Resisting Discouragement

     Discouragement can result from many reasons, Satan will do anything he can to destroy us and keep our focus on negative things instead of on God. This is a trap of the devil. Discouragement is a weapon against God’s children. When discouragement takes over your life, it brings all kinds of doubts about yourself and tells all lies about yourself, friends and family. Then we start replaying all our mistakes and sins we have done in our lives. So in that case it’s important to kneel down and pray and meditate the word of God.
     There is a story about a conference in hell. When Jesus Christ died on the cross all the demons were shaken. "Now that Jesus has died on the cross, all the people in the world are going to get saved and go to heaven. Nobody is going to come to hell. What shall we do?" The theme of the conference was, ‘How to bring people to hell.’ Many demons came up with various suggestions but none of them were practical. One demon said, "I’ll go and tell everyone that Jesus is not God." But Satan said, "That won’t work out. Miracles and wonders are being performed. Everyone knows He is God." Another said, "I’ll go and say that Jesus did not die on the cross." Satan said that that too will not do, as Jesus died in a public place in the sight of everyone. Finally one demon stood up. "I have a trick that’ll bring people to hell. I’ll go and tell everyone. Jesus is God and he died on the cross to save all the people to get into heaven. And then I’ll say, ‘But you cannot! All can live a holy life but you can’t. See, you’ve tried to be holy many times, haven’t you, but you failed. All may be caught up at the Rapture but not you – you have a lot of mistakes in your life. The prayers of others may be answered but not yours – you have a lot of mistakes, don’t you? So you’d better stop praying. You’ve prayed for so long but you haven’t got any answer, have you? On the contrary, problems have increased.’ So saying I’ll bring discouragement into the hearts of the people. Then they’ll stop praying; they’ll stop reading the Bible and they’ll stop fasting and that’ll make them come to hell." At this suggestion there was a loud applause from all the demons. "Let’s go at once and discourage the children of God!
     Aren’t we in the same track of discouragement or many times we might have gotten trapped in this discouragement in our life? Now it’s time to overcome these evil thoughts of discouragement in ourselves. In Joshua 1:9, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Our focus on the Lord is necessary to break the chains of discouragement and think about all good things that God has already done in our life. It’s important to be confident, Philippians 4:6 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”. In Hebrews 13:5, God says “never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Whether you feel him or not, God is always watching you in all your circumstances. Keep your trust in the Lord by overcoming your fear and God will give you the encouragement needed to deal with the troubles.

     Finally it’s important to pray each day to resist all evil attacks to you in daily life. Always have an encounter with God and remember he is more powerful .Through Jesus we can overcome all kinds of evil plans and discouragement. As John 16:33 says, “so that in me you have peace, in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”



-Submitted by Jesly Babu

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