Strengthen Yourself In The Lord

There are going to be times in our walk where we will feel defeated, alone, downcast and maybe even on the verge of giving up. But it is during those times where the Lord encourages us to strengthen ourselves in Him.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up y'all? Welcome back to another episode of Image Bearers. Let me center myself out real quick. Y'all, God is so kind. He is so kind. He is so faithful, even when we are not faithful. And um, if I could be real with you guys, the past couple of days for me were rough. It was this, you know, Elijah versus Jezebel. Y'all hear me talk about that a lot, but it's scripture. It was this, you know, feeling alone, wanting to go home. Exactly what, you know, Elijah went through after a mighty move of God, which I think is so interesting about us humans, is like we could see the Lord move mightily, yet something comes up and instead of moving in faith, we'll move in flesh or we'll move in fear. And that was me, if I'm being really honest and transparent. And so I thank the Lord for the brethren, I thank the Lord for the body of Christ. Y'all probably hear the train in the background. I live by the train, so just give it a second. I thank the Lord for the body because the Lord was showing me that I was kind of moving in pride because I wasn't reaching out to people for prayer. And by God's grace, you know, I was able to reach out and just felt the prayers of the saints just keeping me going, keeping me pushing. And again, the Lord rebuked me, like, girl, Elijah thought he was alone, but I stored up 7,000 prophets in the cave. Okay, so you are not alone. It was just my flesh, it was just the realness of how I was feeling. And you know, yesterday the Lord led me to 1 Samuel 30, in which I kind of honestly got through only half of the chapter, but I felt the Lord kind of tugging on me to kind of walk through it with you guys, in which we'll be talking about how to strengthen yourself in the Lord. Man, the word of God is just so refreshing. The secret to staying on fire for the Lord is this right here: communion. Communion is powerful, the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, but it is an active state of constant communion. And there are going to be times where your feelings will say, Oh, the Lord is far from you, oh, ABC, oh, this situation sucks, whatever the case may be. And that is when we really need to tap into the faith of this faith walk. That is when we need to say, Soul, I command you to praise the Lord. God, I am going to strengthen myself in you. I am going to pray. I'm going to fast. I'm going to read the word, even if I don't feel like it. And it is not this striving mentality of having to force ourselves to, you know, be consistent in the Lord. But there are times where your flesh is not going to want to do these things. Your flesh is not going to want to praise the Lord. Your flesh is not going to want to read the word. Your flesh is not going to want to get in the secret place. But those are times where you have to lean on the Lord. Those are times you have to strengthen yourself in Him and say, No, the Word of God says, if I draw near unto God, He will draw near unto me. And so I need to put my flesh under subjection of the Holy Spirit. And I need to really lock in and fast right now. I really need to lock in and read the word right now. Even if I feel like I'm not retaining anything, that was me for the past couple of days. The reality is I know that the word of God is doing an inner changing that I might not see the fruit of it yet right now, but I trust that the Lord will honor my commitment to wanting to be on fire. And right now my feelings are telling me otherwise, but my feelings do not dictate where I am in the Lord. Amen. And so that's where I was at. And so in 1 Samuel 30, we see this picture painted of when, you know, David comes back unto this place called Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south. And they had come noticing that David and the men were gone, and they had taken all the women and the children, and they had burnt that place to the ground. Okay. They had burnt that place to the ground. And you know, David comes back and him and his men are distraught. David feels the weight of this, like, oh my gosh, it's my fault. I said that we should go and do this. And now I come back and everything is gone. This place is burnt to the ground. And I was talking to a sister and we were talking about how sometimes the Lord isn't just always in the wind, sometimes he's in the fire. You think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Nebednego. It took that fire, not only for those men of God to see Jesus in that fire, but for those that were watching them in the fire. They saw, they said, Who is this fourth man in the fire that looks like the son of God? And for some of us, the Lord needs to bring us to this fire, not only to prune and to press us and to crush us, but for our faith to rise and for those around us to witness the goodness of God that He would never leave nor forsake us. And so that was literally me. And today, y'all, can I can I testify and say that God is so faithful? He renewed me, he refreshed me, but it took that faith like, Lord God, I declare, God, that your word says that as I draw near unto you, you draw near unto me. And so, God, I don't feel like getting in the secret place, but I'm gonna praise you because I need to remind myself of how good you have been. I need to strengthen myself in you. And so if we open up to 1 Samuel 30, now I'm not gonna walk through the whole thing with y'all. I just want to walk through some scriptures. Something that I think is so interesting is, you know, ziklag means pressed down. And I was talking to a sister yesterday and she was telling me about this sermon, which I still need to tap into, but it was talking about how, you know, in order to produce oil, you must be pressed down and crushed. That is a very uncomfortable place to be, but that is how oil is produced. The olive oil is produced by when the olives are crushed. And so if we want real oil on our lives, it takes a pressing into and a pressing down on. And that's when we press into the secret place. We press into the presence of God, we go past our feelings, our emotion, our flesh, and we say, God, whatever this trial be, whatever this circumstance be, God, I'm going to give you glory. Amen. And so David found himself in this place where he was pressed. This is this is a reality check. Life has a way of putting us through the fire of these trials, but the Lord allows them to remind us of who we need to lean on. Before we really get into the word, let me just pray. Holy Spirit, I just pray that you would breathe upon the scriptures, Lord. I thank you, God, that you are so close. I thank you, God, that you empower us to tarry in your presence, God. That we desire you. And so, Lord, I just pray in Jesus' name that as we read your word, God, that we would be given understanding of who you are. In Jesus' name. We'd come against all distractions, God. Maybe tap into your word right now. In Jesus' name. Amen. And so it says, verse one. 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, 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. 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. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives, Ahinoim, the Jezreelitis, and Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Cam Carmelite, had been taken captive. 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 look at what it says. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And I really just want to park there and talk about that. I want to read this commentary that I had read. I posted it on my Instagram story yesterday, and this is what it said. This really encouraged me. I'm just gonna read this. You guys can go to Enduring Word to read the commentary. I think it's a great tool to read as we get into the Word of God and we want to study deeper. But it says this. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. It took a lot to bring David to this place, but now he is here. God is his only strength. And so sometimes we forget that the Lord will allow these things to happen so that we understand that God is our only strength. The Bible says that we should rejoice, count it all joy when we face trials and tribulations, so that we can allow patience to have a perfect work, that we may be complete and wanting nothing other than God's presence, other than who God is, a greater revelation of who God is. When we are stripped away from everything, when we can only lean on God, that is where true oil is produced. That is where the true oil of intimacy is actually found because we have nobody but God. We might feel like nobody around us can understand, but God does. God sees. I was actually so encouraged. After I read this verse, I literally said to myself, I said, God, I am going to strengthen myself in you. And crazy enough how sovereign God is. That morning, I was so discouraged about so many things. And sometimes when I'm discouraged, I want to like isolate. The enemy can try to make you isolate because it's his hope that he can then begin to whisper to you and you won't have encouragement from brothers and sisters in the faith. And so I was like, Lord, I'm not gonna lie to you. If you want me to continue this online ministry stuff, you're gonna have to tell me because I was so done. Like, I just didn't want to be seen. I wanted to just be hidden in him, you know. Sometimes, you know, we've talked about it, the call is costly, and there's times where I don't enjoy doing ministry online, I don't enjoy, you know, letting people into my life, but that is what the Lord has called me to. Just was tired of it. I was like, Lord, I want to be hidden. I don't want nobody to see me, I don't want nobody to know what I'm up to. And of course, we share things in wisdom, we don't share everything. Um, but I told him, I said, Lord, if you want me to continue doing this stuff, you're gonna have to tell me. After I had said that, I was having a conversation with a brother, and completely out of context, he goes, fam, continue to do the YouTube videos, the reels, all of these things for God's glory. And I was like, bro, you don't even know what you just said. That morning, that morning, I told the Lord, you need to tell me if you want me to keep doing this, and he answered because he is so faithful, he is so sovereign. And it took me understanding, like, okay, Lord, I need to strengthen myself in you in this time. I can't let this feeling and this victim mentality stay here for longer than it needs to. No, Lord, teach me how to strengthen myself in you. David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. He received the strength and felt it flow through himself and was bold enough to ask for it and receive it from God. Before this, he didn't see himself as weak. But after coming home to a burned-out ghost town, David knew he was weak and needed God's strength. He didn't wait for someone else to strengthen him. He didn't say, Well, Lord, if you want to strengthen me, that's fine. I'll just wait here until you do it. David knew that the Lord's strength was there for those who wait upon him, so he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. God's strength was there for David all this time, but now he takes it for himself and will strengthen himself in the Lord his God. It reminds me of that scripture in the book of Matthew that talks about the kingdom of heaven suffereth by violence, essentially meaning that we should not be passive with the things of God. Yes, we are called to rest in him, but we should not be passive. We should go after the things of God. We should draw near unto God in Jesus' name rather than be like, okay, Lord, well, if you want this to happen, then so be it. No, let us be prayerful, let us be on our post. Let us give God the glory. Let us thank him and say, God, I thank you in advance for this thing. Let us wrestle. Amen. Let us wrestle with these things. I was in a full-blown wrestle yesterday. And it's not that the Lord was like, oh, Rachel, why are you feeling like this? No. God understands that we are nothing but dust, that we need his strength. And so I love that. David didn't just sit there and be like, okay, Lord, like if you want to strengthen me, so be it. No, he was like, I need you, Lord. I need to be strengthened right now. I am weak and feeble. And I love there's this verse in Psalm 27 that says, I would have fainted if I had not yet believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living. And so we need to trust God. I know that I will see your goodness in this. I might not see the fruit of it right now, but I know that you are pruning and that you are prepping. It says this was much more than having a positive attitude. This was the strength of the living God making itself real in the life and heart of a hurting man. This was strength for recognition, strength for brokenness, strength for repentance, strength for determination to win back what the enemy has stolen. This is the same strength that would raise Jesus from the dead. And so sometimes it takes that. We have to fight against the enemy. The Lord has already had the victory, right? He's won the war, but we are in a constant battle. And so we need to take posts, we need to take position and fight when the Lord tells us to fight. There's a scripture that says, Lord, teach my hands to war and my fingers to fight. And there are seasons where the Lord will call us to do a greater level of warfare, a greater level of prayer, a greater level of fasting. It says, How did David strengthen himself in the Lord? David remembered God's love. At the point of total loss, David now saw the love of the Lord in the rejection of the Philistine leaders. Remember, he had gone to the Philistine leaders and they rejected him. And it says, if God had not sent him back home through the rejection of the Philistines, it would have been months until he came back onto Ziklag. And it would have been much worse. Who knows what those enemies would have done with, you know, the woman and the children. And so that form of rejection was actually an expression of the Lord's love, of the Lord's sovereignty. It says another way that David strengthened himself in the Lord is he could have remembered God's promise and calling on his life. He could shake his head, clear the fog, and say, I am a man anointed by God, called by God, and promised by God to be the next king of Israel. I have a high calling and promise from God, and the Lord has not taken that away from me. And so this is all preparation. These things are all necessary so that when I get to that place, I will know how to maneuver. I will have the character to carry the calling. David could have also remembered God's past deliverances. This is a terrible spot to be in no doubt, but God has delivered me, and so I believe that he will deliver me right now. I love this because I feel like I've fallen victim to looking for comfort in other places and other lovers, which we've talked about in prior episodes. But it says David took his only encouragement from the Lord. He encouraged himself in the Lord his God, not in friends or by the hope of others coming, but he encouraged himself in the Lord. And the Lord can definitely use people to send waves of encouragement, but we must first look to the presence of God before looking to man. I've seen that so much, especially in myself, where I will unknowingly run to man, run to a pastor, run to a leader before running to the presence of God. And there's times like this in in David's situation where we can only run to God. Nobody else understands what we're going through but the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says, I love this. This is a quote from Spurgeon. It says, Some of the best talks in the world are those which a man has with himself. He who speaks to everybody except himself is a great fool. And so I had to have that moment yesterday where I was like, Lord, I'm strengthen, I'm strengthening myself in you, Lord. Because you are the bread of life, you are the living water, and it's only from you that my thirst will be quenched and my belly will be filled. And so I don't know what you're going through today. Maybe you needed to hear this message. Maybe you feel like you've been in a dry season. Maybe you feel like you're not burning, but this is the reality. Burning for the Lord is not just a mere feeling. To continue burning for the Lord is to remain in first love and to remember that this is a faith walk. There are going to be times where your feelings, your flesh are against you. Circumstances, life is against you. And you may not feel like you're on fire. You may feel like you're in a dry season, but the way to get out of that dry season is to continue in communion with the Lord. Say, Lord, I might not feel like I'm burning, but I thank you that as I read the scriptures, my heart will burn within me. I command my soul to praise you. Put your flesh under the subjection of the Holy Spirit and continue forth in this walk. Again, this walk is costly, but it is ever so worth it. And so I pray this video encouraged you guys. The Lord is faithful, the Lord is kind. He's so kind. And so I will see you guys as the Lord leads next time. In Jesus' name. Amen.