You and I are going to face discouragement in this life and if we are in
decent spiritual shape, we will make an attempt to overcome that discouragement through
the power of Christ. We must view each incident as a stepping stone for growth. But what
if I am a defeated Christian because of much discouragement, can I be helped? The answer
is a resounding yes! God is willing to bring you out of the bondage of discouragement if
you will follow one simple biblical principle which I will impart to you at the end of
this short study. Encouragement can only come if you saturate yourself with Scripture, if
you are unwilling to do this you will remain in bondage. God is a great encourager while
Satan remains a great discourager. Unfortunately we tend to follow the discourager more
than we follow God. If God tells us something in the Scriptures, we may be absolutely
confident that it is true and that we may take action to the glory of God. I would like to look at four ways that Satan attempts to anesthetize the
Christian. These are representative of the methods he uses. I am only using four to
illustrate Satan’s methods and principles of discouraging the believer. Satan’s
lie will be listed first, then God’s remedy will be listed below. 1) Satan - God can’t use you, look at what you were! God - (Heb 8:12 KJV) For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. The key word here is "were." God has stated in this verse that
all your sins have been forgiven and forgotten. When God forgets something, he forgets
forever, and don’t let Satan deceive you into believing that God still holds your
past sins against you. All your sins were paid for at Calvary. If you are not sure of
this, go back to Ephesians 1 and do a word study on how God views His children. Before I
was saved, I was a weekend drunk and I would black out, many times I did not know how I
made it home. I have been saved since 1981, and have never heard a voice from heaven
saying, "Aha, you were a drunk!" God doesn’t do that to His children. Read
Romans 8:33 till it sinks in deep. (Rom 8:33 KJV) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifieth. 2) Satan - What could you possibly give God that He could use? God - (Exo 4:1-4 KJV) And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will
not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared
unto thee. {2} And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said,
A rod. {3} And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became
a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. {4} And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth
thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it
became a rod in his hand: Every believer has something which may be used to the glory of God. I have
never met a believer who has absolutely nothing in their arsenal. God uses all fields:
Electricians, Carpenters, Truck Drivers, etc. In other words, God has given His children
talents which may be used on the job as well as off the job. You can teach a fatherless
boy or girl how to ride a bike. Keep in mind our focus verses. Moses had only a staff
because he was a shepherd for forty years. Was it the staff that won freedom for the
Israelites? The answer is no! It was the blessing and power of God that was upon the
staff which cause havoc for Pharaoh. So as you use your talent for the glory of God, His
blessing and power will be upon it. God doesn’t only bless preaching but all His
children. This study is being written upon that principle. I am giving to God the talent
which is in my arsenal. If He chooses to bless it, Amen, but if not, then it has prepared
me for something else He has planned. Never let Satan lead you to believe that you have no
talent, because that is libel against God’s highest order of creation. Believe
God’s Truths, not Satan’s lies. 3) Satan - But you are fat, God won’t use you! God - (1 Sam 16:7 KJV) But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his
countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD
seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on
the heart. You may substitute any word for "fat" which may fit you. I chose
fat because I am five foot two and twenty five pounds over weight so I can easily identify
with this slander of Satan. God is telling us He looks on the inward man. We live in an
image crazed world. We believe that if a person is tall and slender, then they are
acceptable but if a person is fat, they can never be used because they are rejected by
Madison Avenue. Suppose Jerome Howard thought that way ( we knew him as Curly of the Three
Stooges), or if Lou Costello didn’t think he could be funny because he was short and
fat. We would have been robbed of a billion laughs. What if Joni Eareckson Tada decided to believe Satan’s lie, a
valuable ministry to the handicapped would have never been started. The point is that no
matter what your physical condition is, God can use you to His glory and will if you are
willing to surrender any evil notions of uselessness. Remember, we are limited but God is
not! Don’t worry about stepping out and experiencing failure, because some of
God’s greatest servants messed up: If you step out and fail, that is fine because out of failure grows
success. You may want to take counsel from your pastor or a mature Christian friend to
discuss your desire to take a step of faith to serve God in some capacity. You may want to
start by going to Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study, or a neighborhood Bible
study, or you may start one. If you give yourself as a living sacrifice to God, then no
matter what your physical condition is, God will find a place for you in His service but
sometimes He may place one of His children in an area where they do not believe they are
talented but trust Him because "Father Knows Best." 4) Satan - Who do you think you are? God - (Judg 6:12 KJV) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and
said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. Gideon was either the smallest or youngest one in his father’s house.
He knew he was weak and couldn’t accomplish what the angel told him he would. The
angel called Gideon "thou mighty man of valour." Why did the angel call the
least one in the family by that title? The secret to that answer is no secret and it is
found in the first part of that greeting, " The LORD is with thee." When an opportunity avails itself to you, and you believe God has opened
that door, you should go through it and accept the assignment. When Satan hits you with
the line, "who do you think you are?" or "what makes you think you are
qualified for this assignment?," just answer by saying "it is who I know that I
am in the Lord." The Lord is there to empower you for anything He sends your way. We
are the sons and daughters of the living, omnipotent, God and within us lives the Holy
Spirit who is God Himself. How much more do we need to accomplish any task which is set
before us? If God gives us an assignment, we never have to ask, "Am I
qualified?" God has already made us able. Read this beautiful promise from
Deuteronomy 31:8: (Deu 31:8 KJV) And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be
with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. If God is going ahead of us, that means He is preparing the road for us,
so when it is time to tackle the assignment, all things will be in place. As long as we
are God’s children, we never have to worry about who we are, the Scriptures tell us
who we are. Remember the mighty promise in Philippians 1:6: (Phil 1:6 KJV) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: You can be sure that if God has begun something in you, he will complete
it. We have probed four types of attacks that Satan uses to discourage the
believer from doing a work for God. Any time you are asked to do something for Christ and
you give an excuse why you can’t, then stop in your tracks and really ask yourself if
you have answered correctly or if you have chosen to follow the discourager? Satan is a
master of discouragement and he will always use a method that seems harmless on the
surface but the ripple effect will be disastrous. This is why it is imperative to stay in
the Scriptures and study Satan’s method of discouragement and diversion. A good place
to start would be the book of Nehemiah. PRINCIPLES OF FIGHTING DISCOURAGEMENT Discouragement is a blatant attack upon the promises of God in
Scripture. Whenever Satan moves in to discourage you, be assured the Bible has already
met that discouragement, therefore, it is necessary to seek out the promise of God which
Satan is attacking. As believers we either choose to believe the promises of God or we choose
to believe the lies of Satan. God is aware of every circumstance in our life and when we
firmly believe this, we may then place, with confidence, every situation under the
umbrella of God’s wisdom and omnipotence. This short study is designed not to answer
every situation in a person’s life but to get that person into the habit of seeking
the Scriptures when advice is needed. We all become discouraged but the key to breaking
out of it is searching the Scriptures and finding and claiming the promises of God which
speak directly to that situation. No adverse circumstances are joyful but we have to make a decision as to
whether we will allow discouragement to be the rule or the exception in our life.. Let me
offer you some examples of types of discouragements and the Scripture references which
will encourage you at those times. DISCOURAGEMENT
SCRIPTURE What we see above is God’s simple principle to attack discouragement:
SCRIPTURE!
The
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