“Keep Yourself Built Up”

Jude 17-21

17) But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19) These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20) But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21) Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

A

ll too often, we look for someone else to help us. That is, someone other than the Lord, the scripture which has been left to us, or the Holy Ghost which has been invested in us.

Usually, we labor under constant feelings of weakness, or at least convince ourselves that we are in constant need of encouragement. When we are looking for someone else to do what we ought to be able to do, we make for ourselves an automatic excuse for not standing on the Word. Even though you can recognize your need for assistance and others can want to help you, no one can help another unless one is willing to accept help.

Without a doubt, the Word is clear on what to do in any situation. However, if one does not understand what the Lord expects from us, we will always make excuses for not doing what is required of us.

It is a fact that pastors can handicap their people by “helping” those with dependency problems. Of course, their intention is to help their members, but they often find themselves being taken advantage of. Of course, their aim is to get us to trust God for ourselves, but in depending upon them, we will get comfortable in substituting them for trusting in God.

Keeping ourselves built up requires us to do no less than 100% of what God’s Word instructs us to do. Only in this way can we withstand the attacks of the Enemy and keep the victory we have been deeded by Jesus.

We must never forget that the devil gives a 100% effort today to deceiving all those who would name the name of Christ. The only way we can resist this and stay built up is that we must know the things that God will do. We must draw on the experiences that we have already had with God. But, if we have no experiences, then what?

To stay built up, we must remind ourselves what God has done and stop complaining about what we do not like. Undoubtedly, some of our greatest difficulties come from our perception of situations. It is the trick of the Enemy to keep our minds off what God has done and onto how bad we feel our situation is now.

Look at the simplicity that is in Christ. When the children of Israel were bitten in the wilderness by the poisonous serpents, to be healed, all they had to do was look up. If they were willing to look up to the brass serpent on the pole, they would receive their deliverance. No doubt, there were some who did not do it because of its simplicity. Most things that the Lord tells us to do to encourage ourselves are easy, and most go unheeded by us. Why? Because we seem to believe that in order for something to “work,” it must be difficult.

One cannot keep himself built up without praise, and Satan knows how to stop it. If he can keep us complaining long enough, he knows that we will stop praising God and succumb to frustration and dejection.

Being saved, we are not limited to praising God with our understanding. This is one of the greatest advantages of having the Holy Ghost. We need not really “understand” anything to have victory in Christ.

Only by focusing on the Lord can we remain built-up. Hence, a focus on self promises a continual state of weakness. Elevating God elevates the spirit, soul, and self as nothing else can.

All of our power, victory and peace will be determined by our willingness to elevate the Lord. The people of God are guaranteed encouragement and renewal by raising the name of the Lord in praise. If we will make this part of our spirit, we will automatically be kept built up.