Encouraging yourself in the Lord Pt 10

Alright, today I’ll present one of those means of encouraging yourself in the Lord which may not appeal to, or be accepted by folks from some doctrinal backgrounds.  This also came up in my series called, Ministering to the Lord.  As I suggested before, if you fall into that category you can just plug your ears and go, ‘lalalala’.
It’s found in I Cor. 14:4, 15, 28, and in Jude 20, which reads, ‘He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church . . .  What is the conclusion then?  I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding.  I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding . . . But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God . . .  But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit’.  Without becoming too theological, you can see that praying and/or singing in the Spirit, 1) edifies (or builds up) the one who uses it and 2) it builds up the user in their faith.  I know how it makes me feel.  I’ve included enough so that you can see that this is the version of tongues that is for use primarily by the individual believer.
It is another tool that the individual believer can use or practice to encourage, build up, and edify themselves in the Lord.  Of course, this one was not available to David when he needed something at Ziklag.  It is an extra thing that we have now as believers in the New Testament period.  Like many of the other tools, there’s no cost, no limit, no ceiling on the amount of this gift that we can use in order to encourage ourselves in the Lord.  My advice is use it extravagantly.  Use it often.  Use it in the day.   Use it in the dead of night when the enemy seems to be extra active.  The Spirit won’t tire of you.  Use it as often as you need it in concert with the other tools that we’ve uncovered so far.
Ok, the rest of you can now remove your fingers from your ears and stop the, ‘lalalala’.  Next week I’ll reveal the final tool that I have for you when you need to encourage yourself in the Lord.  So far, though, you can sing, thank God, use His Word, fill your hearts and minds with good stuff, remember His wonderful acts, seek an encourager, pray, praise, and now sing and pray in the Spirit.  Use them.  Encourage yourself.  See you next week.