| |
|
Discouragement is an absolute assignment of the devil! It is one of the
greatest enemies we will have to fight. If we allow it to take its course,
it will absolutely paralyze us and interfere with what God would have us
to do.
The wonderful news is that we can learn how
to walk in a manner that constantly destroys the working of this
assignment against us. We will either destroy discouragement, or
discouragement will nullify the work of God through us, or even destroy
us!
Speaking plainly, discouragement
arises from loving oneself too much. We think too much of, and too often
of ourselves ~ and we expect too much of ourselves. This produces the
fruit of discouragement when we are not able to bring about what we
thought we could or should.
Consider Isaiah 42:4 when speaking of Jesus
says, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in
the earth." If we are the servants of the Lord, neither will we fail nor
be discouraged. The danger comes when our sights are moved off the mark of
the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, then we become susceptible to pleasing
self or others which always ends in failure.
Lest we are tempted to tolerate discouragement
whenever or however it may come, consider that "grieved" is another word
which characterizes discouragement. In the Hebrew, the word "grieved"
means "every evil work." Discouragement opens the door to flesh, devil,
and everything that is bad for us. Why? For it causes us at heart to lose
sight of God, and of His promises and encouragement in the midst of
difficulties.
Discouragement can so permeate our thinking that it
renders us incapable of seeing by the Spirit, cutting us off from truth
and hope. Discouragement is an eclipse of our faith!
One
cannot be discouraged and in faith at the same time. What brings
discouragement? You can be doing fine and suddenly there it is ~
discouragement! The first thing that can bring threat of discouragement is
circumstances. Numbers 21:4 describes the onset of discouragement in the
Hebrew children, "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red
sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much
discouraged because of the way." The Amplified Bible says that they,
"...became impatient (depressed, much discouraged), because [of the
trials] of the way."
We, too, are embarked upon a journey with our
God. As we go in the way He calls us there are trials can bear down upon
us, becoming weightier and weightier until we feel it is more than we can
bear. Although the results we long for sometimes seem so far away, God
would say to us, "Labor to enter into My rest! Come unto Me all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!"
Do you feel as if you have to "tough everything out?"
God's way is to lead His people is found in Psalm 23, "He leadeth me
beside still waters," waters of refreshing and peace. The fight can get
very tough, but we have the Holy Spirit who is both Comforter and
Encourager ~ and for good reason! He sees the turn in the road ahead. He
sees the beautiful result that God is working in our lives and in the
lives of others. We must recognize discouragement at its onset and draw
near to God for His help in our time of need.
Secondly, the fear of man can wreak havoc in our lives
and cause great discouragement if we allow it to. What will "they" say?
What will "they" think? Always remember that what "they" say today changes
with the wind.
We are
to please one - God. Hebrews 13:6 tells us, "...for he hath said, I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is
my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." Have you
found out that the "theys" in your life will leave you and forsake you?
I have also discovered that people get
discouraged because they try to be something God never intended them to
be! This is rooted in the fear of man in the form of concern for our own
reputation with man. Discouragement takes hold when we seek something that
is not given to us by God to pursue.
Thirdly, our own failures threaten to bring perhaps the
greatest discouragement of all. We probably will fail right before the
trumpet blows, but saints, we are covered with the Blood. You might fail
because you are not God! When we "think more highly of ourselves than we
ought," we think we can never fail. We need to be like Paul who said "I am
not perfect yet." He determined to press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
When you and I let our failures discourage us, saints,
it is rooted pride springing from a secret love of our own excellence
(that we are unaware of until His light exposes it). We are so
disappointed when we find out we are not who we thought we were, who we
want to be! This sin nature wants us to look at ourselves as perfect. When
we find out we are not perfect, we become disillusioned with ourselves (or
others) which is a breeding ground for discouragement. But the Word says,
"He who looks unto the Lord shall never be ashamed." Meditate upon the
Lords perfections, glory in Him, and stand fast in His love and grace!
We must simply face our failures and get rid of them by
consecrating ourselves to God afresh and anew and receive His help. God
always says in the midst of our failures the same thing He said to Israel:
"RISE UP!!!" "Get up and sanctify yourselves!" Do you know what
flesh and the devil say? "Lie down, quit, and be discouraged! You are a
failure!" God says, "Never mind, get on with it ~ learn from it and move
ahead!"
Fourthly, our own weaknesses discourage us. Every
great Bible hero had weaknesses. Even when David committed adultery and
had the husband killed, God said of him that he was a man after His own
heart. Why? Because David did all of God's will ~ not that everything he
did was perfect or godly, but that the plan God laid out for David to
accomplish, he accomplished. In the midst of doing God's will, he failed
many times and brought trouble on himself as well.
We don't excuse or condone sin, but neither do we
excuse ourselves from doing the will of God and eliminate ourselves, or
disqualify ourselves! Hear God when He says, "The Blood of Jesus is your
recourse, He stands so that you do not have to become disqualified because
of your weakness or sin. Again, avail yourselves of the Blood of Jesus,
sanctify yourselves through His Blood, and be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind in the Word of God. Then: Go on and do the will of
God!!!"
Our weakness is our greatest strength. In 2 Corinthians
Chapter 12 God says, "Paul, get up, go on ~ My grace is sufficient for
you, for in your weakness, I am made strong" (Paraphrased). Our problem is
not our weakness, it is in thinking that we are strong enough to handle it
without seeking the strength of Almighty God to be strong in us. Recognize
also that in order for the resurrection power of God to manifest through
you, there has to be a death! When you became born-again, your old man ~
that sin nature ~ died upon the cross with Christ and you were raised
again to new life as a new creation. This happens also in the call upon
our lives ~ there comes a time when a death comes upon that call before
God raises the call and anointing up in His resurrection power.
Joshua 1:9 declares, "Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:
for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
There was only one requirement, to be: STRONG and VERY COURAGEOUS!
Courage and strength are found in God. He makes
the righteous, "...as bold as lions." As He did for Joshua, He will cause
no man to be able to stand against you by virtue of the anointing. Courage
opens the door to everything that is good! The promise that, "I, the Lord
thy God, I am with thee," removes every argument and the basis of all
discouragement. What is your weakness? Let Him turn that weakness into His
strength.
The Lord is to fight our battles, and not
us. People have tried to have great faith in the written Word apart from a
living relationship with God, not knowing that before they can have great
faith in the written Word, they must have great faith in God Almighty. Our
first faith priority must be to trust in God, Himself. If we do not know
God and try to operate the Word as a law to ourselves ~ it will become the
letter of the law that killeth, and we will utterly fail.
It is not faith in a formula, a law, or a principle,
but only as the Word is to us spirit and life that we benefit from it, and
true faith in God then flourishes. We can come under the impression that
we must fight our battles and be strong in our own strength. God says,
"The battle is mine ~ stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!" It
is God Himself in Psalm 23 who anoints our heads with oil and spreads out
a feast before us while we watch Him fight our enemies!
This is where the fight comes in of letting go
and letting God. Our interference will absolutely stop and hinder His
working. Spiritual forces cannot work for us when we are replacing them
with our works. Our weapons are not carnal! Without Him, we can do
nothing, and yet, we act like we are supposed to "do it all." No! Without
Him we can do nothing. The truth of the matter is, we have very little to
do with it.
When it comes to our spiritual enemies of the demonic
realm, if we try to wrestle them in our own strength, trusting in
ourselves to have a part in working the victory, it cause us to rebel and
ends in failure. 1 Corinthians 15:10 "But by the grace of God I am what I
am : and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I
laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me." It is by grace through faith!
Notice that the psalmists do not try to reason or argue
their way out of discouragement, but completely turned their face towards
God and began to worship Him, to praise Him. This is the only way to
overcome. Discouragement flies away when faith appears.
God will fight for us if we will let Him, but we
must hand it over to Him. The good fight of faith in 1 Timothy 6:12 is not
a fight of effort or struggle, but it is a fight of trusting. It takes
fight to stay in trust! Ephesians 6:10-18 we are not to only hand over the
battle, but leave it with Him knowing that He will conquer. Do we not
think that God can conquer and finish it?
Have you come to the place where you say, "I am not
going to do any more with that, I am through with it ~ if anything is
going to be done it will have to be God." Welcome! You have just stepped
into the realm of faith.
Many ministers allow their personal, intimate
time with the Lord (not including seeking Him for messages for others) to
go by the wayside. When one does this, the enemy will cause us to become
overrun by needs and demands that we then feel responsible to meet. I told
a minister once who was forfeiting personal time with the Lord, "Listen,
you take time to be with God, and if the church falls apart ~ so be it. If
God can't hold it together, you can't either so you need to find out now!"
Everything looks and is different when we take
the time to be with the Master. The decisions born out of daily time with
Jesus (receiving His wisdom and anointing) will be different than if we
forged ahead in our own strength. The place of personal devotion is where
God fills you with His empowerment, replacing our weakness with His
strength, His instruction, and His anointing that breaks every yoke and
goes before us to make a straight path for our feet.
Remember 1 Samuel 30:6 "...but David encouraged himself in the LORD his
God." A time at the altar on our faces before God, opening our hearts to
Him will do what 10,000 laying on of hands, binding and loosing cannot and
will not do for you. As David encouraged himself, Joel 2:25 went into
operation ~ the result was magnificent victory and restoration. This will
always be the result of courageous faith. Courageous faith lays a hold of
God, and there is no limit to what God will do.
Only the argument of God can meet and defeat the
argument of discouragement, for discouragement is a spirit that attaches
itself to our fear of man, our meditation upon our failures, and our
looking at our weakness or circumstances. Look away from such things and
look unto the Lord alone. He is your Creator, you belong to Him. He will
cause you to stand. He will cause you to succeed. As you trust Him, and
obey Him, and He will cause His good plans for your life to come to pass.
So encourage one another, for as we bless one another
we annihilate any curses. We can reverse a pattern of discouragement and
discouraged thinking by adopting what the Word says concerning ourselves,
our circumstances, and most of all of our God and what He is able to do.
As in Isaiah 40:2, as God cries out, "Comfort,
comfort my people.... Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad
days are gone and that her sins are pardoned" (New Living Translation). We
are to let the Holy Spirit of Consolation spring forth from within us unto
one another as we purposefully forge a strong, life long habit of
encouragement to ourselves and to one another in the Body of Christ.
|
