Pastor Charles Wetherbee delivers a poignant message on the theme of self-encouragement, drawing inspiration from the biblical account of David, who found strength in the Lord during his most trying times. The central point of the discussion revolves around the idea that there are moments in life when one may feel isolated and unsupported, yet it is crucial to seek encouragement from within and from one's faith. Pastor Wetherbee emphasizes that true encouragement often stems from reflecting on past blessings and God's faithfulness, reinforcing the importance of maintaining a connection with the divine. He shares personal anecdotes and practical steps for listeners to cultivate their ability to uplift themselves, particularly during challenging times. Ultimately, the episode serves as a reminder that fostering a relationship with God can provide the strength needed to navigate life's difficulties. Pastor Charles Wetherbee delivers a profound sermon centered on the theme of self-encouragement, drawing inspiration from the biblical story of David in 1 Samuel 30. The narrative reveals how David, amidst despair and the threat of violence from his own men, found the strength to encourage himself in the Lord. This powerful moment serves as a reminder of the importance of self-reliance on faith during times of personal crisis. The pastor emphasizes that true encouragement often must come from within, especially when external support is lacking. He recounts personal anecdotes, such as the story of a little boy grieving the loss of his pet turtle, to illustrate how encouragement can be creatively fostered even in moments of sorrow. Wetherbee's message resonates with the audience as he underscores the necessity of reflecting on God’s past blessings, invoking the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and recognizing one's identity in Christ as key elements in the process of self-encouragement.

Takeaways:

• Pastor Charles Wetherbee emphasizes the importance of encouraging oneself in the Lord during challenging times, exemplified by David's actions in 1 Samuel 30:6.
• The episode explores the concept that true encouragement often comes from within, especially when external support is lacking or unavailable.
• Listeners are reminded of God's faithfulness and past blessings as a source of strength and motivation in difficult circumstances.
• Wetherbee discusses practical ways to encourage oneself, including rehearsing God's blessings, relying on the Holy Spirit, and reaching out to others in need.
• David's experience illustrates that even strong leaders face moments of distress, yet they can find solace and strength through personal faith and encouragement.
• The podcast encourages individuals to remember their identity as children of God, which provides a foundation for resilience and hope in adversity.

Boy was sitting on the front porch waiting for his father to come home.

And he was crying.

I mean, he was crying hard, just sobbing and crying, had his face in his hands.

And his father drove up and saw his son and walked up to him, said, son, are you okay?

And he didn't answer.

He said, son, are you okay?

And he just started crying even harder.

And so the father said, son, what's the matter?

What happened?

What's wrong?

And he said, my turtle died.

And his dad said, well, son, those things happen, and I feel sorry for you, but he's in heaven.

He said, what does God want with a dead turtle?

He said, well, I don't know, son, but it'll be all right.

He said, no, it won't be all right.

And he started crying even more.

And the father had an idea.

He said, I tell you what, son.

His son looked up reluctantly, and he said, you know what we need to do?

And he said, what?

He said, we need to have a turtle funeral.

And the little boy kind of looked at him kind of strange, and wiping tears away, he said, yeah, son, that's what we need to do.

Said, I need you to help me.

We're gonna have a good one.

The little boy said, what do you mean?

He said, well, go upstairs.

I bought your mother a little necklace the other day and she's wearing it.

And I noticed she left the box out.

Go get that little white box.

Be just the right size.

And he said, I want you to go down side where your bedroom is.

He said, I want you to get some glue and that little bottle of the sparkly stuff that you sprinkle on it.

What did he call that?

What is it, glitter?

Yeah, says silver glitter.

And bring the glue.

And he said, oh, and another thing.

Your mom has a tissue box that is scented.

Grab a couple of those, they'll smell wonderful.

And the little boy started.

Eyes started getting dried up and he said, okay, yeah, yeah, dad, let's do that.

And so he ran up as fast as he could and got everything, brought it all down.

And they put the paper inside there and they put the glue on top and sprinkled the glitter on there.

And he closed the box and he said, well, wait a minute, before you close the box.

Said, we need to have a prayer.

And so the father said a little prayer.

And just when he started to put the lid back on, the turtle stuck his head out.

And the little boy said, kill him, Daddy.

Kill him.

Kill him.

You ever been over encouraged?

Most of us have never known what that's about.

But that daddy really turned that little boy around and he wanted to kill the turtle.

He didn't want to miss the funeral.

Well, I want you to take your Bible and show you what I why I'm going to work that into this.

1St Samuel, chapter number 30.

1St Samuel, chapter number thirty.

Begin reading in verse number one.

1St Samuel 30, verse one.

It came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziglag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziglag 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 them lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep.

And David's two wives were taken captives.

Ahinoam and Jezeruldus and Abigail, the wife of Nabal 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 here's what I want you to see.

David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God.

Now think about that.

He encouraged himself.

There was no one else around to encourage him.

They were getting his own men wanted to stone him.

It was his fault.

When I pastored in Georgia, we had a lady in our church, elderly lady named Ann Sims.

She was deaf, but she was a master at reading lips.

And she sat on the first, second row of the church and she could.

And she would write fast and she knew every word.

She listened to every sermon.

Never heard it with her ear, but she listened and she wrote.

And one day she showed me all this list of sermons of mine that she had written down.

She became very close friends to Shelly and I.

Her and Shelly spent some time together.

Ann Sims.

And she was always writing notes, and they were always positive.

Oh, preacher, I love you.

And that message, that's the best I ever heard in my whole life.

And next Sunday she said the same thing.

And she just.

I mean, she was there for her pastor.

She always encouraged me.

She'd bake pies and cakes and do all that kind of stuff.

She was just an amazing lady.

I went down to hold a revival and in Florida and Marianna, Florida, and had a good revival.

And the first night that I was There somebody came to the door of the church and told me, you gotta call.

They want you to call back home to this number in Columbus.

So I called sitting in the car.

I went out after church and sat in the car.

And a voice on the other end said, ann Sims was killed today in a car accident, tragic car accident.

Well, I didn't know this, but the Sunday before that was a Monday night, I believe it was.

And so the Sunday before, she had stuck a little note like she normally did, but I didn't pay attention.

She just stuck it in my shirt pocket.

And she said she couldn't speak real well, but said, I'm praying for you.

And after I got off the phone and started to get a little teary eyed, she was a great encourager.

And it just said, dear preacher, I still have the card.

She said, I love you and praying for you and hope you have a good meeting.

And then she signed it first Samuel, chapter 30, verse 6.

And David encouraged himself in the Lord.

She was always my encourager, gone now, gone to heaven years ago.

And I thought my.

She didn't know she was gonna be killed in that car accident.

But she made sure I got that note in my pocket.

And David encouraged himself in the Lord.

If you haven't already experienced that, you will experience a time when you wish you had somebody to encourage you.

There's no substitute for encouragement.

There's nothing like it.

There's no way that the true power, the true.

No one can measure the power of being encouraged, of being an encourager.

Now think about it.

These aren't just idle words.

We'll never know till we get to heaven how many people didn't quit and kept going because somebody said, I love you and I'm praying for you, and encouraged them.

I wish we could really let that grab ahold of us.

Has anybody ever encouraged you in a very special personal way?

We had a minister at our church in Weatherford called the Encouragers.

And it was a lot of ladies.

And that's all they did.

Every week they would meet and they would write letters of encouragement and cards.

They would visit people for no other reason, just wanted to drop by and encourage you.

And man, that really, really influences our church and still going today.

People talk about it all the time, what an encouragement.

And they'd send in me those notes all the time.

And it always seemed the exact time when I was a little down and wondered, what's the use?

And they would send me an encouragement.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I may not even Be here tonight.

Were it not for people who encouraged me through the years, I wonder how many pastors have kept on keeping on because somebody went out of their way.

And you have.

You always have to go out of your way to encourage somebody.

But having said that, there have been some times when there was no one around to encourage me.

My wife's been there, you've been there.

I know we've all been there.

Sitting alone or lying in bed alone, and you can't think of anybody to call.

They're busy or they're out of town or your friend or whatever.

And you don't want to call somebody and say, I need you to encourage me.

It can be painful to not have anyone to encourage you.

It can be agonizing.

But God brought me through and he's brought many, many through through the years.

He never left me nor forsook me.

But sometimes with God's help.

Of course, there has been times when I've had to encourage myself.

Not very long ago, just like you, the David here, a man after God's own heart, found himself totally alone.

And it says he encouraged himself.

Now, how do you do that?

Is anybody interested?

How do you do that?

Some of you probably could make some pretty good guesses and probably come up with some good things that I.

Maybe I even forgot to write down.

But look in verse one again, in chapter 30.

There was an invasion.

They invaded.

The Amalekites had invaded.

You ever been invaded?

Sometimes you get invaded with financial stress.

Sometimes some family problems will just break in and come out of nowhere.

Sometimes a call from the doctor, health problems.

Sometimes depression can invade you.

Sometimes guilt can invade your life.

Loneliness, loss of a loved one.

I think sometimes God may allow invasions in our life to remind us of how much we need him.

Because sometimes we get to the place, well, Lord, I'll call you when I really, really need you.

Well, the fact is, there's not a moment that we don't need God in him.

We live and move and have our being.

We're in the hand of God.

If we're a child of God.

And it says they captured his family, many of those men's family, their wives and their sons and their daughters.

And that's another thing that's hard to deal with when your own loved ones are captured by sin or by the devil or by the world, and you love them and you pray for them and your heart breaks, but they're captured.

David was shocked and he broke down at the scene.

The pain of a broken heart filled with fear in Verse four.

No one is exempt from being invaded like that.

And to make it even worse, they blame David for it all.

Grief caused the people to think irrational, but David encouraged himself in Lord, how did he do that?

Well, I want to give you just a few.

And I don't know if you ever write down anything.

I wouldn't, not because I said it, but I think maybe it would be something to go to now and then.

Or maybe you could share with someone.

Maybe you would be called on to bring a devotion to someone.

And they're very short and they're very simple.

And some of them we say, oh, yeah, I know that.

But sometimes when we're really discouraged and almost shocked into despair, I can't believe this happened.

Sometimes we might need to remind ourselves, number one, to encourage yourself and myself, rehearse God's blessings and faithfulness in the past.

Remember that song.

My favorite verse song to Amazing Grace is the third verse.

Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come his grace hath brought me safe thus far and his grace will lead me home.

The children of Israel.

God did so many amazing things, miraculous things, and they would forget about it all the time.

They'd forget, say, oh, great, now we don't have any water.

Oh, great, now we don't have any food.

Oh, great, this has happened, that happened.

And God will remind them, hey, I brought you through things before.

But we have a short memory.

Sometimes we remember things we ought to forget and we forget things we ought to remember.

What have you ever needed that God has not supplied?

You might have to think about it, but it probably wouldn't pop up very quickly because you look back and you say, my, I remember when I thought that was the end.

This was it.

We're going down right here.

But God came through another thing.

Number two.

To encourage yourself in the Lord is to renew to yourself the need for God.

You know, I can't understand all the theological depths of this, and I don't really want to get in a debate with anybody.

But you know something?

God has emotions.

And God, sometimes his heart could be grieved because God wants to be needed.

Now, I know that's a little strange.

God, who holds everything, created everything, can do anything but fail that God wants to be needed.

He made us in his image and we call him a father, our Heavenly Father.

And there's not a Father here tonight that doesn't enjoy.

Especially when them children are young.

They say, dad, can you help me?

Mom, can you help me?

I need you.

Can you please Help me, I need something.

I really think any man, if he's honest, would say, yeah, that did feel pretty good.

And don't you find that as they grow up, even though they still need you and you still try to be there, but you miss sometimes being needed?

That's another sermon, by the way.

But a lot of elderly people might have lived longer had they felt like they weren't needed anymore.

And sometimes we forget that it's not easy.

We all want to be needed and we need to remind and we need to renew that God wants to be needed.

Lord, I need thee every hour, the songwriter sang.

And then thirdly, these all begin with the letter R. The third one is to rely upon the Holy Spirit, who, not for coincidence, but Jesus said he would call him a comforter.

I'm going to send you a comforter, you say, well, I need a lot of comfort.

Well, so do I.

But let me tell you something, a little secret.

The Holy Spirit can't comfort you unless you let him control you.

It's called yielding to the Holy Spirit.

It's called being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Everybody wants God's comfort.

Everybody wants the spirit of God to soothe and comfort.

But a lot of people don't want the Holy Spirit dominating their life.

They don't want them tell them how to live.

They don't like that feeling of conviction.

They want to feel comfortable.

We need to learn to rely on the Holy Spirit and say, lord, I don't know what to do.

I need encouragement.

There's nobody I don't have.

I can't call anybody.

I can't get to anybody.

I'm trying to not quit and stay the course.

Holy Spirit, please comfort me.

The third thing, if you want to try to encourage yourself, and if it hasn't come, it will remind yourself of God's promises.

How many are there promises in the Bible?

I really tell you the truth.

I've read preachers and heard them quote exactly the number.

I've never counted them all.

I probably should, but I've never counted how many hundreds or thousands of promises.

The Bible.

But I love that song, don't you?

Standing on the promises, I cannot fail.

Amen.

Standing on the promises, I cannot fall.

Because what God promises, God performs.

Abraham, the Bible says, stagger not at the promises of God.

He relied on the promises of God.

Isn't that really what keeps you going as well?

I don't know how or when, but God promised.

And sometimes our faith may run a little thin.

But what keeps us going is God.

You promised and I'm gonna live on that promise.

God likes that, by the way.

He didn't just make promises for us to read, he made promises for us to live by and to live on.

Remind yourself of God's promises.

And then number five, and this one may sound a little strange, but it'll help you to encourage yourself, reach out to other people.

That's a little hard.

My pastor, who's 87 years old, lives in Florida, just had a birthday and he preached so many sermons that changed my life.

And some of them you may not think were very deep, but they just stuck.

One of them was staying the boat and there were several others.

But I remember distinctly one Sunday when I was there as a teenager and he preached five wizard words of all sermons to remember.

And he said, get your mind off yourself.

And I mean, I can hear him right now and see him.

And he'd come down from the pulpit and he'd look at people and put his finger almost right in their face.

Get your mind off yourself.

It'll change you, it'll change the perspective.

One of the hardest things we have to do is to quit thinking about ourselves.

Woe is me.

Why did God happen this to me?

By the way, have you ever think, you say, well, I just, I've just had a bad week or a bad month or a bad year and I just can't think of a lot of things to thank God for.

Have you ever thanked God for things that hasn't happened to you?

I'm not minimizing your pain or your burden or your trials.

We don't need that.

We know.

But it's amazing when we start giving to others and calling others and encouraging others, how it will affect you.

It's a law in the Bible.

You know what that law is called?

The law of sowing and reaping.

It's a fail proof law.

You reap what you sow.

I've been, I talked to people for years that are suffering from loneliness.

And that's a very difficult thing to deal with when you feel like you don't have anybody.

But I often would remind them that scripture, he that would have friends must show himself friendly.

Instead of waiting on somebody to come and shake your hand or someone to call you and make you feel better, for you to reach out to others and sow a seed of kindness or of encouragement or be a blessing.

And according to the word of God, it'll come back to you.

It doesn't say it'll happen in 10 seconds, may not happen in a minute or an Hour, maybe not even a day.

But God promises, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

We often think of that in a more negative thing about sin and worldliness.

And when we sow discord and all that, and we're gonna get that back, it works both ways.

But it's not just to be in a negative sense.

It can be very positive.

I used to challenge people, hey, just find out what is your greatest need and go out and sow seeds of that need.

Sow what you want, sow what you need, sow it to someone else and see if it'll come back to you, how to encourage yourself.

And then number six, resist the devil.

You say, oh, sure, yeah.

A lot of people forget that just before that Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The verse right up above that said, submit yourselves one to another, then resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Submission.

Yeah, yeah.

Submission.

It's not all about me.

It's not all about you.

My way or the highway.

No, no.

As Christians, we resist the devil.

Doesn't know what to do when we have a submissive spirit.

Say, whatever you think's best.

I'm for it if it's right.

If it's biblical, let's do it.

That takes some faith sometimes to do that.

But the devil gets a little fidgety when we do that because we.

We're all made of the same stuff.

We all have a sin nature.

And the nature says, wait a minute, what about this?

And how's that going to affect me?

And how's that going to affect my family?

And how's it.

Yeah, we ought to consider those things.

But we don't make our decisions based on whether I like it or not.

You're welcome.

I'm just telling you, that's what the Bible teaches.

Submission.

And every fiber in our bodies says, me first.

And that's really the sin of all men, is selfishness.

That's really what it is.

That's why Adam and Eve sinned.

Selfish.

They were thinking about, I want to find out what it's like.

I want to eat of that fruit.

They were selfish.

That's the root of all sin.

And when you get saved, all of a sudden, now somebody else moves into your life, the Holy Spirit, and you get a new nature, which is the nature of Christ.

You still have the old nature that says, me first.

And now you got a new nature.

Others first, and they fight all the time.

But as you grow in your walk with God and fill your mind and heart, and life with the word of God, yield to the spirit of God.

You'll find out quickly that if you have a submissive spirit.

Can you picture Jesus rebelling because he didn't get his way?

He was meek, not weak, but he was meek.

He had strength, but it was under control.

And he put others before himself.

And then rejoice in the Lord.

That's a good way to encourage yourself.

And that everything I'm telling you tonight is a matter of faith.

It's saying, okay, God, you said, rejoice in everything.

No, he didn't say be thankful for everything.

He said, in everything.

Give thanks that you only can do that by faith.

Lord, I don't like it.

It's hurting.

I don't understand it.

I'm torn up inside.

I'm so disappointed.

But Lord, I've been taught and I've read it myself in the Bible.

All things work together to them that love God and to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I wish I could stand here tonight and say, that's what I always do.

No, I don't always do it.

But there are some times.

There are some times that I say, lord, I don't have any idea how you're going to bring a triumph out of tragedy.

How are you going to bring praise out of pain?

But Lord, give me the grace and we'll just wait and say, I'm going to trust you, just going to trust you.

My flesh says, throw a fit, but the Holy Spirit says, I'll take care of it.

When you need to encourage yourself, read the Scriptures.

Have you ever been discouraged by reading the Bible?

You know, a lot of people try to read the Bible and they say, I don't get anything out of it.

And they read it.

But listen, let me tell you something.

And I think I've said this from this pulpit before, but this is really, really worth writing down.

It's not.

In fact, Powell Johnson, you remember him, he's in heaven now.

But I credit him with that saying.

I never asked him, where did you get that?

But I have quoted it hundreds of times.

He said this, don't read the Bible to please God.

Read the Bible to know God.

I've never forgotten it.

We feel guilty if we don't read the Bible.

So we grab a verse or grab the book.

And that's better than nothing, I guess.

I'm sure the word of God will not return void.

But God says, I want you to read it so you can understand why I do what I do and to learn to trust me.

Open that Bible and say, God, I want to know you better so that I can trust you better.

It's hard to trust somebody you don't know.

And nobody can really know God until they get saved.

Let me show you a verse.

I'm almost through.

But hold your finger there.

But look at Jeremiah.

Can you find that pretty quick?

Jeremiah, chapter number nine, verse number 24.

I've had it underlined in almost every Bible I've got.

But in Jeremiah, chapter 9, verse 24.

Well, look at verse 23.

Thus saith the Lord.

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.

Neither let the mighty man glory in his might.

Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this.

Watch this.

That he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth.

For in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

When we say, God, I want to know you, God doesn't say, well, you can.

It's none of your business.

No, God wants you to know him.

He wants to reveal himself.

But God doesn't speak in verbal words.

He speaks through the Bible.

And so the devil says, the first thing top of my list is to keep Christians out of the Bible because they'll get to know God better.

And the better they know God, the more they'll trust God.

The Bible, read the Scriptures.

And then number nine, release your will.

You know, we get discouraged because our will wasn't done.

That's usually what discourages Lord, I'm upset.

I prayed.

You told me to pray, and it's not working.

Instead of saying, lord, not my will, but thy will, I'm gonna keep telling you this.

I've already said it a dozen times.

This is easy to preach, it's not easy to practice.

It takes faith in the help and the grace of God to say, okay, Lord, I'm gonna let go of my will.

Your will be done.

Didn't Jesus pray that prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane?

It's not an easy prayer to pray.

We all have a will.

We all have some special things that we want.

And they may not be bad things.

It may not be something God is against.

It may not be that at all.

It could be a good thing.

But God's got a better thing.

No good thing will he withhold from him that walketh uprightly?

God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants.

You're gonna have to encourage yourself.

You need to release your will.

And then number 10, retreat in prayer.

Get Alone with God.

And it's getting hard to find time to do that these days.

I mean, you gotta get up early to find peace and quiet and uninterruption and get alone with God.

If you have a place that you can go during the day or the evening, that's a good thing.

Cause this world is awful noisy.

A lot of shouting and a lot of voices screaming at us all the time.

But you want to be encouraged when no one is around to encourage you.

Retreat and get alone with God.

And then number nine.

Remember not who you are, but remember whose you are.

You belong to the Lord.

Bought and paid for.

That makes you pretty important.

I heard a little saying the other day.

Somebody said, well, you may not think much of me, but God says I'm worth dying for.

God died for you.

He gave his son.

Christ died for you.

You belong to him.

You.

Are you God.

Listen, God takes pleasure in his people.

That's why he created you.

Book of Revelation, chapter four.

We were created.

It says for his pleasure.

Does God take pleasure in you?

Does he love to hear you pray?

Does he like watching you when you get alone and open your Bible?

Does God take pleasure in watching you tell other people about how great he is?

Oh, that's what God created us for.

Amen.

God created us for his pleasure.

Remember whose you are.

I'm a child of the king.

The song says, if all God needed was servants, don't you think he'd have come up with better servants than we are?

Oh, yeah.

He wants us to serve him.

But that wasn't the main reason.

He needed a bunch of slaves to go around the world and work for him.

No, I want to enjoy you.

Before Adam and Eve sinned, God would walk with Adam in the garden.

That's a hard one to figure out.

What would that be like, to walk with Jesus in a garden?

That was Jesus in the garden.

God's a spirit.

He don't have legs.

Jesus, who was equal to God the Father took upon himself a human form many times in the scriptures before he was ever born in Bethlehem.

He walked with Adam.

And God wants to walk with you.

The only problem is, how can two walk together, except they agree you and God have to be on the same page.

But God says, I want to walk with you.

That's why I made you.

That's why I made you.

And then resume.

What do I mean by resume?

Continue what you're doing.

When you're discouraged, just encourage yourself the best you can and press on.

Don't quit.

Don't quit.

Rest in the love of God, that his love is unlimited and it's undeserved and it's unmatched and it's unending.

God will never stop loving you.

I'm persuaded.

Paul said that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor.

Nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You can't do anything to make God stop loving you.

You can break his heart.

You can grieve his heart.

He can be disappointed.

He can't stop loving you.

He loved you even before you were born.

He knew what kind of life we would have, and yet he died.

We can do all things through Christ.

Amen.

Encouraging yourself in the Lord I have.

This is an old poem, and I don't read a lot of poems.

But I have this one hanging on my wall in my office at home.

And I used to have it in my office at the church.

And when I'd go out right by the light switch, I'd see this little poem.

You will know it when I start reading to you.

It's not very long.

It's called Don't Quit.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will when the road you're trudging seems all uphill when the funds are low and the debts are high and you want to smile but you have to sigh when care is pressing you down a bit.

Rest if you must, but don't quit.

Life is strange with its twists and turns as every one of us sometimes learns and many a fellow turns about when he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don't give up.

Though the pace seem slow, you may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than it seems to a faint and faltering man.

Often the struggler has given up when he might have captured the victor's cup and he learned too late when the night came down how close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out the silver tint of the clouds of doubt and when you never can tell how close you are it may be near when it seems so far so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit and it's when things seem worse that you must not quit.

Would you stand with your heads bowed and eyes closed for just a moment?

David encouraged himself in the Lord.

It takes faith to do that, and God will help you.

He wants to help you do that.

God doesn't want you to quit.

That's not his will.

The devil wants you to quit.

But God may have spoken to your heart tonight, and you may be dealing with some things you have not even told your wife or your husband or your parents or your children or your friends.

Nobody knows but you and God.

And you may be at that place where you're just almost at the stage of saying, I can't go on.

I'm done.

I'm through.

I'm just gonna coast into heaven.

I know I'm saved, but I can't go any further.

Maybe you're there and the Holy Spirit is saying, hold it right there.

Stop.

Don't go another step.

Let me help you.

Will you be helped?

God says, let me touch you.

Are you touchable?

Are you teachable?

We're gonna sing a verse or hear a verse.

Maybe sing a little of invitation.

Sweet hour of prayer.

Aren't you glad that God doesn't measure our prayers by minutes or hours?

If you could pray an hour, that doesn't mean your prayer is more important and better than somebody else who only prays 10 seconds.

But I think most of us would agree that we don't spend enough time in prayer.

And it's not easy to do but talking to God.

If you'd like to come tonight, pray a few minutes, go back to your seat.

If not, we won't sing a lot of verses.

And I don't know why God laid this message on my heart tonight.

It's really simple.

Not very long.

I had some other planned sermon I've been working on.

David encouraged himself in the Lord.

I'll pray, we'll sing.

And when we begin to sing, you come.

Heavenly Father, thank you for understanding because no one understands like Jesus.

And thank you, Father, for this opportunity to look up and to listen and to know that you will never leave us or forsake us.

Lord, there's people here that are in the thick of battle.

The burdens are so heavy.

They cry at night in their pillow and they feel like they're kind of lonely.

There's no one to encourage them.

So, Lord, I pray you would help us tonight.

Because when we're weak, we're strong.

Touch every heart.

I pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

Heads.