BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

It dawns on him that talking his misery isn't helping him. Suddenly he says, "Depart from me!" He's talking to his own head and his own soul. He's talking to all the people that have told him faith's not going to work. "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer. Let all mine enemies be ashamed" (verses 8-10). Next time you're in Baca, remember what David did. Remember that if you keep talking your misery, you're going to be stuck there. But if you start talking your covenant with God and talking faith, you can keep moving on through! Now, let's look at David in one more situation. Let's look at how he handled a Baca that was designed by the enemy to destroy him. And let's see how God turned it around. The story of it is found in 1 Samuel 30. David and his men had been away from their homes on a military mission. When they got back, they found their whole town, all their homes, had been burned to the ground and every member of their families had been taken captive. There was no one left. When David and his men rode up and saw that devastating sight, the distress and discouragement that came on them was so overwhelming that the Bible says, "[They] lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more strength to weep" (verse 4). These were all grown men. Mighty men of valor. But they were so distraught, they cried until they couldn't cry anymore. Then, for David, the situation got even worse because while they were crying, his men decided he was to blame for it all. So there was David. Not only had his home been burned and his family been taken captive, but his men had decided they wanted to kill him. That's Baca, folks, any way you look at it. Bad Baca! Verse 6 says, "David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged… himself " (AMPC). BUT DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF! Notice that didn't say, "God encouraged David." It didn't say, "The pastor came by and encouraged David." It said, "David encouraged himself." One other translation says, "He strengthened himself." How did he do it? He started talking his covenant. He started remembering his covenant. David was a covenant-minded man. And when he sat there in all that pain, that agony, that misery, knowing that his men wanted to stone him, instead of just accepting defeat, he sat there and began to think about God. He began to think, Hey, God is the lifter of my head! God is my shield! God is my fortress! If God be for me, who can be against me? Then he stood up and asked a crucial question. "God," he said, "what do You want me to do?" And God answered him and said, "PURSUE, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all" (verse 8, AMPC)! Notice, when David inquired of the Lord saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" God didn't say, "No, son, you're pretty torn up about this. You'd better just sit there and lick your wounds." No, He said, "Pursue!" Next time you fi nd yourself in Baca, you need to ask God the same thing David did. You need to say, "God, shall I just take this sitting down? Shall I just sit here and die? Do I just sit here when the enemy has invaded my home, and let him carry o¤ my family and my health and my money?" If you do, God will tell you just what He told David every time. He'll say, "Pursue!" When David and his men followed that command, they did just exactly what God said they'd do. They recovered all! They got back their wives and their sons and their daughters, all the goods that were stolen, and they took the enemy's livestock as well. So they returned home with more than they lost! Take a lesson from that. When you're in pain and misery, don't sit there until you die. Get up and be aggressive. Take charge! Do what David did and encourage yourself, strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. Go back in there and get those faith tapes and listen to them again. Get your Bible out and start reading again. Get yourself to church and let somebody preach to you. Encourage yourself! Don't wait for somebody to come along with a special anointing for encouragement. Encourage yourself! PURSUE and you shall surely overtake them, and without fail, recover all! 1 8 : B V O V Watch Jerry Savelle on C H A N N E L Jerry Savelle on C H A N N E L Sun. 4:30 a.m. | 5:30 p.m. Tues. 2 p.m. | Fri. 6 a.m. | Midnight ET Watch

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