Eight Things to Remember During Tough Times (part 8)

Learn to Encourage Yourself!

10.11.2023

Review

Tough times help root out the self-centeredness from us.

Our character is formed in the tests and hard places we endure.

If you want to be used by God, be willing to endure some trouble!

1 Peter 5:10 (MEV)

But after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus, will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.

Tough times are training times! (June 14)

1. We are not immune from hardship. (June 28)

There are two kinds of suffering that Jesus endured:

Circumstantial and Substitutional.

2. Our journey through life is often filled with hard places.

Hardship, tests, difficulties are part of living on earth.

God never promised that life would be easy!

John 16:33 (NLT)

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.

3. Sometimes, God allows us to go through a hard place! (July 12)

He may send you into a hard place in life for training…

Deuteronomy 32:11 (NKJV)

As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up,

carrying them on its wings, so the LORD alone led him, and there was no foreign god with Him.

4. Our response determines what the tough times produce in us!

What life finds in us determines what life does to us.

Cup half full or half empty?

You can have the mindset that people are out to get me, or that God is good and all things work together for good.

Are you a victim or victor?

James 1:2 (Phillips)

When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots.

5. God will make a way for you when the test is on!

You will get through it.

Stay positive when the negatives hit hard!

Your enemy wants to get you to focus on your circumstances.

Two ways to be encouraged…

Two things will help you when the test is on: True friends, and God and His promises.

6. Tough times can produce positive life change!

Romans 5:3-5 (TPT)

But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. 4 And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. 5 And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!

7. In the tough place, it’s important to pour out your heart to God!

God does not want us to hold things inside. It’s unhealthy in every way.

God wants us to expose our personal pain to Him:

Heat brings impurities to the top with precious metals..

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NLT)

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

8. Learn to encourage yourself!

1 Samuel 30:1-6 (NKJV)

Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. 3 So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, 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 30:6 (AMPC)

David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Attitude is everything when it comes to standing strong in a hard place in life!

(Life Application Study Bible NLT- Study Bible Notes)

Faced with the tragedy of losing their families, David’s soldiers began to turn against him and even talked about killing him. Instead of planning a rescue, they looked for someone to blame. But David found his strength in God and began looking for a solution instead of a scapegoat. When facing problems, remember that it is useless to look for someone to blame or criticize. Instead, consider how you can help find a solution.

(New Spirit-Filled Life Bible Notes [2002])

Though grieving to the point of exhaustion, David uses the occasion to strengthen himself in the LORD his God, while the people, and very likely his soldiers, turn the energy of their grief to threats of assassination.

Psalm 103:1-2 (NLT)

Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

Psalm 105:1-5 (NKJV)

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! 2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! 3 Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! 4 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! 5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,

Psalms 42:1-11 (NKJV)

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

So pants my soul for You, O God.

(Dake Study Bible Notes)

The hart is fond of feeding near the waters. When hunted he will take to the river, stay submerged as long as his breath permits, then swim downstream in the middle so as not to touch the branches of trees on either side. He thus prevents the hounds from finding his scent. Sometimes he will stay in the water submerged with only his nose out, until he is routed. In a chase he becomes faint and longs for the water intensely.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. 7 Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. 8 The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me—

A prayer to the God of my life. 9 I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Pray in the spirit!

1 Corinthians 14:4 (NKJV)

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

Jude 1:20 (NKJV)

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 28:11-12 (NKJV)

For with stammering lips and another tongue

He will speak to this people,

12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which

You may cause the weary to rest,”

And, “This is the refreshing”;

Yet they would not hear.

Keep an Encouragement File

Action Points:

1. Take some time to pour your heart out to God. He wants us to share everything with Him. As we do, stress decreases, peace increases, and we learn to live by faith and not feelings.
2. Whatever you’re facing, don’t give up on yourself or on God. There is a bigger picture to see than the present!
3. What can you do to encourage yourself when things are tough?