Dealing
with Discouragement
1 Peter 5:8
Every man or woman of God has to cope with discouragement from time to time. When the devil comes with his spirit of discouragement, he bombards us with one lie after another. He lies to you about your walk with God, he accuses you that you are a no good Christian and that your life does not matter. He lies to you about your friendships, your church, your business and makes you feel that there is nothing you can do to help the situation.
Discouragement happens to me many times before I stand to preach God's Word or even in study and prayer as I prepare a message. It comes out of nowhere. I am invaded with doubts of my ability, and my integrity is called into question. Doubts come to me like; "you don't know enough of the Bible to preach this passage", "you have got a lot of nerve pointing at their sin, look at your own", "you can't preach on prayer, look at your prayer life". The accusations go on and on. But wait! God has called me to be perfect and I am in the process. I have not arrived. Lets look at some steps of action we can take to expel the darkness and stand tall for Jesus.
STEP 1: Remember some thingsRemember past victories that He has brought you through. It may have been victory with a wayward child, a marital problem, a law suit, business ordeal, depression, or conflict.
Remember where he has brought you from. Remember back when you were just a baby Christian and how the Holy Spirit has grown you up.
Remember His Word. Such as: Deuteronomy 8, Lamentations 3:20-24, John 7:37-39, John 8:31-32, John 10, Romans 8:26-39, 2 Corinthians 2:14
Remember to pray.STEP 2: Resist the Devil (1 Peter 5:9)
Stiff arm the devil and his demons. Someone has said when the devil comes knocking at your door, send Jesus to answer. Revelation 12:11
Recall that Satan is a liar, an accuser of the brethren, the deceiver who will only lead us the wrong way.
Don't listen to his lies!STEP 3: Repent of any known sin
There are times our discouragement is because of known sin in our life that we need to deal with. As my favorite character Barney Fife says "we need to nip it in the bud".
Go to the Lord and confess it. Just agree with God. This will shut the devil up about as quickly as anything.
Satan cannot stand to see us repent or pray.You are not the only one that struggles with discouragement. In God's Word Moses had to deal with this issue as did David, Job, Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, Peter and others. Heros of the faith like Martin Luther, Hudson Taylor, Charles Spurgeon, Corrie Ten Boon dealt with discouragement. Be encouraged. God loves you. Not only does He know what you are going through, He is with you as you go through them leading you in triumph.
1 Peter 5:9-1 - Resist him (devil) steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
