The Devil’s Favorite Tool
There’s an old story told by preachers long before microphones and livestreams.
It goes like this:
One day the devil decided to have a garage sale. He laid out all his tools on a table—hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, lust, pride, and lying. Each one was marked with a price tag. But over in the corner was one tool—well-worn, smooth from use, and priced far higher than any of the rest. Someone asked, “What’s that one?”
“That,” said the devil, “is discouragement. It’s the most useful tool I own. When I can’t make people sin, I can make them give up. And once they give up, I can do anything I please.”
That story isn’t found in the Bible, but it might as well be. Because if you’ve lived long enough, you know how sharp that tool can feel.
Discouragement drains color from your days. It doesn’t just attack your strength; it attacks your hope.
Some of you came here today smiling, shaking hands, singing the hymns—but inside you’re running on fumes. Maybe it’s finances. Maybe it’s a relationship that’s slowly falling apart. Maybe it’s the quiet sense that you’ve prayed and worked and tried, and nothing’s changing.
I want you to know something right at the start: you are not the first person God has loved who has felt that way.
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Everyone Gets Tired
Even the best people in Scripture faced it.
Moses got tired of leading.
David wrote psalms in tears.
Jeremiah wanted to quit preaching.
Paul admitted he “despaired of life itself.”
And Elijah, the prophet who called down fire from heaven, ended up under a broom tree praying that he might die.
Let’s pause on Elijah for a moment.
1 Kings 19 paints one of the rawest pictures in the Bible.
Right after the high of Mount Carmel—fire falling, idols shattered, a national revival—Elijah collapses. Jezebel threatens him, and the mighty prophet runs. He ends up in the desert, sits under a tree, and prays, “It is enough, Lord. Take my life.”
Think about that: the same man who faced down hundreds of false prophets now says, “I’m done.”
God doesn’t lecture him. God lets him sleep. Then He wakes him with food, twice, and sends him on.
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap and eat a good meal.
But what happens next matters most. Elijah climbs Mount Horeb and pours out his heart. God listens. Then He says, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And what comes?
A wind, an earthquake, a fire—but God isn’t in them. Finally, a still small voice.
That’s how discouragement is healed—not by noise and hype, but by a quiet word from God reminding us, “You’re not finished yet. I still have purpose for you.”
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The Three Roads of Discouragement
When discouragement hits, we usually take one of three roads.
1. We give in.
2. We deny it.
3. We face it with faith.
Let’s walk those roads one by one.
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1. Give In
Some of us simply collapse. Like Elijah, we run to the wilderness and sit down under the tree of exhaustion. We stop answering calls. We stop expecting good things. We let our hearts whisper, “It’s over.”
Maybe it’s because something you built fell apart. Maybe a prayer you prayed came back with silence. Maybe you look around at the world—wars, corruption, hypocrisy—and you wonder, “What’s the point?”
Friends, giving in always feels easier than standing up. But when you give in, you surrender your influence, your joy, and the very story God is writing through your life.
Elijah thought he was the last faithful one left in Israel. God gently corrected him—there were still seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal. You are never as alone as you think you are.
If you’re tempted to give in, remember this: God does some of His best work with people who’ve hit bottom. That’s where His strength becomes yours.
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2. Deny It
The second road is denial. It’s the “I’m fine” road.
We slap on a grin, post another verse online, tell ourselves to “stay positive.” But pretending to be strong doesn’t make you strong.
Peter tried that.
On the night of Jesus’ arrest, he declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” But within hours, he was cursing and denying that he even knew Jesus. When the rooster crowed, the Bible says he went out and wept bitterly.
There’s freedom in those two words—wept bitterly. It means he finally faced himself. He stopped pretending. And that’s when restoration began.
Jesus met Peter again by a charcoal fire—the same setting where the denial happened—and asked three times, “Do you love Me?” He didn’t shame him; He re-commissioned him. “Feed My sheep.”
Denial delays healing. Honesty invites it.
God can handle the truth of how you feel. He already knows it.
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3. Face It With Faith
And then there’s the third road—the one Joseph took.
If ever there was a man who had reason to give up, it was Joseph. Sold by his brothers, enslaved in Egypt, falsely accused, imprisoned, forgotten. Every rung down that ladder could have been an excuse to quit. But the Bible keeps repeating one phrase: “The Lord was with Joseph.”
You know the story—how years later, when famine came and the same brothers who betrayed him showed up begging for food, Joseph had every right to take revenge. Instead, he said, “You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good.”
That’s the language of faith in the middle of discouragement.
It doesn’t deny the pain—it redefines the purpose.
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Joseph’s Five Practices for Faith
Let’s pull five practices out of Joseph’s story—five habits that turn discouragement into fuel for growth.
1. Maintain your walk with God.
Even in prison, Joseph’s relationship with God didn’t die. You can take a believer out of the palace, but you can’t take God out of his heart.
2. Refuse tempting shortcuts.
When Potiphar’s wife offered the easy way out, Joseph said, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” He’d rather lose position than lose purity.
3. Serve others faithfully.
In prison, he noticed the sadness on the faces of the cupbearer and baker. “Why do you look so sad today?” he asked. Serving others pulled him out of self-pity.
4. Do what you can.
Joseph didn’t have control over his circumstances, but he used his gifts—organization, administration, wisdom—and that positioned him for promotion.
5. Trust God’s sovereignty.
Through every twist, Joseph believed there was a divine author scripting the story. Faith doesn’t mean liking every page; it means trusting the ending.
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When Life Feels Unfair
You might be thinking, “That’s great for Joseph, but my story isn’t turning out that neat.”
I hear you. Life is often unfair. The promotion goes to someone less qualified. The healing doesn’t come. The relationship doesn’t mend.
But faith doesn’t deny the unfairness—it refuses to let unfairness define the future.
Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good to them that love God.”
Not that all things are good, but that God weaves even the broken strands into something redemptive.
When the artist is still painting, you don’t judge the masterpiece by the middle of the process.
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Modern Faces of Discouragement
Let’s bring this closer to home.
Discouragement wears a thousand faces.
It’s the young professional scrolling through job listings, wondering if she’ll ever find purpose.
It’s the parent who feels like every effort with that teenager hits a wall.
It’s the believer who used to feel close to God but now feels nothing.
It’s the pastor who wonders if anyone’s listening.
Maybe it’s you.
If we could see spiritual reality with physical eyes, we’d see that discouragement isn’t just emotion—it’s warfare. The enemy wants you to stop believing that God is good.
But the cross already answered that question.
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The Gospel in the Valley
When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
That wasn’t play-acting. That was real discouragement, real despair. But even in that cry was faith—My God.
Because He went through that valley, we never walk through ours alone.
Hebrews says He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. That means when you sit in the dark wondering if God cares, He doesn’t just sympathize—He remembers what it felt like to hang between heaven and earth with no answer coming.
But resurrection morning came. And the same power that rolled away the stone still rolls stones today—stones of fear, failure, and fatigue.
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Practical Steps Toward Hope
Let’s get practical for a minute. How do we cooperate with God in overcoming discouragement?
1. Name it.
Stop pretending you’re fine. Say, “Lord, I’m discouraged.” Honesty opens the door to healing.
2. Rest.
Exhaustion makes everything look worse. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed early and wake up to meet God again.
3. Stay in community.
Isolation magnifies pain. Find two safe people and tell them the truth. Elijah thought he was alone until God told him otherwise.
4. Keep showing up.
Faithfulness in small things keeps hope alive. Go to church. Read the Word. Serve. Do the next right thing even when you don’t feel it.
5. Reframe the story.
Write one sentence of hope: “God is still writing something good from this.” Put it on your mirror. Say it until you believe it.
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The Psalmist’s Remedy
David said in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him.”
I love that word yet. It’s the hinge between despair and determination.
It means: “I don’t see it yet, but I will.”
“I don’t feel it yet, but I will.”
“I don’t have the answer yet, but I know Who does.”
That word yet belongs in every believer’s vocabulary.
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Faith That Outlasts Feelings
2 Corinthians 4:8–9 gives the honest description of a discouraged life and the victorious response:
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Paul doesn’t sugarcoat suffering, but he refuses to let it have the last word.
Maybe that’s where you are—pressed, perplexed, struck down. But you are not destroyed.
Faith isn’t pretending everything’s fine; it’s declaring that even when it’s not fine, God still reigns.
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The Hidden Blessing
There’s a strange secret hidden inside discouragement: it can deepen compassion.
Once you’ve been through a dark valley, you recognize the look in someone else’s eyes. You learn how to speak gentler, to listen longer, to pray with empathy.
That’s why God never wastes pain.
Your present discouragement might become tomorrow’s ministry.
Joseph could comfort his brothers because he had once been broken by them. The comfort you receive from God becomes the comfort you can offer to others.
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A Story of Hope
A few years ago, a friend of mine was in the thick of discouragement. His small business had failed. He lost his savings. He was angry at himself and at God.
He told me, “I kept praying for a miracle, but all I heard was silence. I was so ashamed I stopped going to church.”
Months later, he got a call from a former employee whose wife was dying. “You’re the only person I can talk to,” the man said.
My friend went to the hospital, still broke, still discouraged, but he sat there and prayed with them through the night. He told me later, “That night I realized I hadn’t lost everything. I still had faith. And God used my pain to touch someone else’s.”
That’s redemption. Not the fairy-tale kind—but the kind that bleeds and still believes.
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When You Feel Forgotten
Sometimes discouragement feels like being forgotten.
Joseph sat in prison two extra years because the cupbearer forgot him. But God hadn’t. When the time was right, Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph’s name came up.
If it feels like God’s forgotten you, remember this: Heaven’s delays are not Heaven’s denials.
God’s timing is rarely our timing, but it is always right.
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Keep the Long View
Discouragement focuses on the immediate. Faith lifts your eyes to the eternal.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
Light affliction? Paul had been beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned. But he measured everything against eternity.
When you see your life through the lens of forever, discouragement loses its power to define you.
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The Church’s Call
Maybe this message isn’t only for you personally. Maybe it’s for how we treat one another.
The world doesn’t need churches full of perfect people. It needs communities where weary people can find rest.
If someone confesses they’re struggling, don’t respond with clichés—respond with compassion.
Let’s make church a place where it’s safe to say, “I’m not okay, but I’m here.” Because that’s where healing starts.
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The Power of Encouragement
Encouragement literally means “to put courage into.”
Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…but encouraging one another—and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The closer we get to the end, the more intentional we must be about encouragement.
A text. A call. A prayer. A reminder that someone sees you.
You never know what a single word can do.
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Jesus and the Discouraged
Look at how Jesus treated discouraged people.
To Thomas, doubting and afraid, He said, “Reach out your hand.”
To Peter, ashamed and broken, He said, “Feed My sheep.”
To Mary, weeping at the tomb, He said one word—her name.
Jesus never shamed the discouraged; He restored them.
And He still does.
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Invitation
I want to speak now to the person who feels like Elijah under the broom tree. You’ve prayed, “It’s enough, Lord.” You’ve thought about walking away—from ministry, from marriage, from faith itself.
Hear this word: You are not finished yet.
God still has seven thousand you don’t know about.
God still has dreams for you that haven’t been born yet.
God still has people who need what only your story can give.
Don’t quit before the miracle.
Get up, eat the bread of life, and walk in the strength of that meal.
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Closing
If discouragement has been whispering in your ear, tonight the Holy Spirit whispers louder: “You belong to Me. You are not alone.”
Would you bow your heads?
Lord, for every heart that’s weary, every believer who’s been fighting silently—breathe new life. Lift their eyes from what’s broken to what’s possible. Remind them that the cross means nothing can separate us from Your love.
And when we leave this place, let us be carriers of hope to someone else’s valley.
In Jesus’ name—Amen.
