I have been spending a lot of time reading the Psalms. Someone once told me that when you are searching for answers, just read the Psalms and stop and meditate on the first thing that stands out to you in that moment.

Psalm 43 made me stop and meditate on its words…

… verse 5… then I will say to my soul, “don’t be discouraged; don’t be disturbed, for I fully expect my Savior-God to break through for me. Then I’ll have plenty of reasons to praise Him all over again.” Yes, living before His face is my saving grace! {Passion Translation}

Here in this psalm David is speaking encouragement into his own soul. He is telling himself not to be discouraged and not to be disturbed about what he is going through. Even though his enemies were out to get him, David encouraged and strengthened himself and he knew that God would come through for him.

David did not turn to anything or anybody else to find encouragement and strength. He spoke to his own soul in his time of trouble, he strengthened himself in the Lord.

When I feel my troubles pressing in on me I want to be as strong and confident as David. I want to encourage and strengthen myself in the Lord. I want to be able to tell my own soul to not be discouraged but to fully expect God to break through for me.

To encourage and strengthen yourself in the Lord you must mediate on the promises that God has spoken to you. These promises may come to you through another person who spoke a word to you or prayed an anointed prayer over you. It may come from a passage of scripture that just jumped out at you as you are reading the bible. It could come to you in a dream or a vision or by the still small voice of the Holy Spirit within you.

However the promises come we must remind ourselves of them often so that we do not forget them. When the troubles are pressing in on us, those promises are our life line, our hope and our future. Calling us to be strong and to press through the situation and to watch as the Lord helps us to break through.

To encourage and strengthen yourself in the Lord you must fix your eyes on Jesus. We become like the one we behold and if we are fixed and focused on Jesus and His very nature we will begin to reflect Him. Spend time reading about the nature of Jesus in the gospels. Learn how he responded and reacted to the things going on around Him, look at how he loved others, how He loved His Father and how he walked His everyday out.

You need to have constant communication with God. His presence gives you everything you need.

Encourage yourself by being thankful.  Remember all of your answered prayers and all the good things in your life and then celebrate them. Being thankful helps us to reconnect with what God is saying and doing in the midst of our circumstances and to fully focus on Him and see things from His perspective.

So say to your soul, “don’t be discouraged; don’t be disturbed, fully expect Savior-God to break through for you”. Then you will have plenty of reasons to praise Him all over again. Living before His face is our saving grace!