Do You Ever Get Discouraged?

Do you ever get discouraged?

To ask if we get discouraged sometimes of the things life has to offer compares to asking, “Does a baseball player use a baseball?” Life and its circumstances are often discouraging. We get discouraged when things don’t turn out or happen like we think they should or the way we planned.

First of all, if you are going through a time of discouragement, I hope you will find encouragement in the fact you are in good company.

Just strolling through the scriptures I find some of the greatest people of the Bible often faced times of deep discouragement.

• Elijah went through an extended time of discouragement in which his main prayer request was, “Lord let me die.” I Kings 19

• David wrote about the whole gambit of emotions which included discouragement, they are compiled in a journal for us we call “The Psalms.” Read Psalm 42 and notice David’s question, “Why, my soul, are you so downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” That is the question that haunts us all, “Why?” That word has a lot of different followers. Why, did I do that? Why, did they make that decision? Why, did things turn out this way? Why, did my marriage fail? Why, did my children do what they did? Why, ___________and you fill in the blank with the question that is on your heart today.

• One more before we move on, Jeremiah. Jeremiah was not a happy camper; he carried such a burden he was known as the “Weeping Prophet”. I think if you would have known Jeremiah you would not have enjoyed being around him very much. He didn’t like celebrations, he didn’t enjoy birthdays, he disliked the doctor that brought him into this world, and he wished he would have died without ever living. He thought he would have been better if he had never known this world and this world would have been better if it had never known him. Jeremiah 20.

If you are discouraged I want to remind you that you have three very powerful individuals that are pulling for you. You have the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you to look into Romans 8 and glean the jewels of victory that are hidden there for all of us.

Romans 8:26, tells us that when we face times when we have lost hope, when we face times that we don’t even know how to pray or know what to ask for, or worse yet can’t pray, the Holy Spirit prays for us. WOW! Think of that, the Holy Spirit praying in our behalf. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered.”

Romans 8:34, reveals to us more of God’s power that is working in our behalf. “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Brother Albert Crank who attends our church at Southside says, “There are some “WOW” scriptures and moments in the Bible.” This is another “WOW” moment, Jesus, God’s Son is praying for me. WOW!

My heart’s desire today is that you will find encouragement in your discouragement knowing that the Trinity of Heaven is pulling for your behalf.