Living with Encouragement
How many of you can relate to the title of this devotional, Living with Encouragement? How many of you can actually say that you believe that you live with people who encourage you, or you have friends or family members who encourage you? How many of you can say that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your family and friends would stand behind you and encourage you in everything, always, in every single circumstance that may come along in life?….some of you will answer yes to these questions and some of you will answer no….
My devotional today is to encourage you that no matter how you answered the above questions, to find the strength from within to encourage yourself….if there is no one else around you to encourage you, dig deep down to the very depths of your inner being and find the God given strength to encourage yourself.
King David found himself in extremely discouraging circumstances, where his men were planning to stone him because their city had been overtaken and their wives and children had been captured by their enemies. David was distraught. However he did not curl up in a corner, discouraged and defeated, instead we find in 1 Samuel 30:6 (KJV), “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”
The New International Version (NIV) of the bible uses slightly varied wording, “But David found strength in the LORD his God.”
Sometimes in life you may need to find encouragement and strength from within. Even though you may long to have encouragement from those around you, however, you discover that others are not there standing by you cheering you on and encouraging you. I want to encourage you today to do as King David did and to find strength and encouragement from within and from God.
As God promises in Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you”. What a blessing that is, to know that you can serve a God who will always be with you, who will always uphold you with his righteous right hand, providing you the encouragement, strength and courage to go on.
So, despite the lack of encouragement by others around you, I challenge you today to answer YES to the statement – Living with Encouragement. As you find the strength and courage from within and from God, you can live every day with encouragement.
Please share your stories with me by visiting www.justsayit.today or by e-mailing me at cheryl@justsayit.today. I challenge you to start the worldwide phenomenon today, encourage yourself and find someone YOU can encourage!