GO FORWARD in the Power of God’s Encouragement
Has God shown you your “promised land” but you have yet to possess it? Or does His “promise” seem to be so far into the future that you’ve given up all hope of ever receiving and enjoying it?
As He did with Joshua, God wants to encourage you in every area of your life. He does not want you to wander in the wilderness of defeat and discouragement, He wants you to move forward in Him in the power of encouragement. Discouragement can totally immobilize you. It can depress your spirit, soul, and body. It can cause you to lose ground spiritually, mentally, and emotionally; and rob you of the blessings God has for you. Whenever I think of someone looking back or going a backward route, I think of Lot’s wife. She was not encouraged about going forward; she was discouraged, and when she looked back, she became a pillar of salt!
Sow Encouragement
When we encourage one another, we put the power of God to work. The Bible is filled with examples of people who refused to look back in the face of adversity. They chose to receive encouragement, were encouraged by God, or encouraged themselves even when those around them wanted to stone them!
God will move on the hearts of others to encourage you in tough situations, and He may even speak a personal Word of encouragement to you. In Deuteronomy 1:38, God told Moses to encourage Joshua, who took up Moses’ mantle to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land: “Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.”
So, Moses gave Joshua a charge and said, “…Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you” (Deuteronomy 31:23).
Then, when Joshua was getting ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, God spoke a personal Word of encouragement to him. “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their father to give them” (Joshua 1:6).
Joshua was encouraged to fulfill the call of God on his life. He remained open to encouragement, and closed to discouragement, even when the 10 spies gave the bad report (see Numbers 13 and 14).
The direction you look in the face of adversity will determine your final outcome. If you look back you will be discouraged, but if you look ahead to what God says, keep a single eye on Jesus, and look for God’s glory and His goodness, you will be encouraged and triumph in every situation.
The Apostle Paul had opportunity after opportunity to get his eyes off of God and onto his discouraging circumstances. He was shipwrecked, he was stoned, he was beaten, he was left for dead—if anyone could have given into discouragement, it was Paul. Instead of becoming discouraged, however, Paul glorified God in his tribulations and remained encouraged. As a result, he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament!
Paul’s secret to perseverance can be found in Philippians 3:10, 11: That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. 11If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
Regardless of his circumstances, Paul was determined not to go backward but to go forward in the power of God’s encouragement! “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13, 14).
Encourage Yourself
There are times when it may seem like everyone in the world has deserted you, but it is during those times that you should press into God and not depend on others; learn to encourage yourself in the things of God.
David exemplified this more than anyone. Saul had chased him for nine years and tried to kill him 21 times. But while David was in the wilderness, Jonathan, Saul’s son, came to him and encouraged him in his circumstances: “Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God” (1 Samuel 23:16). He said, “David, you’re going to be the king. You’re going to win, so don’t be discouraged.”
Later David found himself faced with a desperate situation and no one was there to encourage him. “So, David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fires; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:3, 6)
And then the most wonderful thing happened. God spoke a personal word of encouragement to David in the midst of one of the most discouraging times in his life, God said, “…Pursue: for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all” (1 Samuel 30:8).
There is power in encouragement! And like David, you, too, can learn to sow and reap encouragement, as well as encourage yourself in the face of the darkest circumstances! Because David had learned about the power of encouragement, he was able to write Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the Lord!”
After David learned to encourage himself in the things of God, he was able also to encourage his son, Solomon, in the work God had called him to do: “And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 28:20 NKJV)
Do you need the power of encouragement in your life? Pray and listen for what God says to you in the midst of your circumstances. And while you are waiting, His Word promises He will strengthen you so you can go forward and not be moved by what you see.
Perhaps, like Joshua, God has called you to fulfill what seems to be an insurmountable task, or like David, there are “King Sauls” chasing you and trying to destroy you. Whatever your situation, remember you do not have to become shipwrecked. The power of encouragement can put to flight the meanest of foes and cause you to move forward in the power of God and His resurrection!
