October 3, 2026
Encourage Yourself
Dr. Eric Thomas
The Message
The One Thing
When disaster hits you from every direction at once, don't call everybody to complain — encourage yourself in the Lord. That's not denial; David did it the day he came home to a burned city, a captured family, and his own men talking about killing him.
The video opens at the start of the message.
ENCOURAGE YOURSELF
This Week's Message
What He Said
Your words are not neutral
Everything God made, He made by speaking — so murmuring, complaining, and gossiping aren't harmless venting, they're creative acts. The mouth that blesses can curse, and you don't get to pretend the second one doesn't shape your life.
Proverbs 18:21
This is the day — wake up and rejoice on purpose
Every day is a brand-new day, which means rehearsing yesterday's pain into today is out of order. Rejoicing isn't a mood, it's a decision — and it's an atmosphere the enemy can't occupy.
Psalm 118:24
Encourage yourself in the Lord
David came home to four losses stacked in one day — his city burned, his people carried off, both his wives taken, and his own men ready to stone him. His first recorded response wasn't a phone call or a complaint — it was reminding himself of who God is, what He's said, and what He's already done.
1 Samuel 30:6
Motive Is Everything
David is one of God's most-used people despite real, serious failure — not because God overlooks sin, but because the difference was never perfection. It was motive: not how you feel about what you're doing, but why you're actually doing it. "David encouraged himself in the Lord" isn't a cute quote for a T-shirt — Eric calls it a commandment, and this message is about what it cost David to obey it.
Four Disasters, One Homecoming
1 Samuel 30 stacks the losses one on top of the other with no space to breathe: David's city burned to the ground (v.1), his people carried off by the Amalekites (v.2), both of his own wives taken captive (v.5), and the men who'd ridden with him through everything now talking about stoning him (v.6). "Everything that happened to David only made David encourage himself in the Lord. Everything that happens to you makes you drive yourself crazy."
This Is The Day
Before Ziklag, Eric roots the whole message here: "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." — Psalm 118:24 (KJV). Every day is new, which means waking up to rehearse yesterday's pain is out of order. Depression, he says, isn't a biblical term — it's one of the ways the enemy tries to stay resident in you, and it can't survive in real rejoicing.
Your Words Are Not Neutral
The hinge of the message: everything God made, He made by speaking — so murmuring, complaining, gossiping, and judging aren't harmless venting, they're creative acts. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." — Proverbs 18:21 (KJV). And: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing... Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" — James 3:10-11 (KJV). "You think you're just having a conversation, but your conversation is creating something."
Be Careful How You Talk About What's Yours
Eric applies this close to home: watch how you talk about your marriage, your kids, your church, your job. Not because everything's perfect — he's clear his own marriage isn't the Huxtables — but because every word either builds or tears down the thing you're actually trying to protect. "Whatever she is, or whatever she's not, it's because of me" — owning your words instead of exporting the blame.
The Formula: Wake Up. Rejoice. Encourage Yourself. Keep Moving.
Eric closes with four plain commands, repeated like a chant: Wake up — a new day, no attitude carried over from the last one. Rejoice — on purpose, not based on circumstances. Encourage yourself — after you get hit, remind yourself of who God is, what He's said, and what He's done, instead of calling everybody to complain. Keep moving — "I refuse to allow one difficult moment to become my entire life."
David Didn't Call Anybody to Complain
The detail Eric keeps circling back to: after four devastating losses in a single homecoming, David didn't get on the phone, didn't ask for sympathy, and didn't badmouth the men who turned on him. The text simply says "David encouraged himself in the LORD his God" (1 Samuel 30:6, KJV) — not that he found somebody to agree with his complaint.
Eric's Own Testimony: Kept By Grace
Early in the service, Eric points to his own story — homeless as a teenager in Detroit, pressured by the people who'd been "taking care" of him to get into the drug trade, and kept out of it in a way he still can't fully explain. His point: most of what God has actually done for you, you don't even remember to thank Him for. "If God has done something for you, you ought to just give Him a hand clap of praise."
Do Not Just Read It
This Week's Assignment
WAKE UP. REJOICE. ENCOURAGE YOURSELF. KEEP MOVING. Refuse to let one difficult moment become your entire story.
0 of 5 done this week
Monday
Wake Up On Purpose
Before you check your phone, say out loud: "This is the day the Lord has made." Name one thing from yesterday you refuse to carry into today.
Psalm 118:24
Tuesday
Audit Your Mouth
Pay attention to what you say out loud today when something goes wrong. Is it creating the outcome you want, or the one you're afraid of?
Proverbs 18:21
Wednesday
Name Your Ziklag
What's the situation right now that feels like it's hitting you from every direction at once? Write it down honestly, without the spin.
1 Samuel 30:3-4
Thursday
Encourage Yourself
Write three sentences: who God is, what He's said to you, and what He's already done for you. Read them out loud before you do anything else today.
1 Samuel 30:6
Friday
Keep Moving
Name one next step you've been putting off because of how you feel. Take it today, regardless of the feeling.
Psalm 34:1
The full message, edited for reading, with the slides built in.
WAKE UP.
The Word
REJOICE.
Your Move This Week
KEEP MOVING.
Arise and Build