Shake off discouragement
The weight of discouragement often slows the pace in the journey of life. A discouraged believer achieves little, and their efforts avail nothing. They will drag their feet and be lazy about life’s course.
You must be ever-ready to detect and remove discouragement from your system. If you intend to succeed in life, ministry, or business, you must never give in to discouragement. That feeling of despair, dissatisfaction, or giving up is discouragement clinging to your soul. It may disguise itself as genuine concern, but you must shake it off and gain momentum.
Paul wrote to the church to admonish them to live without anxiety and to turn their anxious desperation into prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. This was to deliver them from discouragement. The answer to that prayer is that the peace of God will encircle their hearts and minds.
Read Philippians 4:6-7:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
It is important to focus your mind on the right things. What you see will eventually rule your heart. Discouragement often lurks around what you see and hear. It clings to your soul when you struggle to handle contrary situations and views. Paul advised to ignore things that oppose you because they are temporary and won’t last. This might sound simple, but many believers remain discouraged and disgruntled, living in dissatisfaction and despair.
Read 2 Corinthians 4:15-18:
“For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Handle news, reports, and life’s affairs with courage. The company you keep will either make you courageous or leave you discouraged in the face of adversity.
Deuteronomy 1:20-22:
“And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’ And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’ Where can we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our hearts, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.’”
Learn from this example. Be cautious of familiar advice that discourages your heart. Do not be swayed by it. They could not access the goodness and glory of the land because their hearts were discouraged by their friends and family. Learn to calm your heart and encourage yourself to stay trusting in the Lord.
Read Psalm 27:3, 13-14:
“Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!”
Guard your heart and work from discouragement. Joshua and Israel were halted in their journey to the promised land when their hero Moses died. Some believers are in a similar stranded state now, merely existing rather than truly living. However, in Christ, there is no death or loss. Brace yourself against discouragement and move forward.
Read Joshua 1:1-7:
“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ‘Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.’”
Be strong and of good courage. Dismantle every source of discouragement, whether it’s a movie, a discussion, or negative comments.
Spend time praying in the Spirit, addressing your issues through the Word, hearing, and learning about Christ. Confess who you are and what you have in Christ until you diligently and joyfully pursue your assignment.
Stay in a state of thanksgiving always. Give thanks to God for every appearance, remembering His gift of Christ and eternal life, and for every good thing in you in Christ.
Ephesians 5:20:
“Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I call you blessed.