Day3
1Samuel 30
Week 47
“David was greatly distressed, for the people talked of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit, each over his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”
1 Samuel 30:6 MEV
Cross references
Exodus 17:4, Numbers 14:10
Stir Yourself
The thing about a bad situation is that it’s bad. It can be overwhelming.
Maybe you are there right now, overwhelmed with grief, a scary diagnosis, a bad financial situation, a wayward child…
David encouraged himself in the Lord.
What does that look like?
Think about a spoon in your hand. What happens if you hold it?
Nothing.
What happens if you wave it around?
Nothing much.
How about when you place it in a bowl full of just the right ingredients and stir?
Our hearts are like that.
You can stir yourself up by what you think about and talk about for good or bad.
God designed us with the ability to use our minds to stir up the ingredients that are available to us.
The Holy Spirit lives inside us and is waiting for us to call on Him to renew our minds or as Paul puts it in
2 Timothy 1:6-7, …I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is in you… ( or stir yourself up. Holy Spirit is a gift of God) …you have not been given a spirit of fear…
Or Isaiah:
And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: Isaiah 64:7
The Prophet Isaiah was speaking to God in the verse above. Israel was in dire straits because none sought the Lord; no one stirred himself up to “take a hold” of God. That means, as Christians, we can stir ourselves up to take a hold of God, to take a hold of His words, and make them real in our lives, through prevailing prayers, praise and talking about the wonderful things that God has previously done for us or others.
Pick up your spoon!
Both David and his men were stirred up. The difference was the bowl of ingredients they chose to stir up in their hearts.
Are you choosing the bowl of the world’s cares or the bowl of the Spirit.
Action Step
Which bowl are you choosing to stir?
Ask Holy Spirit to renew your mind as the mind of Christ and encourage yourself in the Lord.
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