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Wednesday, March 03, 2010Encourage Yourself
Have you ever had a goal in life that you wanted so bad that you will do whatever it takes to have it?
Did you ever experience the feeling that despite all your efforts in doing the right things you could not even take a step to get closer to that dream?
How do you encourage yourself if you cannot experience a breakthrough to reach your goal?
Can you quit and just try doing something else?
In my blog "When God Delays", maybe we just need to practice the virtue of patience.
But how can we practice patience when we are discouraged?
Let me borrow a parable from the Gospel of Luke. "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)
Have you ever noticed when you are about to experience a pivotal moment in your life you stop and quit because of discouragement?
Let me tell you the story of the uncle of R.U. Darby? R.U. Darby is one of the most successful insurance salesmen. His uncle was caught in the "gold fever" in the gold-rush days. He was so passionate about his discovery of a shinny oar that he knew he will be able to find gold. Together, they invested heavily on machinery so they could follow the vein of gold. After all the digging and investment, something happened – the vein of gold disappeared. For them it was the end of the rainbow. They tried to dig further but to no avail until they stopped.
Finally, they decided to quit. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars and went home. With guidance from the experts, the junk man was able to find the vein that they were digging for just three feet from where they stopped drilling.
They were able to take millions of dollars in ore from the mine.
Like R.U. Darby, every person is guilty of this mistake one time or another. This lesson in life taught him so well that he became the best in the field of selling insurance.
Before success comes to most people, it is almost sure that the biggest challenges come into place. When we face these challenges and we think there is no way out, we get discouraged, we quit and we isolate ourselves.
We get discouraged, that's a normal thing. We isolate ourselves, that's not a bad idea too because I believe that finding yourself alone is God's doing.
Let's face it, there will be a time in our lives when we are left alone, discouraged and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong - so, what do we do?
Just like the parable says, "dig around and put fertilizer in it" and do what King David did - "But David strengthen himself in His Lord God" (1 Samuel 30:33)
God allows us to be alone so that we can turn to Him completely. A lot of us fail to understand these circumstances in our lives. We think he has forgotten us. No, He is just trying to tell us something - He is there for us. We are not alone. He wants us to be totally dependent on Him. He will show us another path to achieve our purpose.
Stop being discouraged because worse things will follow. If you become discouraged, you will only attract bad things in your life and believe me, they pile up really fast.
How do we encourage ourselves when we are left alone, depressed, discouraged and facing difficult situation?
1) Pray - "Ask and you shall receive." (Matthew 7:7-11)
I remember an old friend whose daughter was diagnosed with dengue fever. The platelet of his daughter is 10,000. (If you are wondering what platelets are - in an adult, a normal count is about 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood. If platelet levels fall below 20,000 per microliter, spontaneous bleeding may occur and is considered a life-threatening risk)
When my friend heard this from the doctor, he was devastated. At that time, he confessed that he never knew how to pray but regardless, he took a chance of praying over her daughter. It was all his hope. Although the doctors were giving up, my friend never did. After praying over, her daughter had a miraculous recovery. That is the power of prayer!
A lot of us could pray like a fighter plane passing by. You can feel the ground shaking, they have words of prophesy and their praying in tongues is like singing. You can feel the presence of God in the place. I admire these people!
If you do not pray this way, welcome to my club. My prayer is more like a pin dropping on the floor. You can't hardly hear it or feel it. No one notices it. No ground shaking, no walls crumbling, no thunder roaring no nothing. No power.
Often, I don't know how to pray or how to focus my prayer; often, I do not know the root cause of the difficulty; often I do not have the right words.
Regardless, that doesn't bother me. When I pray, I know that the power of prayer is not in the prayer or how you pray. The power of prayer is in the one who hears it. That's the only thing that matters.
All we need to do after praying is to trust the one who hears our prayer and expect that it will be answered.
When I feel discouraged and I ran out of words to say while praying, instead of entertaining these thoughts in my mind, I secretly pray in tongues.
I hope that I could write more about the gift of tongues in the near future.
2. Be thankful.
When we are thankful to the many blessings that we keep receiving, that should be enough to encourage us.
Not thanking the source of all blessings is one step in the wrong direction.
Paul the apostle wrote to the Romans (1:21) – "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
In Ephesians 5:20 it says, "Always giving thanks for all things."
When the scripture says "all things" that means all "all things."
Is it possible to give thanks to the Lord for that person who harmed you? Who discourages you? Who tries to destroy your dreams? Who ridicules you and mocks you?
We should be able to do this through the grace of God.
In the Gospel of Mark 11:25-26 it says, "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."
These people will be the one who will purify you. They will be the tools so you could develop a good character. It is how you handle these adversities that results to what you can become. They will help you develop an attitude of gratitude.
3. Praise God.
The most common reaction for most people who are struggling with life and feeling discouraged in what they do is to analyze what has gone wrong.
Why am I in this situation? Why am I struggling to meet both ends need? What is the cause of my problem?
Stop analyzing and start praising! When we are hit with adversity, difficulties, discouragement, anxieties and a long delay, it's easy to lose our focus that we have a God out there who looks for us and loves us. It's sad that we prefer to look at our circumstances.
Just like prayer, there is tremendous power in praising.
What brought down the walls of Jericho? It was not the analytical warfare genius of Joshua but it was the trumpets and shouting (praising) of its people that brought the walls down. (Joshua 6)
What broke the chains of Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned? It was through praising. (Acts 16:25-30)
It is our choice to remain self-pity and be sad or to enter into His presence by praising and glorifying God.
I remember a time when I had a client that requires me to leave the house at five in the morning so I could take a two hour drive to arrive at their office. During rush hour, it would take me four hours to get back home.
One Wednesday afternoon, I planned to leave early from my client so I could make it in time for our bible study where I was the one leading it. Our group gathers in the church hall which is five minutes away from our house.
Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to finish testing the system I made that I have to extend my working hours. I left my client at 4:30 pm and our bible study starts at 7:00 pm. There was no way for me to make it on time.
I did not analyze which route I'm going to take or how am I going to make it on time. All I did was I started praising God. I played the tapes of Steve Kuban and Don Moen and started singing inside the car while driving. Can you guess what happened?
I arrived at the church 15 minutes before 7 pm. Praise God!
No matter how strong the enemy is, the battle is not yours but God (2 Chronicles 20:15c)
4. Remember
Stop being discouraged and remind yourself of how the Lord has delivered you in the past; the same God who delivered you ten years ago, five years ago, one year ago or even yesterday, will deliver you again today.
Knowing how the Lord dealt with your problems and delivered you again and again, that should help us to remember His faithfulness to us.
We are suppose to remember all the goodness that's been done in our lives.
If you could not recall any blessing that you received throughout your life or if you think you were born to have bad luck, you are lying to yourself. God does not create junk!
The fact that you are reading this blog is a blessing in itself. I do believe that you did not read this far if this blog was not for you.
God has begun a work in your heart. And what he begins, God completes.
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)
God is the greatest!
Posted By: Allen Espejo @ 1:49:02 AM
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