It’s great when family and friends are there to encourage us in difficult times, but we can’t depend on others to encourage us. We have to learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord every day. We have to remember what God has done in our life. We have to get in agreement with God and say, “Thank You, God, for who You made me to be. You made me to be more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. I’m an overcomer because You back me up, because I have Your Word in me, and I will overcome this.”

I was talking to a girl the other day
who had had a breakup in her

relationship and she was so disheartened
she said that she thought this

relationship was on the right track she
thought that it could even be headed

towards marriage and then one day he
came to her and he said I’m taking a job

in another state where she was so
discouraged she thought what’s happening

when she began to think about how he
could leave so quickly it began to

demoralize her she thought well I’m not
as special as I thought I was I guess he

didn’t love me like I thought he loved
me she said I began to dwell on these

thoughts and I became more discouraged
she said you know I was just really just

trying to make sense of it all
trying to figure it all out what

happened what did I do
she said I got to the place where I

didn’t even want to go hardly go to work
I certainly didn’t want to go out with

any friends I found myself just staying
at home a lot and she said one evening I

turned on the television and I saw your
ministry she says as I began to listen

and listen to the messages I begin to
regain a sense of who I was she said I

began to become encouraged again she
said this that I thought was so good she

said I realized what I had been doing
was I had been so focused to what had

happened to me that I wasn’t
understanding what was happening in me

she said I had been so hurt I have been
so discredited I felt so all alone and

what was happening to me was causing
what was happening in me to totally

destroy my life she said I didn’t want
to do anything she said and as I became

encouraged
she said that discouragement left in how

Rose she said I literally got to the
place where I could look myself in the

mirror and like myself again she said
little by little she said I’d get up in

the morning and I would look in the
mirror and she would say you were

beautiful
you are talented you are Val

Yubel she said I begin to have this fun
person come back into my life the person

I really was and she said I got so
excited I got it I got encouraged to get

up in the morning and look at myself and
tell myself how well I was doing you see

I love that she added this and I can’t
leave this out she said and I would say

to myself God is gonna bring the right
person across my path because I’m in the

palm of his hand I love the fact that
she did something about her

discouragement she made a choice she
took what she received on the inside the

encouragement she got from the ministry
and she began to encourage herself it

says in Exodus 6 that when Moses was
going to lead the children of Israel out

of captivity which God had promised
would happen when he went to them to

tell them that this was their time this
was the moment that God was going to

cause them to leave this burden of this
yoke this bondage that they had been

under the scripture says this it says
that they were too discouraged to

believe they had been under so much
discouragement

that they couldn’t even believe that
what God could do for them you know

that’s a sad statement too discouraged
to believe but I’ll tell you what it

shows me it shows me the power of
discouragement in our life it shows me

that when we become discouraged we can’t
even get the faith to believe that God

can take us to the places we need to go
to take us over a challenge through an

obstacle you see discouragement is
heaped on us and we can’t see you know

it’s very interesting because the young
girl that I talked about when she began

to encourage herself when she began to
take this encouragement that she had on

the inside and encouraged herself you
know nothing had changed on the outside

that man didn’t come back to her life
but everything

had changed on the inside and when hope
rises in your heart faith causes you to

act faith causes you to move forward the
scripture tells us that David the mighty

man of God who faced challenge after
challenge learned this secret he

encouraged himself in the Lord you see
David had a warrior’s mentality he took

this place inside of him that he had
built up this place where he had

encouraged himself in the things of God
and he was able to take that war chest

and encourage himself on the things on
the outside he was able to look at the

face of discouragement and say no my God
can supply all of my needs my God can

get me through this you see at one point
in David’s life everybody had turned

against him even his men that were
fighting battles with him were so down

and discouraged that they turned to
David and they said we want to stone you

they were looking for someone to blame
for the difficulties that they were

facing David had no one around him that
could encourage him yet he encouraged

himself in the Lord his God you know
it’s great when your family is there to

encourage you when your friends are
there to encourage you but what happens

when no one’s there to encourage you you
know what I believe I believe we

shouldn’t depend on other people to
encourage us I believe our main source

of encouragement should come right from
the inside of us see I can’t even

imagine my husband trying to encourage
me every time I’m discouraged you know

what if I went to Joel every time that I
was discouraged

he’d probably lock himself in a closet
and not come out you see we’ve got to

learn to encourage ourself every day
we’ve got to remember what God has done

in our life we have to understand that
we have to get in agreement with God

that you are made in the image of
Almighty God God created you and he made

you and if you believe that about your
life then when you criticize yourself

you might as well be criticized
your Creator the one who made you you

see if you can criticize his creation
then what you’re doing is criticizing

the Creator because he made you he
formed you he fashioned you just the way

you should be see when you encourage
yourself what you’re doing is you’re

saying thank you God for who you made me
to be thank you God that you’ve made me

to be more than a conqueror in Christ
Jesus

but I’m an overcomer because you backed
me up because I have your word in me see

it’s so easy sometimes to see the good
qualities and other people yet ignore

the good qualities in ourselves but I
believe that we need to see are the good

things in ourselves and we need to
applaud even the smallest

accomplishments you know maybe you feel
like you’re a procrastinator and there’s

been a project that you’ve been putting
off well when you begin to start that

project even if you don’t finish it
applaud yourself you know what what

about that diet you’ve been trying to
stay on listen when you have a good day

applaud yourself what about the
addiction that you’re overcoming when

you see yourself trying listen cry on
your own efforts with the success

applaud yourself you see we’ve got to
learn to applaud even the smallest

accomplishments in our life when we
applaud ourselves you know what we’re

doing we’re not being boastful we’re not
being egotistical and prideful we’re

building confidence and faith in ourself
too often we see what we’re doing wrong

and not what we’re doing right we see
all the times we blew it but I want to

tell you something don’t go around
looking at all the times you blew it

applaud yourself for all the things
you’ve done well buy yourself some

flowers celebrate yourself you’ve been
made in the image of God you got to

understand when you celebrate yourself
you’re celebrating God on the inside of

you see it’s so important that we do
this

you know life doesn’t always turn out
the way we planned and maybe today you

can say well not everything has gone my
way but can I encourage you with this

you’re still here you’re still full of
purpose you’re still full of value you

can still get to where God wants you to
be

you can’t live negative and expect to
have a positive life you can’t dwell on

everything that you can’t do and expect
to go out with strength and courage to

do it you see we’re all in the process
that is the truth every one of us in

here is in a certain area of our life in
process to becoming and it’s up to us to

stay encouraged along the way I’ll never
forget the time we were in another state

and my husband was on a book tour and we
had done an interview with this

journalist but I’ll never forget he got
in the car we all piled in the car and

he sat there for a second and he said
you know what I did a good job he said I

did everything that I knew to do I said
what I knew to say he said and I just

feel good about what I did today I did
the very best that I could and we had a

friend with us and a little later he
said Joel you know when you affirmed

yourself after that important interview
he said it reminded me of how negative I

am towards my own self he said I thought
about what if that was me that just came

out of that interview he said I would
have probably had a mind full of doubt I

would have probably thought I didn’t say
the right thing and I didn’t do the

right thing but when you had the
boldness and the courage to affirm

yourself he said it was such a freedom
for me it made me realize that I can

affirm myself but could see the truth is
we can only do the best that we can do

today and it will do the best we can do
today whether it was the best or not

we’ll be more equipped to do better
tomorrow you see my husband is one of

the greatest encouragers that I think
I’ve ever seen

he’s encouraged people all over the
world and I believe one of the greatest

secrets to his encouragement is the fact
that he knows how to encourage himself

he practices finding the best in himself
see when you’re full of good things it’s

interesting how you see through that
lens of good things then you’re able to

see the best in others to affirm and
encourage other people so you can’t give

away what you don’t have if you’ve got a
full tank then you can give

encouragement and love to one another

listen I believe I’m looking at people
who’ve decided they’re gonna practice

looking in the mirror and deciding who
they really are

I believe I’m looking at people who are
gonna affirm themselves they’re gonna

watch the negative talk and the negative
thoughts that are going on in their mind

and I believe that as we get up every
day and we say who God says we are and

we reflect the image of Almighty God
that we’ll be able to go out and be

encourages everywhere we go amen your
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