How to encourage yourself in The Lord today
What if encouragement came as simply as reaching up our hands to behold it?
Learning to delight ourselves in The Lord, trusting that as we do He will give us the desires of our heart.
Sister, when Christ gave His life for us, He restored us back into the family of God. His Word actually say’s we are the wild branch which He grafted into the original vine.
Oh Sister, don’t miss it!
We are the prodigal son, wayward, running away, and Christ, Father, Holy Spirit, running to make a way for us, to graft us into their own life!
What does this mean for you and I?
Everything!
I will never get tired of saying this, Jesus is our life, Christ is our head, when Christ who is our life appears than we also appear with Him.
Sister, He is our life, and as our life, He is our source, our strength, our love.
Everything that belongs to Christ is ours through the redemption of His blood.
Everything sister.
All of the Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness and Self-Control, it is all ours.
Oh sister, yes, we fall so short, but God says, Keep reaching for my hand, I’ll take you higher, I will strengthen, I will uphold you with My victorious, right hand.
Causing us to see from His vantage point. No longer orphans, now children of The Living God!
Please don’t miss it, everything that is His, is now yours. The peace you are longing for, it is yours, it is mine in Him.
There are moments through out the day when the peace of Father is so tangible it takes my breath away. I look around, I remember the devastation, what I have lost, and even there, give praise.
Because He is seeing us through! Somehow in Him my sorrow is swallowed up whole. His comfort comes as quickly as the waves of grief sweep in.
Truly He is worthy of all the praise, glory and honor. If you want to pause here to worship, this song has been played probably 50x this week.
Command your soul to be still.
When I am feeling overwhelmed, defeated by my circumstances I make a conscious choice to command my soul to be still.
I ask Holy Spirit to remind of His faithfulness.
I will literally say to myself, “Lord you are good and your mercy endures forever”.
I command my soul to give praise, even when my flesh doesn’t want to.
Even when my flesh wants to focus on everything that is going on around me.
I remind myself The Lord has given me a choice. In Romans 8, we read that flesh cannot submit to the spirit of God, it is not able to, but spirit, our spirit submits to God. Willingly.
Our spirit cries out, Abba, Father.
This is good news sister.
Before Christ we were powerless to choose. We were destined to make the same mistakes over and over and to feel the weight of its defeat and discouragement. But the flesh is now weakened by Gods power made alive in us!
Christ is the hope of Glory!
Christ has made a way.
Sister, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through God The Father we now have the ability to call out to God! To take Him at His Word.
To believe that each and every single day that we walk with God His power will be made manifest in us!
Sing your way out
When I am overwhelmed and feeling discouraged I begin to sing out. Research shows there is something powerful that happens in our brains when we sing. It activates multiple parts of our brains.
“Singing heals and calms the mind by reducing stress hormones like cortisol, triggering the release of endorphins and oxytocin, and engaging in a mindful, in-the-moment activity. The act of singing can provide an emotional release for pent-up feelings and offers a sense of connection, especially when done in a group. It also involves deep breathing, which helps calm the nervous system, and its vibrations can have a soothing, resonant effect on the body.”
My own personal observations have led me to agree with the research. I want to take us back to a story in the bible. David and King Saul.
Picture this, young David has just been anointed King.
King Saul calls for his servants to bring Jesse’s son, David, the musician. Saul is being tormented by a demonic power, but every time David plays the stringed instrument the demonic power flees.
Sister, this is incredible.
In my own home I have experienced the power of inviting God into moments of deep overwhelm. My children not knowing the turmoil my mind was under, when all of a sudden I hear my daughter playing the piano.
The waves of peace that began to flow through my body were unlike anything I had experienced. I stood in awe as tears streamed down my face.
The tormenting spirit had fled.
Command your soul to align with God:
How do we do this? How do we cause our heart and mind to believe Him instead of the lies that seem so real. Afterall our lives show evidence of these lies we tell ourselves.
Sister, we have to stay rooted to Gods Word. Read your Bible. Please understand that every season will look different.
When I only had two kiddos, I would read my bible for hours at a time. This time is so precious to me, the memories of consuming whole sections are beautiful.
In this new season I am in, with three small children and two teenagers, my time is so much more divided.
As best as I can I grab my bible, open it up and ask Father to instruct my heart. Just tonight I read through most of Nehemiah, and let me tell you, it’s not easy reading so many names I don’t know how to pronounce, but Father included them, they are important.
I give praise for the season He has me in. It is full, and beautiful.
For He is faithful and worthy of my praise, in every moment.
I am so dependent on my good, good Father, y’all my precious children hear their Mama exclaim, “Lord, help me, Father please help me to be kind.”
I am often astounded and humbled when people share of the kindness that I pour on them. Father reminds me of the prayers I have cried.
“Make me a woman after your heart Father.” Sister, don’t you know He is faithful and just and He longs and desires for us to be transformed into the image of His Son, so much more than we do on a regular basis.
A simple prayer:
The words I continue to utter. “Lord, help me. I am yours Father. I need you. Help me to see you rightly. Here and now. Let me honor you. Father, keep my mouth shut. Father, open my lips to speak what you would have me share and nothing else.”
Every single moment, sister, incline your ear to Father, He is instructing us, O, that we would have ears to hear, eyes that see. A willingness to rely on Him.
Another practical step, Meditation
The word meditate means to ponder, to be in deep thought, to consider, to put into practice.
Think of the thoughts that we play in our heads over and over.
We loop these thoughts almost subconsciously, we don’t have to make much of an effort to think on something, especially if it is something negative.
Why is that you think?
Could it be that this is part of the fight to believe? To believe in Gods faithfulness and goodness and truth. To take God at His Word?
It takes purposeful intention to renew the mind, to think a new thought, but it is possible! I’ve written a whole series on renewing the mind, here.
I have enjoyed the work of Dr. Caroline leaf. While I’ve never read her books I have enjoyed her YouTube videos and podcast.
They have been helpful on this healing journey.
The fact that we have thousands of thoughts and not one of them is passive. Thoughts are not just floating in one ear and exiting out the other, but they are actually rewiring our brain.
We get to decide if that will be for good and for worse.
Does it scare you to know we have that much power over our brains or is that exciting news to you?
I love that in the Kingdom of God, I do not have to fake it until I make it, like the world says. I can come to Father just as I am. I can trust Him to do His good work in me.
Yessi argabright
I recently published my first video on this very thing, you can find it here.
I can trust Him with the renewing, refining process.
However my job is not a passive one. I have to make an effort to work alongside God. To believe in Him.
To read His Word. To practice walking in honor and integrity.
As we follow His leading and seek His Kingdom we can trust Him to take care of everything else that needs to be taken of.
Promise.
Psalms 1:2 But His delight is in The Law of The Lord and on His law He meditates day and night.
Praying we would take Him at His Word. Abide in Him. Rest in Him this week. Contemplate the truths you find in His Word. Speak tenderly to yourself. Rely on Fathers love and know that hope and encouragement is just a breath away.
Thank you so much for being here. Blessings in Jesus Name, love, Yessi, your sister in Christ.
As I’m finishing up our weekly post, this precious song is playing, I had never heard it before. How fitting for this blog post. Enjoy.
A miracle is on the way, with Sarah Reeves.
