How do you overcome discouragement?

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Permalink Reply by Jill St. Juste on July 15, 2011 at 4:44pm

During the end of last year, I felt defeated. I felt like no matter how much I pray nothing was going to change. Even when I sat in church, I was not moved.  It came to a point where I couldn't open my bible. I will carry it around, move it from one place to another but not open or read. When I finally spoke to someone about it in a chatroom on this website, one great advise she gave me was to subscribe to devotionals. Even though I am not reading the Word, at least I got part of the Word and at the end of the devotionals were prayers. On days that I chose to read the devotional, it felt like they were written just for me. From there I spoke to my friend who prayed for me. Slowly I became encouraged.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by John Rogers on July 16, 2011 at 11:50am

Hi Scribe,

There is not a day goes by when I don't feel some kind of discouragement at some point in the day. We are constantly bombarded by sin every time we step out the front door. Lovers of money, lovers of self, lovers of evil, lovers of sex, lovers of idols, foul talk, and all the rest. We are faced with people at work, who when you tell them you’re a Christian, they immediately start looking and hoping for you to stumble. Following Jesus is not easy all the time so of course we get discouraged. But like Peter said when asked by Jesus if they (his disciples) were going to desert him also, Peter said, "Where are we going to go? You have the words to life." ---- Put another way, what Peter was saying is that we are stuck. We don't have any other choices. ------------- We say we have "free will" but do we actually? We have a will, but it certainly is not free. Our will comes with a price tag. If we choose the world and don't accept Jesus and turn from our sins at some point, then after we die, the price we pay is hell. -----What Peter was saying is that he didn't have a choice of where to go anymore, and neither do we. It is not going to get any easier being a Christian, and as the end approaches it will get even harder. Many will turn away and very few will be left standing for Jesus at the end. We are going to be sifted before it’s over. The good news is that when we come to the same conclusion as Peter did, then death for us will really be an escape from this world and a ticket home, and not a punishment. ----- Discouragement will always be with us, but one of the ways to fight it off is to realize that we don't have anywhere else to go. We have two choices, Jesus or the world. We have to keep standing because logically, there is no other alternative.  


Many Blessings to you and yours!

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Permalink Reply by Theresa on July 18, 2011 at 3:19am

Dear Scribe,

The word of God tells me how king David encouraged Himself in the Lord 1 Samuel 30:6 and how Abraham didn't waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God in Romans 4;20

The word of God and His promises that he will never leave me, He is mindful of me. The Lord is my Savior, my rock and my refuge, the glory and the lifter of my head, my provider.  I call Him faithful because He is faithful. One day, I looked down at my heart and realized without doubts or fear of man that the God who has the power to send me to heaven is living right here on the inside of my heart and is closer to me than anyone else. Wow, this alone make me shouts for joy and command the spirit of discouragment to go to hell where it belongs.

Blessing

Theresa

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on July 18, 2011 at 5:42am

In all hardship, I remember my Lord and Savior and turn to Him for support. If discouragement is in my vision, I turn to Christ and let Him deal with the discouragement, which He can see over my shoulder.

Blessings,

Rita

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Permalink Reply by ScribeD on July 20, 2011 at 12:48am

This is exactly the kind of interaction I was seeking when I posted this: personal accounts, not theory.

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