1 Three days later, David and his men arrived back in Ziklag. Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They tore Ziklag to pieces and then burned it down.
2 They captured all the women, young and old. They didn’t kill anyone, but drove them like a herd of cattle.
3 By the time David and his men entered the village, it had been burned to the ground, and their wives, sons, and daughters all taken prisoner.
4 David and his men burst out in loud wails – wept and wept until they were exhausted with weeping.
5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken prisoner along with the rest.
6 And suddenly David was in even worse trouble. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him.
7 He ordered Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the Ephod so I can consult God.” Abiathar brought it to David.
8 Then David prayed to God, “Shall I go after these raiders? Can I catch them?” The answer came, “Go after them! Yes, you’ll catch them! Yes, you’ll make the rescue!” (Scripture, which is in italics, is from 1 Samuel 30:1-8. Other words by author Eugene H. Peterson)
Today our greatest challenge is not foreclosures, job losses or the stock market.
Our greatest challenge is how to deal with discouragement; how to be happy when Satan has loosed his hellions; how to smile when the world is frowning.
In other words how do you stay encouraged when the demons of discouragement yell from hell “you are going to lose your house; you are going to lose your job; you are going to lose your family; you are going to lose your mind!”
How do you deal with it; how do you hold onto God’s unchanging hand. Most of us can sing that song but discouragement still comes on us. How do we handle it?
The best way is the way that David handled it. You have to learn how to encourage yourself.
When nobody is around to help you, encourage yourself. CNN won’t help you. MSNBC won’t help you; they lie. Fox is sly. They won’t speak a word of encouragement to you. Where can you get your encouragement?
David said, “learn how to encourage yourself.” Today’s music doesn’t help. T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne are not going to help you.
Mary J. and Kanye are not going to help you. Sometimes you have to straighten up and look yourself in the eye and encourage yourself in the Lord. You have to know something about God in order to be able to call on God in your time of stress and need. Sometimes you have to encourage yourself.
Donald Lawrence wrote: “Sometimes you have to encourage yourself. Sometimes you have to speak victory during the test. No matter how you feel – speak the Word over your life and you will be healed.”
I think in the fifth chapter in my latest book, It’s All In Your Mind, I talked about “Speaking Spirits.” I said the bible is right, “if God be for you, He is more than the world against you.” If you can let God be released through your tongue, you can drive the enemy out of his mind. Demons tremble when you speak the word!
Demons tremble when you lift up Jesus! Demons tremble when you glory in His name! Encourage yourself in the Lord because sometimes nobody else will.
You may write to Dr. Benjamin at Bishop@lightoftheworld.org or at Light of the World Christian Church, 4646 N. Michigan Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46228. My book, It’s All In Your Mind, can be ordered at www.tombenjamin.com or by calling 1-800.847.9695.
