Why are you waiting for someone to encourage you to do what you know you should be doing? Momma shouldn’t have to encourage you to get your grown butt up and get a job, do it for yourself. Daddy shouldn’t have to encourage you to learn a trade; you should want to know these things for yourself. Your wife shouldn’t have to encourage you to lose some weight if it’s affecting your health, you should do it for yourself and your husband shouldn’t have to encourage you to keep yourself up, you should want this for yourself. You shouldn’t wait on encouragement from others because sometimes it’ll never come. Yea, I know you do most of the work at the job and no one ever recognizes you but don’t you know that God sees? Why do you think you keep getting blessed like that? God says in Luke 6:38, “Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” See, when you give to others, God will give to you and when you do for others, God will do for you! You don’t need the world’s reward to know that you’re doing a job well done because what man gives can be taken back but when God rewards you for the great things you’ve done, there isn’t anyone that can take it from you. Stop waiting to be lifted up by man because their hands and arms get tired and they’ll drop you but work so that you can be lifted by God because when he raises you up above all those who meant bad for you, the devil in hell can’t bring you down. Sometimes the folks giving you the most encouragement to keep going are the main ones placing obstacles in your path. Yea, they may be smiling in your face and congratulating you on your accomplishments but behind closed doors they are dropping salt on your name. This is why you have to be praying for your own life and for God to surround you with His protection because not all folks are who they claim to be. But when you’re praying for yourself, God is already working on your behalf and he’s aware of the games they’re playing. Why do you think God said He would make your enemies your footstool?
I shouldn’t have to tell you to pray for yourself because this should be an automatic thing. Why, because no one can pray for your situation better than you. See, you don’t have to wait on the Pastor to anoint you with oil for your healing because there is no power in the oil but the power lies in your faith to be healed. If you don’t believe in God’s healing power for your own body, no amount of praying the Pastor does will be sufficient. This is why Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” You don’t have to wait for Sunday to be at the altar in order for your prayers to be heard because God is always listening when you’re praying in the right spirit and without a hard heart, this is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Never stop praying.” You don’t have to be a bible scholar, a missionary or Evangelist to pray for yourself. Yea, it’s easy to go to others to pray for you but God needs to hear from you from time to time in order for him to know your voice. You say, but I don’t know how to pray, that’s ok because prayer is simply having a conversation with God and if you don’t know where to start, Matthew 6:9-13 says, “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” And then when you allow the Holy Spirit to take over, you’ll begin to pray yourself happy. Baby, encourage yourself sometime! Pray for yourself sometime!
When you know that you’ve done a great job, why do you wait to hear it from other folk, pat yourself on the back. You don’t have to wait for folk to tell you that you’re pretty when you’re looking at yourself in the mirror. Encourage yourself sometime! Who knows you better than yourself, besides God? Stop waiting on somebody to pull you up out of the pit, start climbing on your own. Besides, how would someone know you’re down there if they don’t see your head peeking up? Be a blessing to yourself sometime, this way you won’t get burnt out being a blessing to others. You should be your number 1 fan! Now, this doesn’t mean you should be self-centered and selfish but it means you should love yourself first because when you love yourself, you are then able to love others. With all this being said, I will sum this up by simply saying, encourage yourself sometime! Stop waiting on your boss or coworkers to tell you job well done because it may never be said. Stop waiting for church members to acknowledge all the work you do because some of them are jealous anyway, do the work because you want God’s reward. Stop waiting around for folks to congratulate you on accomplishing your goals, congratulate yourself. No one has to buy you a cake to celebrate your birthday, it’s your day, buy your own! Encouragement is enjoying the experience you’ve endured and exceeded especially since you effectually eliminated the enemy! So go on and encourage yourself because there isn’t anything wrong with tooting your own horn from time to time!
Lakisha, the Author 