keep us from being humiliated and disgraced.

It is then that we can set our faces like flint.  In other wards we can depend on God and not be moved off of our trust in Him.  When we lean totally over on Him and His ways, He will keep us from shame.

GPS  (God’s Directions)

• Exodus 14:13
• II Samuel 22:34
• Psalms 9:10

Prayer Focus: 

Spend some time making a list of those areas of your life that you need to turn over to God.  In your own words, release each one to God.  You may have to release them daily—until you have full confidence that they are in God’s hands.

A Soft Heart

Ezekiel 11:19 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁹And I will give them one heart [a new heart] and I will put a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony [unnaturally hardened] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh [sensitive and responsive to the touch of their God],

When bad things happen to us, we tend to put a guard up around our hearts so that we don’t get hurt again.  We protect ourselves and in doing so, we lock God out of our lives. If our hearts hurt, we don’t want anyone touching it. However, if we allow God to heal us of those hurts, our hearts become soft and subtle again.  It’s then that we can feel God’s loving and gentle touch.

God is so gentle and He knows exactly what happened to us and He wants to heal it for us.  He wants us to allow Him to remove each layer of protection that we have used in the past so that He can get to the source of the pain and heal it.  He will take it one layer at a time and He won’t go past what we will allow Him to do.  Let’s let Him get to the heart of the matter and let's allow Him to take out our hard hearts and replace them with a soft heart that recognizes His gentle touch.

GPS  (God’s Directions)

Hebrews 13:5 Amplified Bible

Ezekiel 36: 26-27                 

Jeremiah 24: 7

Prayer Focus:

Father, keep my heart soft and pliable in Your hands and help me to respond to Your gentle touch.

     Help Me, God

Zechariah 4:6 (New International Version © 2010)

 ⁶ So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty. 

Have you realized how heavy “life” can get when you are trying to figure everything out?   I certainly have!  And in addition to coming up with our own solutions and our own plans, we then try to do it all ourselves.  And then after we do that and have no peace,—“life” gets heavier yet!!  

Actually His Word says that He will never leave us.  I suppose that never actually means never!!  So if I am busy in my day and come up against some obstacle or something where a decision is required, I could just say, “What do I do here?” —- and actually expect an answer??

Here’s a thought——maybe we should begin to  train ourselves to wait on the answer.  To give God time to show us what He wants and how He wants things done.  I know from my experience that if I purpose to wait, I don’t have to wait very long.  Waiting, however is something that doesn’t exactly come naturally in this day and age, but when I choose to do it, the outcome is well worth it!!

GPS  (God’s Directions)

• Hebrews 13: 5-6
• Isaiah 40: 31
• Isaiah 41:10

Prayer Focus:

Thank God for His willingness to partner with you today—to show you the way, to show you how to do things and to carry the load of your cares, as you give them to Him.

God Loves Me

Isaiah 54:10 (The Message)

For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces,  My love won't walk away from you,  My covenant commitment of peace won't fall apart."  The God who has compassion on you says so. 

What is God saying to us in this verse??  “My love won’t walk away from you…”  That means He doesn’t get discouraged when we mess up.  When we step out of faith and start to worry, He doesn’t withhold His love for us.  He knows we are human and that we are going to make mistakes.

Like any well meaning parent, when one of His children goes astray or even rebels, He is faithful to open His arms wide and wait for their return.

It is so much fun to be with someone who loves you.  He waits for us to come to Him.  He longs to see us and spend time with us.  The Almighty God of the universe knows how you feel and He waits for you to come into His arms.

GPS  (God’s Directions)

• Lamentations 3: 22-23 NLT
• Jeremiah 30:18
• Psalms 103:13

Prayer Focus:

Come into the Father’s arms and tell Him how much you appreciate His faithfulness toward you.

Making A U-Turn With God

Jeremiah 31:21-22 (The Message)

 Set up signposts to mark your trip home. Get a good map.  Study the road conditions. The road out is the road back.

We’ve never gone too far away from God to come back.  The road does not disappear from behind us.  It’s always there waiting for us. We can turn around and come back into the Father’s loving arms.

Who hasn’t made mistakes?  Who hasn’t left the pathway of God’s perfect will and gotten off track?  We all have, but the good news is—-there is a road back.  God is very willing to turn us around as we yield to Him.

That’s the key….yielding to Him.  At times we can be stubborn because we don’t want to admit that we made the mistake.  He wants us to admit our sin of willfulness (doing it our own way), ask forgiveness for it, and then run back into His arms.

Stubborness is really pride and a lot of time pride stems from an insecurity.  We feel we have to defend our mistake rather than ask forgiveness for it in order to save face.  Thus we become unteachable.  When that happens, God has to wait until we are ready to come running to Him, because He will not violate our free will.

GPS  (God’s Directions) 

Luke 15: 11-32

I John 1:9

Jeremiah 31: 28b The Message Bible

Prayer Focus:

Ask God to show you the areas of your life that are not totally submitted to Him.

Day 16     I Am Determined

Isaiah 50:7 (New International Version)

 ⁷ Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
       I will not be disgraced.
       Therefore have I set my face like flint,
       and I know I will not be put to shame.

That sounds like “determination,” doesn’t?  Determination comes when we are confident and confidence comes when we have spent time with God. 

I have found that daily meetings with God at a specific time creates an atmosphere of dialog.  In the business world that is natural.  It should be natural in the spiritual world also.  

Dialoging with God takes a little getting used to.  At first it might seem like we are doing all the talking and God is not even there, but as we continue to meet with Him on a regular basis, we will begin to sense His presence.

Yesterday’s scripture (Isaiah 30:21) tells us that He is willing to talk to us.  One way that He speaks is through His Word.  I use an easy-to-understand version of the Bible and an easy-to-relate-to devotional.  

Iff you are serious abut having these consistent, daily “meetings,” you will begin to sense His presence with you. As your read His Word, you will have confidence in what He wants and what He will do.  Then you can set your face like flint and not be moved by the circumstances around you.

GPS (God’s Directions)

John 16:24

Psalms 46:10

Psalms 57:7

Prayer Focus:

Set a time and a (quiet) place to meet with God and then say, “Here I am, God, ready to spend time with You.”