The Cure for Discouragement

Good afternoon, brethren. Great to see everybody back from the Feast. We had a wonderful time, the travel team, going to Colorado. You may have heard Mr. Pack say some of these things, but I’ll just reiterate it, because we were there with him, and truly, a wonderful Feast all together in Colorado and then in Rogers, Arkansas. Truly beautiful scenery, wonderful. The fellowship was just exceptional. Brethren were warm and loving, and it was just, truly, the best Feast ever, and I don’t mean that in any kind of trope, trite way. So it was truly a fantastic Feast.

Let’s jump into a subject that comes off of the Feast, one that some of us may be feeling. It’s a sermon about feeling. I like to talk about feelings. And I’m kidding. This is a sermon somewhat about feelings. And we can all experience this feeling after the Feast, and you’ll know what I mean after I set it up. There’s a term out there called a warning sign. You’ve probably heard of it, a warning sign. What is it? A warning sign is something that indicates that there may be something bad or dangerous that is about to happen, or has already happened.

Think about a warning sign. We hear warning signs. Given the sirens start blaring when you know that a tornado is nearby, that’s a warning sign. It’s impending. There’s imminent danger coming up. But there’s also warning signs. You think about the Jews, the Jews in the first century, they saw, they were able to discern the signs of the sky. Okay? They were able to look at the sky and discern ahead of time whether the sky or the weather would be good or bad the next day. There was a kind of a warning sign to the Jews and to anybody. It wasn’t just the Jews. Was anybody in the first century who knew how to read the sky? They could do it. It was a kind of a warning sign to them.

But those are warning signs that project something out ahead is going to happen. There are also warning signs that something already bad has happened. Think about a building. I went to architecture school, and I know a little bit about this. At a first glance... I’m just going to read something to you about a warning sign in architecture. At a first glance, hairline cracks in interior drywall may seem like a superficial or cosmetic issue. Something easily patched or painted over. Maybe you’ve seen some of these in your house, or you’ve seen them in certain buildings. Cracks in the drywall.

Homeowners often dismiss the minor imperfections as natural settling of the building over time. However, when such cracks are accompanied by patterns like stair step cracks widening over time, or appearing near doors and windows that begin to stick or misalign, they can point out a much deeper structural issue, namely the foundation, movement, or failure, potentially. So what looks like a just a little crack in the wall might actually be indicative of the failure of the foundation occurring, having already occurred, or beginning to occur.

Foundation problems can be caused by soil shifting, poor drainage, or substandard construction practices. If left unaddressed, they can lead to severe structural instability, including uneven floors, compromised load-bearing walls, and in extreme cases, partial building collapse. I remember going to school, and it was pretty sobering to hear this. A lecturer came to speak to our class, and he’s an architect. And maybe better said, he was an architect. He came to tell us about a building that he had designed that failed and killed a lot of people inside.

And warning us in advance about the dangers of not properly addressing the structure of the building, making sure that it’s... and including the foundation all the way down to the very foundation, and what the foundation is sitting on is very important. These seemingly minor cracks act as early warning signs of a system... excuse me, under stress. A proper structural assessment is essential to determine whether the building is safe or if costly and invasive foundation repairs are urgently needed. Ignoring these signs could lead to catastrophic outcomes both in safety and financially. Okay, so with buildings, we can see warning signs.

Warning signs are everywhere. You know, it’s an amazing thing. That’s the way that life is. Life is filled with warning signs. Think about your health. There’s this thing called anemia, if you’re familiar with it. Anemia, characterized by a deficiency in red blood cells or hemoglobin, often presents with mild symptoms such as fatigue, pale skin, dizziness, or shortness of breath. While it might seem like a minor issue on its own, anemia can sometimes be a symptom of a much more serious underlying condition.

So sometimes when you see anemia, the issue itself will go on to retest. It’s actually you can fix anemia, you can cure anemia in effect. But the problem is that anemia is oftentimes an indicator or a warning sign that there’s something much deeper, more problematic occurring in your body. For instance, chronic blood loss due to a bleeding ulcer or heavy menstruation can lead to anemia. However, bleeding from colon cancer or bone marrow disorder... Excuse me. However, when anemia occurs without an obvious cause, especially in older adults, it may indicate something more severe, such as a gastrointestinal bleeding from colon cancer or a bone marrow disorder like leukemia.

So you could be... hey, you could have some kind of a horrible bone cancer or leukemia or something like this, just not knowing it. But really only knowing it because you see the first early warning sign of the anemia. In these cases, the anemia serves as a warning signal rather than a primary problem. Patient may seek medical help for only feeling unusually tired, or further test could uncover a hidden malignancy or autoimmune disease that’s suppressing red blood cell production. So it just continues on. Thus, while anemia itself is treatable, its presence should prompt careful investigation to rule out life-threatening issues hiding beneath the surface.

So let’s get to what we talked about the Feast. There’s a certain feeling that we can have coming off of the Feast that it’s pretty natural, I would say, but it’s not just coming off the Feast. That’s maybe a minor way of describing it. This is called the feeling of discouragement. Discouragement. Now I’ll ask the question, should a Christian ever, ever say, in an ideal world, ever feel discouraged? Should a Christian ever feel discouraged? Let’s take a moment to think about it. Discuss it because it’s important to this message that we understand. Of course, we’re all going to feel discouraged at certain times. That’s not up for debate. Everybody feels discouraged.

It’s whether we should, in an ideal Christian life, if we were to live a perfect Christian life, should we ever feel discouraged, should we ever feel discouraged? Just because we do feel discouraged every once in a while, does it make it okay? Or is discouragement sort of an early warning sign, an indicator that something might be a little off in our lives, in our minds? Now, discouragement is a pretty foundational feeling. We’ve all felt it.

Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter thirty-one, we’ll read about Moses. Moses knew that the people, and God knew that the people under Moses after he died could fall into discouragement. This is why the beginning of Deuteronomy thirty-one we read, just picking up in verse one, it says, “And Moses went and spoke the words to all Israel. And he said to them, I am one hundred twenty years old this day. I can no more go out and come in. Also, the Lord has said unto me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’” So Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.

“The Lord your God, He will go over before you, and He will destroy those nations from before you, and you shall possess them. And Joshua, he shall go before you, as the Lord has said. And the Lord said unto them, as He did in Zion, and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to the land of them which He destroyed, and the Lord shall give them up before your face, that you may do unto them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you.”

How do we know that God said or believed, and Moses therefore believed that Israel would become discouraged at Moses’ death? Because God inspired Moses to say, “Be strong and of a good courage. Be encouraged. Have courage. Don’t be discouraged. Fear not, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God He it is that goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. For Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, in the sight of all Israel, be strong again, and of a good courage. For you must go with this cup, with this people, unto the land which the Lord has sworn unto their fathers to give them. And you shall cause them to inherit it.”

And here’s the final verse. “And the Lord, He it is that does go before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you, neither forsake you. Fear not, neither be dismayed.” What is dismayed? Don’t be discouraged. Don’t have a heavy heart. Don’t be discouraged at the fact that Moses is going to die, and Joshua will take you into the Promised Land. Be encouraged instead, God wanted them to have courage.

So discouragement, well, we all feel it. It’s an emotion that the devil can use very effectively, I might add. He can use on all of us to ensure that we fall into this discouragement. And it’s a bad cycle. Let’s just put it that way. If we get into discouragement, we let discouragement take root and take hold in any of us, discouragement can ultimately spiral downward into depression. Or it could lead into a mindset where you just simply think that everything is lost and there’s no hope, there’s no way of moving forward. Everything is done. “I might as well just give up.”

That’s what discouragement leads to. Discouragement is not something that we should be feeling. But if we do, and when we do, which we will, because we’re all human beings, we’ll feel discouragement. But if we feel it, rather than succumbing to the feeling which drives us deeper into discouragement and depression, we must pull back and think logically. Think rationally. Don’t think emotionally about it. And we have to address exactly and find the cause of what is leading to our discouragement.

If we feel discouraged, the only place to begin, brethren, is to pull back and ask ourselves, what is causing this? Because like I said, with the cracks in the walls of the drywall, that’s a warning sign of a deeper underlying issue in the foundation. With the anemia, it’s a warning sign that there might be a more serious health problem that you’re dealing with. It’s up to us, brethren, to look deeper at ourselves and ask the simple question, “Why do I feel discouraged? What’s causing it? What’s leading to it?”

And we have to think logically, rationally, and not emotionally about it. Satan wants us to work up our emotions. He wants us to get angry. He wants us to be discouraged. He wants us to be frustrated with other people. He wants emotions to run high. God says that we should become emotionally mature. We should know how to control our emotions. That doesn’t mean become emotionless, but what we’re supposed to do, particularly in the area of discouragement, is understand what’s causing it, what’s leading to it.

Now, there are many, many reasons we can become discouraged, and I’m going to touch on a few. It’s just not an exhaustive list. But these will kind of become the foundation for the message moving forward. Let’s listen carefully to a lot of these. Again, it’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a list that will help us. Maybe we can relate to it. Maybe there’s certain points that we can really connect to and say, “You know what, that’s a real big reason for discouragement in my life. Or no, that one’s not a big deal. This one over here is pretty big, though.” Let’s go through them and understand some of the major causes for discouragement.

First of all, if we sin and we see that we’re sinning can lead us into discouragement, it’s pretty obvious. Maybe we sin, but we continue to fail repeatedly at trying to overcome it. We’re having a problem with overcoming. We’re having a problem eradicating sin from our life. We see that it’s there, but we just feel like we don’t have the tools. We don’t have the ability to conquer it, finally, once and for all. And as we see ourself fail repeatedly at trying to overcome it, we see discouragement begin to crop up.

Maybe part of that, when we see ourselves fail repeatedly, is that we are setting the bar too high for ourselves. We set goals in life. Life is full of goals, and we can set really high goals, or we can set baby-step goals. And maybe our goals are being set too high, and we’re not achieving those goals. And because we’re not achieving our goals and we just never can overcome is cause for discouragement.

What about comparing ourselves to other people? I can compare myself to other people in all kinds of ways. I can look at physical appearance. I can look at talents and abilities. I can look at intellect. I can look at all kinds of things that I can compare myself to other people with. And oftentimes when I look at other people, I could get discouraged and say, “You know what? They’re really good at that. I wish I had that talent or that ability.” And you could look at yourself and say, get discouraged because you’re not living up to the standard that other people might have.

Maybe we are looking for the approval of other people, and when we see that we lack the approval of other people, we become discouraged because we’re trying to get their praise. We’re trying to get their approval in life, in anything. And when they don’t give that approval, I can think about parents. You know, it’s very easy to discourage a child if you provoke them to anger, they can become discouraged. They might seek your approval. And if a parent never gives approval to their child, it can be discouraging for the child. Well, as adults, we can seek the approval of other people, too. We can seek their praises and so forth. And at the end of the day, if we don’t receive it, it can cause us to become discouraged.

Maybe we have an irrational or debilitating fear. There are fears that we can have in this life that can cause us to become discouraged. Maybe we see that we can’t overcome that fear. We look at it, and it’s daunting. Some people have a fear of speaking. Some people have a fear of whatever. And if that irrational or debilitating fear is overwhelming you, it can discourage you. Here’s a big one. Maybe we feel alone. Maybe we feel lonely. That can lead to discouragement, also.

There’s a lot of lonely people in this life, in this world. And I can imagine most lonely people aren’t very happy, aren’t very encouraged, because they’re just not engaged with other people. It causes great joy to be able to fellowship with people. It causes great joy to be able to engage and connect with other people. God has built us in such a way where it’s good for us to do that. And if we’re alone, if we’re secluded and isolated in life, think about an elderly person sitting in a nursing home. They can become very discouraged very quickly and ultimately just die because they’re not with people. It’s sad.

How about this, we can become discouraged if we experience hope deferred. Hope deferred, it says in the Bible, makes the heart sick. You can become physically sick. Your heart could become sick and discouraged if you have a very big hope in life. And when you see that hope just vanish, disappear, you become discouraged because of it. Maybe we lose hope in achieving something we’ve desired. And here, the last one that we’ll go over is we go through a traumatic experience. If somebody goes through a traumatic experience or a really difficult trial, sometimes that can be very discouraging to us as well.

It can be very discouraging to us when we see something happen in our lives that’s devastating. Maybe it’s out of our control. Maybe there’s nothing we can do about it, but we get discouraged by it anyway. Maybe we caused it, maybe we didn’t cause it. Maybe we had part in the trial, or maybe we didn’t have part in the trial. There was nothing we could do. But God allowed the trial. Sometimes trials in and of themselves can be highly, highly discouraging. And I did read over a missed one here, too. Sometimes we can take correction poorly. If we take correction poorly, that can lead to discouragement as well. Can it not?

If we’re corrected for something that we’ve done wrong and we look at it and we’re like, “Well, I feel terrible.” And then you become discouraged by it. Discouragement comes in many different forms. There’s many causes to discouragement. All of the ones that I just read have all kinds of differences to them. Different circumstances, different what led to them. But at the end of the day, they all lead to... It’s all these roads that lead to one path, one emotion called discouragement.

And I’ll say this again, all the reasons we become discouraged come back to something that we might be doing wrong, or could be doing differently. For many of these causes for discouragement, it’s easy to see where we’re doing something wrong. Think about some of the things that we just discussed. It’s easy to see where discouragement comes in if we’re sinning. If we’re sinning and becoming discouraged by it, it’s obvious we’re doing something wrong where we had a part to play in that discouragement.

When we sin and can’t seem to overcome it, it’s because we’re not doing enough to eradicate the sin. If you get discouraged because you see sin in your life clearly, you know that you had a part to play in that discouragement because you’re the one sinning. It’s not your neighbor over here who’s sinning and you become discouraged yourself because you see this. No, you sin, and it leads to discouragement. You had the part to play in it.

Similarly, if we continue to fail at overcoming that sin repeatedly and become discouraged, again, it’s easy to see where we’re falling short. It’s because we’re not doing enough, we’re not taking enough action, and we’ll get into what kinds of action we can take here in a bit. We’re not doing enough to eradicate the sin. Maybe we’re not fasting enough. If we see that we just cannot overcome the sin, and we become discouraged by it, what do we need to do? Maybe it’s because we’re not fasting enough. We’re not praying enough. We’re not studying what God’s Word has to say about the problem that we’re going through. Maybe we’re not counseling enough.

And again, maybe we’re setting the bar too high for ourselves in the goals that we’re setting, leading to unrealistic goals. But the problem is pretty simple. We need to set more reasonable goals for ourselves, and we need to take greater action. Consider the cause of discouragement that we discussed just a minute ago about comparing ourselves to others. If we’re discouraged because we’re comparing ourselves to others, the problem is that we are comparing ourselves to others. Turn over to Second Corinthians chapter ten.

Some of these causes for discouragement are pretty easy to understand where we are falling short. Most of the time, it’s in the mind as well. Second Corinthians chapter ten. Second Corinthians ten and verse twelve. Verse eleven. “Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

Now, if we see that we’re becoming discouraged because we’re comparing ourselves to other people, we’re looking at other people and seeing where we’re falling short, and we become discouraged by it. Or maybe jealousy can tie into this discouragement. We wish that we had those talents that they have. We wish that we looked like that person. We wish that we could talk like that person, whatever it might be. We become discouraged by it, jealous in a certain regard.

This verse says that we should simply not be doing that. We ought not compare ourselves among ourselves. It’s foolish. It’s not wise. The Bible says, Paul says. The reason this is not wise is because it leads us to become discouraged, and it plays right into Satan’s hand. If we want to choose to compare ourselves among ourselves, expect that you’ll become discouraged and know that you’re playing right into Satan’s hand. He wants us to become discouraged. So if we decide that we want to start comparing ourselves among ourselves, brethren, we have to expect to become discouraged at some point. It’s not wise.

How about receiving approval from others? If we are discouraged from not receiving approval from others, our focus is too much on pleasing men rather than pleasing God. Go to Galatians chapter one. Sometimes we can become discouraged because we want the approval of other people. You know, naturally, we want praise. Naturally, we like to be complimented as human beings. That’s okay. But if we’re seeking approval from other people, is that the focus that God wants us to have? Because if we’re seeking approval from other people, we can ultimately become discouraged by Galatians one in verse ten.

“For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” We shouldn’t seek to please men. Who should we seek to please instead? Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three and verse twenty-three. We’re not on this earth to try and please other human beings. If we’re trying to please our minister, for example, that’s the wrong mindset to have. We can please our minister if we’re seeking to please God instead. If you’re striving to please God, you’re ultimately going to be pleasing your minister. You’re ultimately going to be pleasing the brethren around you.

There’s no reason to seek approval from your minister. There’s no reason to seek approval from people higher than you. If we ultimately do what’s right and seek to please God above all human beings, the people under God that are in alignment with His way of thinking will be pleased. And even people who aren’t aligned with the truths of God, they’ll be pleased, too. Your bosses at work who don’t know anything about the truth, if they see that you’re following and trying to please God in all your actions, believe me, they’ll be pleased with your work efforts as well. They’ll be pleased, too.

Colossians chapter three and verse twenty-three. “And whatsoever you do, whatsoever, anything you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not to men. Knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord, Christ. But he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done, and there is no respect of persons.” Seeking to please God is how we can remain completely away from all discouragement. If we’re lowering our standards and only trying to seek to please man, we’re going to get discouraged, brethren. It’s that simple.

But if we raise our standards, try to seek God. Seek to please God above all people, we won’t be discouraged. If we find ourselves discouraged from correction, the issue is that we’re not taking the correction well. Proverbs chapter three. Of course, we can become discouraged by correction. Nobody likes to be corrected. But if we are, it’s not because we’re being corrected that’s the problem. It’s that we’re not taking the correction well. Proverbs three and verse eleven, “My son, despise not the chastening or the correction of the Lord. Neither be weary of His correction.” Don’t grow weary from it. Don’t become discouraged by it. “For whom the Lord loves, He corrects.”

Brethren, discouragement is in a simple way. We’re oftentimes when we get discouraged because we’re thinking too small. We’re not thinking big. We’re not thinking about the greater purpose that God is building in us through the correction. We’re supposed to cherish the correction, “For the Lord loves whom He corrects, even as the father, the son whom he delights.” Fathers don’t correct their son because they hate their son. They delight in their son. They correct their son because they delight in him. They want him to be better. They want him to grow up to be good people. So that’s what God wants as well.

When we’re corrected, if we receive it poorly, that’s why we get discouraged. But if we receive it well, we won’t be discouraged at all. In fact, we’ll be encouraged. The next verse we’re going to go through explicitly describes discouragement coming from correction and how to overcome it. Turn over to Hebrews chapter twelve. Hebrews twelve and verse eleven. “Now, no chastening, or correction, for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous.” That’s the Word of God. It says, no, not.

There’s no time when we’re corrected that will ever feel great joy naturally from it. But it feels grievous. It feels grievous. “Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby.” If you take the correction and you exercise yourself from the correction, you may not feel good while it’s happening. Therefore, it says, verse twelve.” Lift up the hands which hang down.” Stop being discouraged from it. “And the feeble knees.” You know, if you might feel weakened, or you might feel like you’re staying up at night because you were corrected. Or you might feel weak because of it, or discouraged.

“Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. But it rather be healed.” If you allow discouragement to crop up and stay there, the correction was of no use. It was no good. In fact, it was actually detrimental because you basically have succumbed to that terrible feeling of discouragement. And rather than using it to push you to overcome whatever it was that you were corrected for, you let it defeat you.

So, brethren, if we ever feel discouraged because of correction, it’s because we’re not taking the correction properly. We have to take correction well. It’s for our benefit and it’s because God loves us. That’s why. It’s because the minister that God is using to correct, or one of the brethren, whatever, to correct mostly the ministry. We don’t go walking around correcting each other, but we can work with each other. If we see a fault, then talk to the brethren. But if we feel discouraged from correction, it’s because we’re not taking the correction properly, and we have to rectify that.

Maybe we feel discouragement from irrational fears, and if we do, it’s evident that we’re fearing things of this life rather than fearing God. Brethren, my point in going through all of these examples is to show explicitly that you and I have a part to play in the discouragement that we feel. We can’t just go back and feel discouraged and say, “Oh, I feel so discouraged because of all the circumstances around me. And there’s nothing that I can do.” No, the point of this is to explain and show we have a part personally in the discouragement that we’re feeling. We have to find our part.

It’s like in marriage counseling, you know, a lot of times you see in marriage counseling, people say a wife or husband will oftentimes point at the other person and say, “You’re the one who did this and you did all of these things wrong.” The husband points back, “No, no, no, you were the one who did all these things wrong, and you did it.” You know, and they pile on. And now it’s five-five things that are accused of the husband and ten things accused of the wife. And then it just goes back and forth. It’s always about the things that the other person did wrong.

If that were flipped and you were to just simply say, “Here’s what I did wrong, I’m going to tell you a couple things that you did right, that you did effectively.” You start going back and forth explaining that, and you stop pointing the finger at other people, and you start pointing the finger at yourself, all kinds of marriage problems go away. It’s pretty simple. Marriage counseling does not have to be very difficult or complex. All you have to do is turn your finger back to yourself and say, “What am I doing wrong here?” And you say the things that you’re doing wrong.

You don’t say the things that the other person is doing wrong, because it’s easy for us as human beings to point the finger and say, “Oh, I’m discouraged because of all of the circumstances that are around me.” Rather than saying, “Where is my part? Where am I falling short that’s leading to and causing the discouragement that I’m going through?” If we just point the finger back at ourselves, it’ll solve all kinds of problems, and it will get rid of discouragement in pretty much every case. So that’s the point.

So if we have irrational fears, as I said, that are leading to discouragement, turn over to Proverbs chapter twenty-nine. Where is our part in leading to irrational fears that can cause discouragement? Proverbs twenty-nine, verse twenty-five. Proverbs twenty-nine, twenty-five says, “The fear of man brings a snare. But whoso puts trust in the Lord shall be safe.” We can fear all kinds of things in this life. We can choose to fear men. We can choose to fear things around us, circumstances, or we could choose to fear God.

What we fear will tell us whether we are being discouraged or not. Because I’m telling you, if we fear God, there won’t be any discouragement. There’s no reason to be discouraged. If we fear God, God says that He’s going to give us the confidence that we need in order to progress in life. So the fear of man brings a snare. Sometimes that snare comes in the form of discouragement. If we’re feeling discouraged because we feel alone and we’re lonely, understand that loneliness is a two-sided coin. If you’re just waiting, brethren, for people to come to you and cure your loneliness, know that they can pick up the phone just as easily as you can pick up the phone.

We can all do a better job at reaching out to others if we’re feeling lonely. We don’t need to wallow in our loneliness even more by sitting there and sulking and saying, “Why doesn’t anybody ever contact me? Why don’t the brethren ever reach out to me?” No, we have a part to play in that, too. If we’re feeling lonely, it’s just as easy for the person who is lonely to pick up the phone as it is for the person who may have plenty of fellowship but would like to also fellowship with somebody who’s alone.

So, brethren, my point in this is pretty simple. If we’re feeling discouraged in any way, whatever the cause, look at yourself and ask, “Where is my part to play in this?” First Kings chapter nineteen. You remember Elijah? First Kings chapter nineteen. We don’t need to read through the whole story, but you remember when Elijah was there with... Pick it up in verse four, excuse me, verse one.

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and all with the prophets of the sword. And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, so let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not your life as the life of one of them by the morrow at this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and requested for himself that he might die.” He was very discouraged because they were trying to seek his life and kill him.

He thought, you know what, I’m going to go hide and try and seek... Basically, I want to die on my own terms here under this juniper. “And said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under the juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, ‘Arise and eat.’” He’s alone. “And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked with coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, ‘Rise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.’

And he arose and did eat and drink, and he went in the strength of that meat for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. And he came there into a cave, and lodged there. Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, and said unto him, ‘What do you hear, Elijah?’ And he said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts. For the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, slain Your prophets with the sword. And I, even I only am left.’” He’s alone. He felt alone.

“And they seek my life to take it away. And He said, Go forth and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by...” And you know the account. And one of the ways that God encouraged Elijah in verse eighteen is He says, “Yet have I left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.” We know there are prophetic aspects to this. But the whole point is he felt alone. He felt lonely, and he was wallowing in his sadness, discouraged because he was alone and people were seeking his life. He missed the bigger picture, brethren. He missed the bigger picture.

Hebrews chapter ten and verse twenty-four. Hebrews ten, twenty-four. If we feel lonely, brethren, what can we do to get out of that loneliness? Verse twenty-four. “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching.” Our part is that we should be exhorting one another. If we feel lonely, know that there are probably other brethren out there who are lonely as well, who need that exhorting. Reach out to them.

You’ve just got back from the Feast, from a wonderful time and opportunity that you were able to connect with so many other people of like mind, stay in contact with them, eradicate loneliness, and you’ll never, at least in that regard. You won’t be discouraged. You won’t be able to allow discouragement in. Now remember what we talked about with hope deferred. But what have we done wrong? If we experience hope deferred, where was our part to play? If we’re hoping in something and you have a desire for something in life and it’s deferred, where’s the problem there? Where did I go wrong? Where would we be at fault if we’re experiencing discouragement because we had hope deferred?

Well, sometimes we can find our hopes are not actually in alignment with God. Consider Psalm forty-two. Psalm forty-two. Are our hopes in alignment with God and His will? Psalm forty-two, and verse eleven. Psalm forty-two, eleven. “Why are you discouraged?” Cast down as the word says. “Why are you cast down or discouraged, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance.” God is the health of our countenance. If our countenance is fallen, and we become discouraged and cast down because of it, it’s because our hopes are not in God. Our hopes are not in alignment with God either.

Oftentimes, we can hope for certain things in this life. And really, a lot of the times when we hope something, and hope deferred makes the heart sick, it’s because it’s something that we wanted personally. Selfishly, we looked at something, and we have a hope deferred because for whatever reason, there’s a million different things that we can have hope for in this life that are ultimately for selfish purposes. Putting our hope in God will never leave us downcast. God will bring health.

And that word health there, He’ll bring health to our countenance. That word health is Yeshua, saved. He’ll save our countenance. He’ll deliver our countenance. He’ll aid or give the victory to our countenance and prosperity. Yeshua, what an amazing way to describe that if we hope in God, rather than hoping in the things of this life and becoming discouraged because they didn’t happen. If we hope in God, all discouragement will go away. So it’s important to assess our hopes and make sure to realign them with God’s will and His purpose.

And lastly, what if we go through a traumatic experience and become discouraged because we went through some terrible trial? Why did we get discouraged if we went through a trial? Oftentimes, brethren, the reason discouragement comes after going through something difficult is because we’re only focusing on the things that are temporary. We’re looking at the physical things around us and not looking enough for God’s overall purpose for the trial. It takes a deeply converted mind to really pull back and say, “You know what? This trial has a much greater purpose than the physical things and the physical things that I’m able to see around me.”

If we believe God allowed the trial, or even if we believe that Satan tempted us and we, for whatever reason, God allowed the trial, then we know that God says in Romans eight, twenty-eight, let’s turn over there. We know what God says in Romans eight, twenty-eight. Romans eight, twenty-eight says, “And we know that all things good and bad and sometimes devastating, sometimes horrific, sometimes very trial-some, all things work together for good to them that love God, and to them who are called according to His purpose.”

God allows certain things in our lives because there’s no other way to develop that powerful character in you than to go through something traumatic sometimes. When we go through something traumatic, and if we keep our eyes on the big picture, we don’t lose sight of the big picture. It’ll produce something in our character that cannot be developed otherwise. That’s an amazing thing to contemplate. Let me say that again. If we keep our eyes on the big picture and we don’t get discouraged because we go through some horrific trial or difficult trial, it will produce something in you, a character that can’t be developed otherwise. But that’s only if we keep the big picture in mind.

So, brethren, how do we eradicate discouragement? How? There is a process the Bible lays out, God lays out. If we want to get rid of discouragement, there is a step-by-step process that God has given us. Once we figure out the cause of the discouragement, because we’re equipped now, we’ve all gone through this exercise. We’ve thought to ourselves, maybe I am focusing too much on getting the approval of others. Maybe I’m not taking correction properly, maybe I’m sinning and I’m not able to overcome it, and I’m becoming discouraged because I just see that I’m repeatedly, over and over again, doing the same thing and not overcoming the sin.

Hopefully, by now, brethren, we’ve been able to go through this exercise and see the causes of the discouragement that we might experience in our own lives. So now that we figure that out, how do we build the courage to overcome the discouragement? Psalm chapter thirty-one. Psalm thirty-one and verse twenty-three. Psalm thirty-one, twenty-three. “O, love the Lord, all you His saints. For the Lord preserves the faithful and plentifully rewards the proud doer. Be of good courage, and you shall strengthen your heart. All you that hope in the Lord.”

The word courage there is to fasten upon, to seize. To be strong. Think about it as the opposite of discouragement. If we feel discouraged, we feel weak. We’ve let the hands hang low, and we’ve got feeble knees. Courage is to have strength figuratively, to be courageous, to strengthen, to cure. When we have courage, when we’re not discouraged at something, we feel healthy. We feel cured. To help, to repair. To fortify. To be obstinate. Meaning nothing can ever change your mind. To bind. To restrain or to conquer. That’s what the word courage means, to conquer.

We don’t feel like we’re conquerors when we feel discouraged. But when we have courage and we feel encouraged, that’s when we feel like we’re conquering. That’s when we feel like we’re overcoming. Second Corinthians chapter ten. Second Corinthians chapter ten, verse one. Second Corinthians ten, one. “Now I, Paul myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence and base among you, and being absent and bold toward you. But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.”

We do walk in the flesh, brethren, we’re physical people. We’re not made of spirit. We’re not born again, but we don’t walk after the flesh. We don’t join the United States Army. We don’t join armies of this world, militaries of this world. We war a spiritual warfare for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, physical, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What kind of strongholds are we talking about? Casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ?

Brethren, oftentimes our discouragement is stemmed from and rooted from an issue in the mind, a spiritual battle that we have to fight. God says that we have to cast down those imaginations using spiritual warfare. Spiritual weapons. What kind of weapons do we have to fight this spiritual warfare? Verse six. “And having a readiness to avenge all disobedience when your obedience is filled.” What are the weapons that we have at our disposal that can wipe out discouragement? Turn back just a couple chapters to chapter seven, Second Corinthians, chapter seven. Verse nine.

Second Corinthians seven, nine. “Now I rejoice that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance...” Excuse me, “I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance, for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing.” Paul was pleased to see that brethren were sorrowful for their actions. Now, what have we talked about in the introduction in the beginning of this message, all the way up until now? We’ve talked to you about the actions that we have taken that can lead to our discouragement.

We’ve all done something personally that contributed to us being discouraged. So the question here is, can we find a formula, if I could put it that way, to use to help address those causes, and that is what we’re going to read here in verse ten, “For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death.” Here’s the formula. It’s called the steps of repentance. We all know them. We’ve been through them before. But if we apply these steps of repentance with a focus on trying to overcome and apply these steps of repentance to the things that are causing our discouragement, brethren, discouragement will simply go away in our lives.

And here are the steps. We’ll read through them quickly before going back through slower. “For behold this selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you? Yes, what clearing of ourselves? Yes, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, and what zeal, and ultimately what revenge? In all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

So, brethren, now that we have identified the underlying causes of our discouragement, listen for which of these seven points can apply to you? Maybe they all apply. Maybe some of them apply. Some of the issues that cause discouragement, we’ll see that some of these steps may have more application or less application to that point. But we’re going to go through, and each and every step has a way in which it can help you overcome that root cause of discouragement.

So let’s start with carefulness. Carefulness is the first step. It’s the word spoudē, S-P-O-U-D-E. And that word, carefulness, it means speed. By implication, to dispatch eagerness or earnestness. But think of it as speed. Now we can use speed. Think about this as a tool. These are the weapons that we just learned about in just three chapters later in chapter ten. There’s weapons that we have in this spiritual warfare, carefulness is one of the weapons. This is how we wage war on these problems that we see in our lives. So let’s imagine that the problem that we have is overcoming sin, and we just can’t get past it. We can’t see that we’re progressing in overcoming the sin.

We must use speed to eradicate it. If we’re lazy and we let the sin just kind of sit around, we don’t repent of it. We just kind of... we see that we did it, but we’re not using haste, speed, earnestness, and eagerness to get rid of it, we’ll continue to fall into that sin and become discouraged because of it. So this is a weapon that we’ve got. We’ve got this tool use called speed that we can use. Turn over to Ecclesiastes chapter eight, and verse eleven.

We know as parents. If a parent doesn’t correct the child right away, right away, particularly a young child. But, really, any child. If a child doesn’t get corrected right away, what will happen is, is that behavior will continue. The bad behavior will continue. So look at this. Ecclesiastes eight, eleven, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”

God is very long-suffering with mankind. Right now, He’s not punishing mankind, but because He’s not swiftly correcting mankind at large right now, what do they do? They fall into evil more and more and more, and it’s fully set in their hearts to do evil. So if we personally don’t want to fall into evil and have our hearts be fully set to do evil, we have to nip it in the bud right away. We have to get on it and use speed. It’s the first tool that God has given us.

The same is true with loneliness. Think about this. Use this tool with loneliness. If we feel that we’re just lonely and we’re discouraged because we’re not... we don’t have the same fellowship that we wish we would have, use speed. Call somebody, reach out. Take the initiative. The quicker we are to implement these things, the quicker we will eradicate the discouragement that comes from not overcoming sin or the discouragement that comes from loneliness.

Here’s the second point in Second Corinthians chapter seven. You can maybe put your little Bible marker in Second Corinthians seven. We will be coming back there a few more times before the message is over. The second point is clearing of yourselves. The word clearing of yourselves is apologia. Now, what does that sound like? The definition of apology is a plea or an apology to God. Proverbs chapter twenty-eight. Proverbs chapter twenty-eight and verse thirteen. Proverbs chapter twenty-eight, thirteen says, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

God just wants to see that we apologize to Him, plead with Him. Maybe we’re seeking approval from others. This could be one of the weapons that you use to, if, let’s imagine that that’s an issue that you have that leads to discouragement. If you try and seek the approval of others in your life too much and you’re trying to please them instead of pleasing God, then apologize. Plead with God to help change your mind.

We can’t ignore the underlying issue any longer. We must face them head on. If we’re looking for the approval of others and not concerning ourselves with God’s approval, then we have to admit this to God and plea for forgiveness. This is true with anything, any of the underlying causes of discouragement. Whatever it is that we are discouraged by, we have to see where our problem... where our fault is, and ask for forgiveness to God. That’s the second point.

The third point is indignation. The third step of repentance is indignation. And that word is aganaktēsis. It’s just simply means indignation. It’s from the root word meaning grief or greatly afflicted. Do we feel indignation, hatred for the sin that we’re committing? Maybe we continue to feel to fail at overcoming repeatedly, over and over and over again. And we just don’t see any progress in our lives, and we’re becoming discouraged by it. One way to get out of that slump is to come out hating whatever it is that’s causing the discouragement.

If you are caught in a cycle and you’re not able to overcome something, what that means is that you don’t hate it enough. You don’t have a great enough indignation. You love that thing more than you love stopping it. That means that we have to take an even greater hatred or indignation toward that sin. The same is true if we compare ourselves with others, if we have fallen to the problem of comparing ourselves with others, we have to hate that. That’s wrong. It’s wrong to seek the approval of other people, too.

Romans chapter eight and verse twelve. Romans chapter eight and verse twelve says this, “Therefore, Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify, kill, “the deeds of the body, you shall live.” This is the kind of mindset we should have when we’re addressing a cause of discouragement in our lives. We should want to kill it. We should want to mortify it, put it to death, and that cause.

If we’re trapped in that cycle of unable to overcome sin, we have to hate it and act. Until we have the feeling inside of us of absolute hatred toward the sin that we’re committing to the point where we want to kill it or mortify the sin, we’re not able to overcome it. And in effect, we’ll just keep falling back into discouragement.

The next step in the seven Steps of Repentance is fear. Fear is the word phobos. Phobia comes from that. Means fear, alarm, or fright. Now, there’s multiple kinds of fears in this life, we all know that, but if one of the problems that we have that causes discouragement is that we have an irrational fear, turn over to Proverbs chapter fourteen. We need to adjust where our fear is directed toward. Are we fearing the things of this life or are we fearing God? Proverbs chapter fourteen and verse twenty-six. “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.”

God will give us confidence if we have fear in Him, and don’t fear the things around us. So the seventh... this step in the steps of repentance is to fear God. If we see that we’re fearing other things, then our fear is unwarranted, and it will hinder us. It will cause us to become discouraged. But we have to fear God, not man. We must turn our fear toward God, and He will give us the confidence to overcome the fears that we’re facing.

Number five. The fifth step in the steps of repentance is vehement desire. Vehement desire. It’s the word epipothesis, and it means a longing for. Could also mean to yearn or dote upon or intensely crave. This weapon, you could say, the spiritual weapon of warfare, can be used against, if we have a problem with having the wrong kind of hope in life. If we find that we have the wrong kind of hope, and we have hope deferred because our hopes aren’t in alignment with God’s hopes, then we can long for the right kind of hope, which is that of God.

Think about Job. Job chapter six. Job had a wrong kind of hope. Job six and verse eight, similar to Elijah we just read a little bit ago. Job six and verse eight says this, “Oh that I might have my request; and that...” He had a hope. Job sure had a hope, but it was the wrong kind. “Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!” he hoped for. “Even that it would please God to destroy me; that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yes, I would harden myself in sorrow: let Him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.”

Job had a suicidal tendency as well. He was so discouraged to the point of wanting to die. He had the wrong kind of hope, but what’s the way that Job came out of it? What tool of repentance did Job use? Chapter forty-two and verse four. “Hear, I beseech you, and I will speak: I will demand of you, and declare you unto me. I have heard of you,” speaking to God, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees you. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job had a longing for, a passion, a vehement desire, if you could put it that way, to overcome this mindset that he had. He had a suicidal mindset. He had a self-righteous mindset. And at the end of the day, he saw himself, and he repented of it. He grew a vehement desire and a great longing for to have that overcome.

What about if we’re experiencing a traumatic or difficult experience? Maybe we went through something very difficult. Let’s turn to a Colossians chapter three. Colossians three. This weapon, vehement desire, can be a big one to help you through that as well. Colossians three and verse one. “If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things on the earth. For you’re a dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

If we have a vehement desire, a longing for the big picture, God’s overall plan for us, then any trial that we go through will be easy to go through. Not necessarily easy always, but it’ll make it far easier to go through that, and we will not become discouraged by it. We’ll see the big picture. We’ll see the purpose that God is working out through this trial, because we’re setting our affection on the things above.

If we just look at the trials that we’re going through in life, and we’re just letting our eyes tell us how we should feel, how we should live, then we’ll become discouraged every single time. But if we look past, over, these trials to God’s greater purpose for them and the character that it’s building in you, it’ll make that trial much easier to go through, and you won’t become discouraged by it, because you have a vehement desire and a longing for the bigger picture.

The sixth step in repentance is that of zeal. The word is zēlos, and it means heat, to have heat, to be hot. It comes from a root meaning to be hot, boil, glow, or be fervid. Think about this. When we’re corrected, we can use this weapon. We can use zeal. If we don’t take correction very well, let’s use this weapon of zeal. There are two ways we can use to receive correction. We can receive it with the right kind of zeal or the wrong kind of zeal. What do I mean?

We can either get hot, angry, and have zeal of anger because we were corrected in getting a bad attitude and ultimately get discouraged because of it, or we can become hot angry at the sin that we committed that led to that correction and use that passion that we have to fix whatever it was that we were corrected for, and use it to overcome the problem.

So, Brethren, those are the six steps of repentance. And the seventh step is pretty simple. It’s nothing that you or I can do. It’s just the effect of having followed these previous six steps of repentance, and that’s getting revenge on the sin. Whatever it is that we see in ourselves that we need to repent of or change for, that’s leading to discouragement, if we apply these first six steps, we’ll get revenge on that thing, and we’ll never feel discouraged because of it. We’ll have revenge on the underlying issues that caused the discouragement, and we’ve built the courage to overcome whatever issues are leading to it.

So, Brethren, as we conclude, let’s take to heart the great purpose that God is working out in us. He’s given us emotions, and we can fall into emotions at times, but if we see the warning sign of discouragement in our lives, don’t just see it as woe is me. It’s okay. It’s okay to have discouragement. See it as a crack in the drywall that there’s a problem deeper inside, an underlying issue. It’s causing that discouragement that we can fix.

Don’t point the finger at other people. Point the finger back at ourselves. Ask, “What am I doing that’s leading to this discouragement?” And Brethren, once we apply that principle, and we found the root cause of the discouragement that we feel in life, take to heart each of these seven steps of repentance, and, Brethren, you will have the revenge that you desire.