ENCOURAGE YOURSELF | When You Are Knocked Down by Dr. D.K Olukoya

 ENCOURAGE YOURSELF

Samuel 30:1-8: And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; ‘And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way ‘So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. ‘Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ‘And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nebel the Carmelite.

 ‘And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. ‘And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. ‘And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

This is a very interesting story. The people you have just read about went through a lot of trauma. When they came back from the war, they discovered that Moir families were nowhere to be found. They saw burnt houses and empty homes. They wept until they had no more power to continue weeping. They decided to undertake a useless spiritual exercise.

Whenever you decide to carry out a weeping party, the devil  will begin a dancing party. I have made up my mind that the  devil will not dance against me. Why not say that to yourself?

Although David was surrounded by discouraged people, he decided to encourage himself in the Lord. He could have joined the multitude in their weeping party. If he had done so, what happened in verses 18 and 19 of 1″ Samuel 30, would have been impossible.

And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carded away: and David rescued his two wives. “And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

DEVIL’S STORE

Discouragement is a terrible disease. Its effect on human beings is very damaging.

A woman went through a serious crisis. Things went so bad for her that she cried until she slept off. Then, she had a droam that taught her an interesting lesson. She found horsolf in the midst of a very big market. She started going from one shop to another until she came across one with an

Inscription which read:

‘Welcome to the devil’s shop”.

She was baffled and decided to check out what the devil was selling. She saw items labelled, anger, wickedness, malice, hypertension, diabetes, high blood pressure, accidents, etc. After browsing through the store, she

simply told herself, “I am a Christian, I can’t buy anything from the devil’s shop”.

However, she decided to ask a question: “Mr. devil, tell me, what is the most expensive material in your shop?”

The devil said, “Wait a minute madam”.

He went to the end of the shop and brought out a red object labelled, “Discouragement”.

“Madam, here is the most expensive item in my shop.

When I get Christians discouraged and they become worried, I go ahead to send the spirit of fear into their lives and no matter what claims they make they are finished”.

What a revelation!

THE MOUTH

Discouragement is a terrible ware offered for sale by the devil. Christians who decide to buy this item wage war against themselves. A Christian who decides to give in to discouragement is undertaking a journey into self-destruction. If you take your car to a mechanic and you find him soliloquizing I don’t know why I decided to become a mechanic, I think I am in the wrong profession. Every car I

touch gets damaged. All the people who ever brought cars for repair end up vowing that they will never patronise such a destructive mechanic like me”.

What will you do if you hear such words? You will just  reverse and drive away from that kind of man as fast as you can. If you are sick and you go to consult a doctor and just as you get into the doctor’s office, he begins to say, “I don’t know why I ever decided to be a medical doctor. What kind of doctor am I? Every patient that I have attended to died. What is wrong with me?” What will you expect the patient to do? Sit down or turn back and go? Of course, nobody would want to place his life in the hands of such a killer doctor.

A sister once told a story. She had a dental problem and went to see a dentist. But discovered that every patient that came out from the office of the dentist, had his mouth dripping with blood. She decided to escape for her life. She asked one of the attendants: “Excuse me, do you have a toilet here?” That was how she disappeared through the toilet.

Do you know that many believers who should be celebrating what God has done in their lives are busy destroying themselves with their mouth? Unfortunately, when such destructive words are spoken the devil uses them against the speakers. He can use them to pull down every good thing in the life of the speaker. Through the word of your mouth, you can discourage yourself or you can encourage yourself. The choice is yours.

Whenever the devil comes around and attempts to box you into a corner. encourage yourself. You may ask, what does it mean to discourage oneself? It is very simple. The word, ‘discourage’ is made up of two words; dis and courage. When you discourage yourself, you remove everything that can bring courage, hope and confidence into your life.

DISCOURAGED PEOPLE

Discouragement is very destructive. The trouble with discouraged people is that they cannot hear the word of God. Discouraged people place themselves in a situation where they cannot hear the word of God. The Bible says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust, and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12: 2-3).

If you want to draw good things from the well of the Almighty,

you must not allow discouragement in your heart.

The devil knows that discouraged people cannot commune with God properly. Neither can they hear His voice.

Encouragement instils hope into the heart while discouragement breeds hopelessness and despair. It is very easy to know the size of somebodys faith by observing the amount of effort it takes to discourage the person.

A soap seller went out early in the morning to sell soap. He kept on parading the same place until late in the afternoon. A man whom he tried to sell his soap to said, This is the tenth soap seller that has come here. Why have they decided to harass me to buy their soap? Am I the only person using soap? Please, stop worrying me. Tell me the amount and let me pay immediately.

The salesman mentioned the price and made his first sale around 5p.m. He turned round to tell the man, I happen to be the salesman that has come to you repeatedly. For your information, this is my tenth time of coming to your shop When I came in the moming, I put on a different dress I decided to go back and change my dress when you turned me away”.

That salesman is an example of what it means to get rid of discouragement. The man who bought the soap felt that the soap seller was the tenth salesman that came to his shop not knowing that the soap seller had made ten calls trying to persuade him to buy the soap.

When people are encouraged they are able to stand on their feet and smile even in defeat. On the other hand, discouraged people have a lot of loose ends to tie up.

Something happened when I was a student at the University of Lagos. A student who had never experienced city life suddenly found himself in the university campus. Having come from a local environment, he did not know that If someone wanted to get off from a bus he would inform the bus attendant,

He was so naive that he decided to jump off a moving bus. He injured himself had to be rushed to the General hospital. When we got to the hospital, for two hours there were no doctors on duty. Eventually, when a doctor came, a lot of things happened that struck fear in the heart of the university student. After he was admitted, there were three other patients whose beds were next to his own. The first patient died and the second patient died. Immediately that happened, the university student begged us to help him contact his people. According to him, he feared that he might be the next person to die. Then the third person also died. Our colleague kept on telling us that he also was going to die. True to his words he died.

That is what the paralyzing force of fear can do in the life of . Its victims. When discouraged people are sick, they give up and invite death into their lives.

Do you know that those who go about saying they want to die are not really sincere? They may say to their relatives and friends that they are going to commit suicide. I have discovered that it is not easy to die. Few people actually want to die.

I can recall some of the experiences I had when I was in the primary school. We had a very good natured, kind and godly headmaster. His behavior endeared him to us. At the end of the academic session, whenever final results were announced, some pupils often threatened that were going to commit suicide. We had a very deep well right at the centre of our school compound. When some students discovered that they failed woefully, they would tell every one of us that they were going to jump into the school well.

When the headmaster heard about these threats, he decided to lock up the well on the last day of the academic session since he did not want anybody to jump into it out of discouragement. But the situation changed when our kind headmaster was transferred to another school and another man was brought to replace him. To us students in those days, we felt that the new headmaster was wicked and ungodly. He would come to the assembly on the closing day and address the entire school:

“Children, let me bring this to your notice. I am aware of the fact that many students generally threaten that they would commit suicide whenever they discovered that they failed woefully. For your information, any student who wants to commit suicide is free to do so. In fact, you have my permission to jump into the school well. It is open. Goodluck. Bye-bye. See you next term. Those of you who want to die should greet those who are in heaven or hell when you get there”.

We were all surprised to Do you know what happened?

discover that nobody ever talked of committing suicide

again after listening to the headmasters stem statement.

A lady once wanted to poison herself. She swatowed excessive tablets because she was discouraged. Do you know what happened when they were trying to purge her?

She kept screaming, “Please, help. Don’t let me die”.

Discouraged people sometimes forget that they made some mistakes in the past which would require a lot of time to correct. People who made terrible mistakes in the past 4 often complain: “Why is God so slow in attending to my case?”

Discouraged people often believe that life is a failure.

Discouragement has killed more people than sickness and other fifes problems. They worry about tomorrows problems. They bother about the problems of the future. Instead of placing tomorrow into the hands of God, they decide to worry about the unseen and the unknown. They worry and worry until they become lean. Such people drink the of frustration and eat the bread of sorrow.

It is very easy to identify frustrated ladies. They paint their hair in different colours, use wigs that would portray them as masquerades, scrape off their eye-lashes and paint their eye-lids black. They paint their lips in two colours and attach artificial nails that make their fingers look like claws. They put on extremely tight-fitting dresses. They do this to draw attention to themselves. Their entire appearance easily gives them up as frustrated people.

Discouraged people advertise satan’s disgrace.

David which you read at the beginning of this chapter, you will discover that David did not hear God until he decided to encourage  himself in the Lord.

David shut off all forms of discouragement and trusted in the Lord. He experienced

divine intervention because he believed that God was going to turn his calamity into a testimony.

” Your miracle begins when you decide to encourage yourself in the Lord.

Discouragement is indeed terrible.          When you are

discouraged, your heart will be filled with confusion.

Let us examine what happened to the children of Israel when they were under the leadership of Moses.

Exodus 6:9:And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

God raised a deliverer for the children of Israel but by the time deliverance came, they were too discouraged to draw the full benefits ofwhat’Ood planned for their utmost good.

They could not even hear the good news. They were so low-spirited that they did not listen to the man who was sent to bring them out of bondage.

If you allow discouragement to fill your heart, you may not be able to receive divine help when it comes.

Discouraged people avoid what God has designed for their  good. How many discouraged people have thrown overboard God’s blessings and deliverance?

David looked away front his predicament and looked up to God for divine blessings’. Then, he heard the voice of God which turned his situation around. God gave him wonderful promises and outstanding proclamation. David would not have had anything if he had decided to remain under the veil of discouragement.

I want you to meditate on this statement. Any act of discouragement is a personal decision. Do not allow discouragement to rob you of your blessing. A believer who decides to stop praying has taken a foolish decision. Why must you stop praying when your next prayer session has been programmed by God to give you your miracle?

– Do you know that every prayer point you pray weakens the mountain that stands before you? Just put in a little more effort and the mountain will collapse. Instead of being discouraged, view all impossible situations that surround you as opportunities in disguise.

Contrary to popular belief, nobody can discourage you unless you decide to give in to discouragement. You must therefore make a conscious decision that you will not be discouraged. YQU have to encourage yourself in the Lord.

Those who encourage others are few. Most people on whom we look up for an encouragement end up discouraging us. Decide that you are not going to allow discouragement to enslave you.

THE GRASSHOPPER SPIRIT

Do you know what the Lord told me recently? The Lord said

most of the people who come to the church are possessed

by the grasshopper spirit. We need deliverance from

grasshopper spirit The spies sent to Canaan by Joshua belittled themselves

when they said,                But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children Of Israel, goring, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Numbers 13:31-33

Ten of the spies made negative pronouncements against themselves. They said, “We are not able. We are like grasshoppers”. You must stand against the spirit of evil expectation in your life. Many Christians expect the worst to happen to them. They disbelieve any good report brought to them. Such people say it is too good to be true.

Why don’t you close your eyes and take this powerful prayer point?

I bind every spirit of evil expectation, in the name of Jesus.

HOW TO DEAL WITH DISCOURAGEMENT

Let us now examine ways of dealing with discouragement. Discouragement is a very common experience Somebody stated that life is a jungle. Maybe there is an element of truth in his statement. You must therefore learn how to tackle the problem of discouragement.

Allow the Lord to take care of your situation. A song writer says: “Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there”. Refuse to entertain doubt and discouragement in your life. Do not fill your brain with worry and anxiety. Leave your situation in the hand of the Almighty. The Bible A says, “Casting all your cam upon him; for he careth for you”

 (1 Peter 5:7).

 See the divine possibility in your situation. Believe that the blessings and the breakthroughs you need lie in divine possibilities. You must realize that every problem has an end. Do not live in the consciousness that your affliction / and trials will not end. Believe that your trials are over.

Miracles begin when you see divine possibilities. Faith for divine possibility is what you need to transform your situation.

A divine possibility can make a difference in your life. The great miracles you are looking up to God for, can spring from very tiny divine possibilities. You must live in the consciousness that every problem has an end. You must come to a point where you know that divine possibility can turn your situation around.

You must manifest faith in the fact that God can do all things. When you know that God can do it again in your life, you will experience a miracle. You must come to a point where you realise that your troubles, sickness, financial embarrassment, fear and satanic attack can come to an end. You must begin to see divine possibilities in your situation.

If you examine the Scriptures from the first page to the last page, you will discover that men and women who violently claimed their blessings lived in the consciousness of divine possibilities. Look at the case of the woman with the issue of blood. Divine possibilities loomed larger in her mind than her problems. She said within herself, “If I may but touch the helm of his garment. I shall be made whole”.

Nobody has the last say concerning your situation. Only God can make the final proclamation concerning your situation.

“Jacob battled with knotty life’s situation but he saw divine possibilities. He decided to wrestle with the angel until he received his breakthrough.

• Blind Bartimaeus saw divine possibilities. He did not allow blindness to make him lose hope. Even when people asked him to shut up, he increased the tempo of his cry.

The Syrophonician also saw divine possibilities. She approached the Lord for the healing of her daughter. If she did not see divine possibility, she would have been put up with the fact that Jesus had likened her to a dog. When Jesus said it was not proper to give the childrens bread to dogs, she came out with a smart answer that even the crumbs were sufficient for her. She stood her ground by faith, until the Lord granted her request.

It is possible that men of God have disappointed you. You must not allow that kind of experience to get you discouraged. You must make up your mind to look up to God in spite of the fact that trusted men of God are failing you.

Some years ago, a man and his wife were fighting and the fight was so serious. The woman gained the upper hand and beat the man black and blue. The man managed to escape and ran to the house of their pastor. He believed that his problem would be over immediately he got to the

house of his pastor.

However, he had a strange sound when he got very close to the house of the pastor. He could not believe his ears. When he moved nearer, he discovered that his pastor was actually engaged in a physical combat with his wife. He turned back immediately with a resolve that he was going to settle the quarrel with his wife. He was disappointed with his pastor. You must not allow the example of any man of God to discourage you.

Stand against all forms of anxiety. Do you know that the problem God has with us is that we often decide to hold on to our problems when we are not able to solve them. We only take our problem unto God after we have failed in our own attempt to solve them.

Believe that all things are possible. Are you suffering from an incurable disease? Are you going through an impossible situation? Have you come to the end of the road? Have you secretly decided that if your present efforts at seeking solution to your problem fail, you will run away from God?

Don’t allow your problem to intimidate you. Remember, the Bible says, “All things are possible to him that believetha. Do you know that the moment we conclude that a problem has got into the realm of impossibility, we have arrived at the point of a divine speciality. God is a specialist in solving impossible situations.

This reminds me of the story of a woman who had a six¬year-old boy who was handicapped in every sense. The boy was as fragile as vegetable. He was paralysed. He could not talk. He could not hear, and he was a bundle of impossibilities. However, the mother decided to carry the boy to the crusade ground, when she heard that a crusade was going on. She did not allow anything to discourage her. She carried the boy to the crusade ground every day until the last day. Each day she would dump the child on the ground waiting for a miracle.

Suddenly, the man of God made an announcement: We  have a special project and I would encourage every one of you to give sacrificially. God will visit everyone that gives beyond his ability’.

The woman heard the announcement and decided to empty her purse into the offering bag. She did not even know how she was going to go back home. She took a step of faith which attracted the attention of the Almighty as the crusade was about to be brought to an end. The man of God then announced: “God is about to heal a woman’s child right now. The child belongs to a woman who gave sacrificially, when we raised some money for our church project a few minutes ago-.

As soon as the man of God finished declaring the word of knowledge, the power of God hit the boy and every ailment disappeared. The boy began to hear and speak and the paralysis vanished. His bent bone straightened. The enemy had finished the boys case but God turned it around. The medical doctor who was in the meeting noted 26 outstanding miracles.

See the divine possibility in your situation and the Lord will surprise you.

Don’t give up.

Don’t give up when you are surrounded by problems and your world seems to be falling apart. Don’t give up even if you feel that all hope is lost. Learn a lesson from Davids life when he refused to give up when everyone around him was discouraged.

You must get rid of discouragement today. It is a very subtle spirit. It comes unannounced with the intention to destroy. It comes to the lives of great men and women of God. You must watch it lest you allowed it to take over your life.              

The devil knows that there is no way he can get you except through making you to give up. You must take a personal decision today. You must get to a level where you can say,

“I will not allow even the devil to discourage me”. You must refuse to be discouraged. Decide to be a man or woman of faith. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. Let every arrow of discouragement receive instant burial.

                                                                                PRAYER POINTS

1. I bind every spirit of discouragement. I am not your candidate, in the name of Jesus.

2. Every good thing, that I have lost because of discouragement, I recover them. in the name of Jesus.

3. Every enemy of joy in my life, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.

4. I pursue my enemies. I overtake them, I recover my stolen property, in the name of Jesus.