Strengthen Yourself in the Lord
By John Dawson (YWAM President)
“A few weeks ago I felt that I was going through a very hard time. My wife had been diagnosed with cancer and it proved to be an aggressive form that will need extensive treatment. I had my own health problems and there were various difficulties in my wider family. One day one of my sons said, “Everything seems to be going wrong. It’s as if God is doing nothing, or even worse, that God is working against us.”
What could I say? He expressed how I felt.
But just a few days earlier I had been reading David’s life story and a passage from 1 Samuel 30 stood out. Verse 6 says, “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
I stopped and compared my circumstances with David’s.
Several years earlier, God had promised him that he would be king one day. After a brief period of success, everything began to go wrong. The reigning king first became suspicious of him and then began to actively seek his death. He fled to the desert and disgruntled men joined him. It would have been hard enough for one man to stay alive in such a desolate place, but he became responsible for hundreds.
Finally, the king of Israel’s enemies gave him a small city to live in on the edge of the desert. While he and his men were off trying to serve in the Philistine army, their town was attacked, sacked and burned. The Philistines rejected him and his men and when they returned from an exhausting trip, the city was smoldering and all their families were missing. In the face of this disaster, his men blamed David and decided to kill him.
And I thought I was going through a bad time!
“But David encouraged himself in the Lord.” How did he do that?? Whatever he did, it really worked because he returned to his men with an infectious confidence and then led them into battle to recover their loved ones. They won them all back along with vast amounts of plunder.
We all have to choose whether we live with confidence in God’s word or allow our circumstances to determine our attitudes.” -Lynn Green, YWAM's int'l chairman
Take some time to read the story of David in 1 Samuel 30 and imagine the depths of discouragement that David faced. If he could find strength from the Lord in those circumstances, then we can as well—regardless of what we face.
Here is how we can go about it:
Never underestimate the benefits of battle. When God decided to create a people for Himself, he planned a path that would engage them in conflict for generations. In Psalm 105, the scriptures make it clear that God himself led them into conflict to strengthen them. James goes even further when he says that we should consider it pure joy when we encounter various trials and tests (James 1:2). Let us not give in to the temptation to resent God when things don’t work out the way we expected. Tests, trials and battles are tools in God’s hand to shape us to be more like Jesus.
Praise. We know that God is good all the time, but when things are going badly, we should take the time to praise Him. When we praise Him during dark times, we are reinforcing the truth that we are serving Him for who He is rather than for the blessings that come from His hand.
Praise is a powerful tool, not only serving to continually set us free and to bless God, but as an act of spiritual warfare. Make no mistake: praise can break strongholds instantaneously or over a period of time. We are sometimes immediately made aware of the results of our praise; at all times, the act of praise itself should settle our hearts and build a quiet confidence in the Lord. Praise helps make us overcomers. 1 John 4:4 states “you, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
Repent of unbelief, fear and comparison. All of us struggle with intimidation at times; it is our responsibility to deal with it seriously, especially if it is a pattern in our lives. The only way to combat the lie that we are insignificant is to do battle with our minds and lay hold of God’s truth. We must do battle where we feel the most incapable. All of this begins with repentance in the areas where we have shut down and not allowed God to use us; the step of faith is then to move in the opposite spirit and be willing to be used in the areas where we feel the weakest. “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies” (Psalm 60:12). We must walk in this truth. As we regain ground that was lost, we must not relent. We cannot afford to give this ground back to the enemy. We must not see ourselves as victims, but rather must come against the underlying pride that fuels our unbelief and fear.
Remember the Word of the Lord. Each of us can remember many promises that God has given us over the years. Among these promises, most of us are certain to find that at least some of them have gone partially unfulfilled. Remembering God’s promises and recounting them back to the Lord is a powerful practice and is itself an act of faith. It is a declaration that we fully expect that what God said will ultimately come to pass. Hebrews 11:13 reminds us that some promises go unfulfilled this side of heaven, while Isaiah 11:3b reminds us that we are not to judge by what we see with our eyes or decide by what we hear with our ears. We have all been given “precious and exceedingly great promises” (2 Peter 1:4) which are all “Yes in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20). It is not presumption to speak out those promises to others, which can build faith in the hearer as well, unless God has specifically directed you otherwise. Finally, it is prudent to continually remind each other of God’s corporate promises and work toward their fulfillment.
Give thanks for all His faithfulness. The Bible says that each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34b). Instead of fruitlessly worrying about tomorrow, we are to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). One of the keys of finding His Kingdom is cultivating an attitude of gratefulness. And we have so much to be grateful for! First off, we’re children of God, plucked from darkness into His marvelous light. And then, each of us has been given the incredible privilege of representing the Lord of the universe in our many spheres of influence. Each of us can recount story after story of how God asked us to do something impossible, then gave us the means and abilities to do so. Thankfulness is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal, and it’s something we can practice 24 hours a day.
Obey him even in the darkest times. The story of Elijah in the cave is the ultimate faith-builder (1 Kings 19). The prophet had no hope left as he stood at the mouth of the cave in utter despair. He had no earthly reason to leave that cave and continue to walk out the call upon his life, except for the fact that God showed up at just the right time and gave him further instructions. With renewed faith that God was leading and guiding, “Elijah went from there…..” (1 Kings 19:19). May we be a people that learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord so that we will be able to respond as Elijah did in his darkest hour!
