Defeating Discouragement

Key scriptures: Proverbs 13:12, Nehemiah 4:1-3, Numbers 13-14, 1 Kings 19:10. Discouragement is a loss of courage, hope, confidence, or spiritual strength that causes a person to withdraw from God's promises, purpose, or presence. In this episode you will learn how to Recognize it, Resist it and Rise above it through faith. I declare you will never have another day of defeat or discouragement in Jesus name.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Kingdom Conversation Podcast, where we are transforming ordinary minds into a kingdom mindset. I am your podcast host. I'm back and I'm at it, baby Quentin Jones. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. I'm really excited to get back into this, sharing the word, preaching the word, and just bringing an exhortation to everyone who was listening. You know, honestly, I was surprised. I don't know if that's the right word to say, but I'm just gonna be honest. I was surprised. You know, uh last week I received an email from the platform that I use to upload my podcast. And, you know, I've been behind all my emails, like in my personal email, and I got an email that said like last month uh alone, I had over 100 downloads from my previous existing episodes. That completely blew me away because that made me go look at my podcast and I'm and I'm like, holy baloney, I haven't released an episode since September. That's a long time to not release an episode, but hallelujah, here we are. And so today I want to jump into it. You know, I've been having so many conversations with different leaders across, you know, the uh different churches, a lot of connections I have, even people within our church. And, you know, I've been just finding myself bringing an often encouragement on those who are in discouragement. And so today's episode, I want to get right into it because I have so much I want to say in my spirit, but I want to talk to you about defeating discouragement, how to recognize it, how to resist it, how to rise above it, what is discouragement, what causes discouragement. I'm gonna go pretty deep in this episode. And ultimately, the end goal is for us to recognize um when discouragement is upon us. But the most important aspect is to rise above it through faith. Amen. So let's have a conversation about defeating discouragement. What's the first thing that I would like to establish to you? Number one, let's actually define what discouragement is biblically. Discouragement is a loss of courage, hope, confidence, or spiritual strength that causes a person to withdraw from God's presence, purpose, or promise. Discouragement is a loss of courage, hope, or confidence, or spiritual strength that causes a person to withdraw from God's purpose, his presence, and his promise. One of the key verses that I want to look at first is Proverbs chapter 13, verse 12. This may be a familiar verse to you, and I'm gonna read it first in the New King James Version. Proverbs 13, 12 says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. That's you know, that's the more common verbiage that uh many people have heard from Proverbs 13.12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. I'm telling you what happens is that I have discovered that there is a route to discouragement. You're gonna find this root in actually the message translation. I'm turning to it right now in my tablet. Message uh in the message uh translation, it says, unrelenting disappointment leaves you hear sick, but a sudden good break can turn a life around. Unrelenting disappointment leaves you hear sick. I have discovered in many conversations in the different seasons in my own spiritual life, even where I have been in, but especially in recent conversations, I have discovered as if I didn't know, but maybe it's more of a epiphany or revelation, if you will. But I am discovering that the root of discouragement is disappointment. Discouragement often begins when expectations are unmet. Have you ever had um expectations of an individual, of maybe a leader, of maybe a family member, maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a business partner. You had expectations that they were going to respond a certain way, um, believe a certain way, but then the moment they do opposite of what you expected, you're hurt. You're wounded. The root of discouragement is disappointment. And discouragement first begins, or one of the foundational pillars to discouragement is unmet expectations. Discouragement can also come upon an individual when your prayer seems like that they are going unanswered, or maybe there's opposition in your life, and it's not like it's uh, you know, opposition here, opposition there, but it seems like it's a constant opposition against you. Discouragement can come when you when you're doing good and doing kingdom work, but you feel the weariness or the tiredness coming upon you, and it seems to be compounding. Maybe discouragement comes to you when comparison takes root, when you're looking at someone else being used, you're looking at someone else get the opportunities, you're looking at someone else who gets called out for prayer, and then you begin to compare yourself as if, you know, as if that is the way that God intended. Or what about this? What about that there's circumstances in your life that seems larger or greater than God's promises? You know God's promises, you believe in God's promises, but there's circumstances in your life that are greater than that. This is the reality of what happens at the root of discouragement, and every single one of us probably have experienced this in our life, especially if you're safe. Unmet expectations, prayers seem like that they're going unanswered, opposition is increasing against you, uh, weariness and tiredness is setting in. You're beginning to compare yourself to somebody else, and why them and not me, or the circumstances that that are um coming against you seem greater or looming larger than God's promises. You see, the enemy can't always stop God's people. He he the devil has no power, he's he's already been defeated. One of the best tactics of Satan is to cause discouragement to an individual. So then here's the next thing I want to get to. We just define what discouragement is. The next thing that I want to then outline for us is now, so then what causes discouragement? If we know what discouragement is, it causes us to lose courage or hope and confidence or spiritual strength, and it causes us to withdraw from God. So here's the next question: What causes discouragement? Well, let's take a look at that. If in Nehemiah chapter four, I'm gonna turn there in my tablet. Nehemiah chapter four, I'm really excited to be back here. I'm excited to uh make this a consistent effort on my end, hallelujah, doing kingdom work, advancing the kingdom, the church right here in Radcliffe, Kentucky, as the associate pastor. God's doing major, major things, I'm telling you. And so I'm glad and honored to be part of it. And so these are just things I have to work out in my life to make this a uh priority. But what causes discouragement? Number one, opposition. Nehemiah chapter four. If you know the story, Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. He wants to go and help rebuild the walls. He gets a letter from the king that that the enemy or you know that who has them captive will give them protection. They're going to give them provision. And so now he's trying to do what God has told him to do. But look what happens to Nehemiah and chapter 4. But it so happened when Son Balat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. He and he spoke before his brethren in the army of Samaria and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in the day? Will they revive the stones in heaps of rubbish? The stones that are burned. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. Listen, the the first thing about what I want to tell you what causes discouragement is opposition. It seems like every step forward is met with resistance. Every time, you know, you know that phrase, you take three steps forward and then and then you take two steps back. It seems like every time you try to move forward, something happens. It's an unexpected bill. People leave you, people are mad at you. Uh, you know, there's there's issues in your marriage, and now you're dealing with children issues, now you're dealing with financial issues, now you're dealing with ministry issues, and and all of these things come. What one of the major causes of discouragement to any person's life is opposition. People often become discouraged because they mistakenly believe that opposition means that God is not with them, and there's this false theology or this false belief that because there's opposition, it must mean it's not God. Actually, in fact, in scripture, opposition truly means you are more than likely moving in the right direction. Everything in the scriptures, there was opposition. Even the children of Israel, God used Moses to tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And then Pharaoh let them go, but then guess what? There's opposition. That the Israelites are moving forward, but now the enemy is now pursuing. You will we'll look at the story of the uh 12 spies here shortly. But even with them going to possess the land, there was giants in the land. Opposition is a good sign. Here is the second cause of discouragement is delay. The first one is opposition. The second one is delay. You should know the story, or you may know the story of Abraham and Sarah. God spoke to Abram in Genesis chapter 12: get up from thy family in thy country, in thy kindred, and go to a place in which I will show you. I'm going to make a promise to you. As many as the stars that are in the heaven, so your shall descendants shall be. You will have a son. Now look, the promise came to Abraham and Sarah. The thing is, when you studied the timeline out, I believe it was about 17, 18 years. Literally, almost 15 plus years later, God gave a promise, but their fulfillment was delayed. They didn't see it, they believed it. They took God out of his word. But then, if you know the story of Abraham and Sarah, Sarah then says, Here, take my handmaiden and sleep with her, and let's cause the promise to happen. Thus was born Ishmael. And then God delivers on a promise that then he had his own son and he named him Isaac. Delays will test your faith. And it could be a breed of discouragement if you and I, as a believer, stop trusting in God's timing. One of the causes of discouragement is delay. God, you promise, but how come I haven't seen it yet? God, I know you gave me that vision, but how come it hasn't come to pass yet? I know you gave me a dream, but how come I feel like I'm still living a nightmare? I God, you you you use someone else to give a word, but yet I feel like that it's it just hasn't happened. I've been waiting for five years, I've been waiting for five months, I've been waiting for 10 years, I've been waiting for 30 years, and and I guess God that maybe I heard wrong. Delay. Delay will test your faith. And it could cause you to stop trusting in God's timing that you then begin to take matters in your own hands. What's the causes of discouragement? Number one, opposition. Number two, delay. And then number three, comparison. So we have opposition, we have delay, and now we have comparison. In John chapter 21, I'm gonna talk about this here in a little bit as well. It's about Peter and John. As they're walking, Peter asked Jesus about John's future. Jesus had to respond to Peter, what is that to you? You just follow me. I don't want to get too deep into scripture because this is going to be one of my points as to how we overcome these things. But comparison feels discouragement because it shifts our attention from God's assignment to someone else's. When you begin to compare, you take the eyes or you take the plan of God that He has for you, and you begin to start nitpicking, you begin to start poking, and you begin to start pointing at someone else that's trying to find out their validity, their purpose, their call, their plan. And now you begin to compare. Opposition, delay, and comparison are some of the three leading causes of discouragement. So now this leads me into this next phase. I'm telling you, I'm going deep. I'm laying this out because I want this to be so clear. Because about time I'm done, you're listening to this, you're not going to be discouraged no more. You're not, you know, you won't be crying no more. You won't be sad no more. You're not going to be downtrodden anymore. The strength of the Lord is coming upon you right now because the Holy Spirit is making you aware of the enemy's tactics as to how he's coming against you, but you're recognizing that right now in the mighty name of Jesus. And you will never have another discouraging day again in your life in Jesus' name. So now that we have defined what discouragement is and what causes discouragement, now I want to uh talk through how do we recognize discouragement and what uh what could it look like in our life. So now I want to go to Numbers chapter 13. I'm going to my tablet. Numbers chapter 13. I'm reading out of the New King James Version. Numbers chapter 13. Hallelujah. I'm going to start from verse 30. Then Caleb, this is the story regarding the 12, uh, the uh the spies. Caleb quieted the people before Moses said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we're all able to overcome it. But the men who are gone up with him said, We're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land, which they spied out saying, The land which we've gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak, come from the giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. How do we recognize discouragement if possibly we are discouraged right now? Number one, loss of spiritual vision. Say that with me. Loss of spiritual vision. And numbers, and in the book of Numbers, I just read, God promised Israel this land, but he told them to send spies in the land. Hey, send people ahead. They literally go into the land for 40 plus days, and albeit as it may, they literally came back, and some gave a bad report, but very few gave a good report. And the two that came back brought clusters of grapes back to the people. But this is this is the thing that I'm trying to establish to is when you are discouraged, you will begin to see a loss of spiritual vision. You will begin to see the giants in the land rather than God's promise of the land. You'll focus more on the problems than the promise. You will magnify the obstacles, you'll make large that which is coming against you. And, you know, do we have enough people for this? And, you know, do we have enough, you know, enough money for that? And you know, we need more leaders to accomplish this, as if the Lord hasn't provided everything that we need. There is always reinforcements that the Lord will bring. But the thing is, the Lord never told them that He was got that that they needed reinforcements. He said, I've that I've already given it to them. Those spies who brought back the bad report, the report that they brought back was expecting defeat. Yet two brought back a report that was expecting a victory. And and and verse 31, look what it says here. We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. They are stronger than we. Discouragement causes people to forget what God has already said. What did God say? What did God declare? What did God establish? What did God speak to you? What has he given you a vision and a dream of? That must be the word that we hold on to. Because if not, you will magnify the opposition, the obstacles, and then you will anticipate and expect defeat. This is where when discouragement sets in, you lose sight of the promise of God and you begin to talk more about the problems to get the thing done of which God has said. The second way that discouragement on how it may set in on a believer is isolation. 1 Kings chapter 19. Going there in my tablet. Hallelujah. 1 Kings chapter 19. I'm gonna read from verse 1. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, Let the gods do to me more also, if I do not make your life as as the life as one of them by tomorrow about this time, talking about the people that he cut their head off and he killed them all. This was the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Verse 3. And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life and went to Bersheba, which belongs to Judah. Listen, here's the key, verse 3, and left his servant there. But he himself, alone, alone, when a day's journey into the wilderness came and sat under a broom tree. He prayed that he might die and said, It is enough. Now, Lord, take my life, for I'm no better than my father's. He lay under a tree, and the angel touched him and told him to arise and eat. Then he looked, and thereby his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate, he drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time, touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because your journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Harab, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave, and then this is then where the word of the Lord came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? So he said, I've been zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life. Look what he says, I am alone. What is the evidence that you or someone may be discouraged? Number one, it was loss of spiritual vision. Number two, it's called isolation. It's a surreal timeline when you read 1 Kings 18. One of the greatest moments that happened on the earth was by this man Elijah declared out of his mouth it wasn't going to rain. It didn't rain for three years. He then goes, the Lord then tells him to go to Ahab. He goes to Ahab and then he says, I hear the sound of rain coming. He then goes up to the mountain. He sends this same servant back seven times. Tell me when you see the cloud. The servant comes back and says, I see the cloud, the size of a man's hand. And then all of a sudden, it begins to rain. It finally begins to rain. Lijah, even before all of this, kills all of the prophets of Ba and Ashra. He calls down fire of God. What a mighty man of God. He experienced one of the greatest things that ever happened on the planet Earth. But immediately fell into deep discouragement because Jezebel said, I'm going to do to you what you did to my people. Isolation is one of the key uh evidence that someone is discouragement. They begin to withdraw from other people. They so not only is there a natural physical withdrawal from other people, so there's this outward, I'm gonna stay away. I'm gonna, you know, um stay in my in my house, I'm gonna stay in my room, I'm gonna sit in the room with the lights off, I'm gonna eat a tub of ice cream. This is this is what people do. So this outward thing of isolation and discouragement will cause you to pull away from friends and family and other people. But the other side of isolation is not externally, it's actually it's also internally. Internally, you will begin to feel alone. You feel alone, you feel like no one cares, no one's for you, no one understands. Why is it just me? Why is this happening to me? And then you begin to have self-pity regarding your situation, your trauma, your problems. And the thing is, when you look at 1 Kings chapter uh 19, verse 10, Elijah foolishly believes that he is the only one left. He's the only one that's been faithful, he's the only one that served, he's the only one that has done what the Lord has said. And the and and the Lord had to tell him, what are you talking about? I have 7,000 other faithful believers still in Israel. This is how strong discouragement is because it can distort your reality. It's just me. The isolation is not just a natural aspect that we pull away from people, we pull away from the people of God, from our pastor, from our leaders. It's also what happens internally, what no one sees. It begins to shake you on the inside. There's a separation. You feel alone, you feel self-pity, you feel like you're low. And then it begins to distort your reality. I'm the only one that's going through this, I'm the only one that understands, and that is not the truth. So, what's what does discouragement look like? It's a loss of spiritual vision. Number two, it can lead to isolation. Number three, it can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion. Remember, and and right here in 1 Kings 19, let me go back and find it. I believe it was when I read it, it was right here, verse 6. Actually, sorry, verse 5. When he laid under the broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said, Arise and eat. He looked, and thereby his head was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water. So he ate and drink, and look what he did. He lay down again. The angel came back in a second time and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. So what did Elijah do? Verse 8, he arose, he ate, he drank, and he went in the strength of that food for 40 days. You know what discouragement does? It will bring an emotional and physical exhaustion. The first response from God was in a sermon. I can't believe you're like this. You should know better than this. Didn't you just call down fire and this is how you're talking? This is how sometimes we talk to people who are discouraged. But look how God responded to Elijah. I'm showing this to you because I know that there's someone that's listening to this podcast. I am shocked that I still have hundreds upon hundreds of downloads to a podcast that I have not recorded in almost a year. So I know that there were people listening to this. I know that from people all over the world, that the fact that this is reaching in Korea and South Africa and it's reaching in the most remote places that I've never been to. There is someone that's listening to this right now, and strength of the Lord is coming to you. I promise you the Lord sees you. I promise you that you are not too far gone, and your discouragement doesn't discourage the Lord. Because look how God responded to Elijah the prophet. God let him sleep. God fed him and God restored his strength. God let him sleep, he fed him, and he restored his strength. Discouragement, the root of discouragement is a spiritual issue. But what happens because it starts in spiritual, it will intensify in the natural, and you'll see an emotional and physical exhaustion. You know what else the result of discouragement looks like? It's a loss of joy and strength. Loss of joy and strength. Now let's go to Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter four. I literally wrote the sermon today. It's like 75% done. I just said, you know what? I'm gonna sit down and I'm just gonna record. I'm gonna figure this out as I go. Because I just had to release an episode. You know, I had um, not I, but last week, maybe it was the week before, I don't know. I I don't remember the timeline, but Pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth came to our church here in Radcliffe, Kentucky. Um, and he was teaching um not only just the night sessions as well, but he taught Thursday and Friday morning. And he talked about, and this is and this is where this sermon actually stemmed from. This for for this this podcast episode, uh, I mean. He was talking about how he talks to a lot of ministers and a lot of preachers and a lot of pastors, of course. And he said, the number one reason why people leave the ministry is actually not finances, it's actually discouragement. I wrote that down on my note that literally leaped in my spirit. And then, of course, I've been having so many conversations from our own church people, like I said, from phone calls and people in our church, who there they are right now in a battle of discouragement. And so I knew by my spirit what Pastor Jonathan said leaped in my spirit. Then all of a sudden, I got people calling me and I'm bringing strength to them. And so I just wanted to take everything that was in my spirit that I've been talking about, been given different encouragement. And I just decided to throw it down on the piece of paper, come into our church studio, and I'm just talking to you about defeating discouragement. Amen. And so this Nehemiah, one of the things that we see is the loss of joy and the loss of strength. And Nehemiah chapter four. Um, let me go and find the verse I wanted to look at. Um let's start in verse nine. Actually, no, let's start in verse seven. I like this. I'm figuring it out as I go. Hallelujah. Now it happened when Son Balat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashadites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored, the gaps were beginning of close, they became angry. All of them conspired together to come attack Jerusalem to create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to God, and because we set a watch against them day and night. Verse 10, then then Judah said, The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build a wall. Listen to me. This is what it looks like when discouragement comes upon us. It's a loss of joy and strength. As the rebuilding of the wall continued, the workers became weary. The strength of the bearer of burdens began to decay, is another translation that it says. This is what happens if we are in its current state of discouragement. Everything feels harder. What was initially easy and it was like water off the duck's back. Now, now it feels like that we're fighting against the flow of the river or we're fighting against the tide. Small problems now feel overwhelming. What used to be water off the duck's back, what we used to just kind of push off to the side, now we take personal. Now all of a sudden, those small things are like a thousand little toothpicks, and now it's starting to be at the point where that's the straw that broke the camel's back, as they saw. And then what happens, what we see here in verse 10, the strength of the laborers is failing, and so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall. Let me tell you what happens that final result when the loss and joy runs its course. The desire to quit increases. Have you ever had to battle the thought to quit? Quit your marriage, quit your business, quit the ministry. Yes. Yes, and yes. I have yes to, you know, yes to the third power. Absolutely. I have had to hear those thoughts, but I quickly extinguish those thoughts. I don't allow those thoughts to fester because if those things fester, you better watch out. Most people don't just wake up and decide to quit. They've been chewing on it like a dog bone. And then when they get down to the gristle, it just makes sense for me to put them on two weeks' notice. It just makes sense for me to take my ring off and say that we're done. It just makes sense for me to close my business. It just makes sense for me to stop doing my podcast. It just makes sense for me to quit teaching it. It just makes sense for me to quit preaching it. Just makes sense for me to go silent. It just makes sense for me to throw my hands up in the air because that desire to quit steadily increases. And now everything feels harder. But I'm telling you these things that I've pulled out. How do you recognize if discouragement is on you? Loss of spiritual vision, isolation, emotional and physical exhaustion, and the loss of joy and strength. Discouragement is more than just some emotion. It is a strategic attack by Satan from Satan because it comes against your faith, it comes against your obedience, your perseverance, and even your confidence in God. Satan understands that if he can get you discouraged, he doesn't have to stop you. Discouragement will cause people to stop themselves. Discouragement will cause you to stop yourself. You will shoot yourself in the foot. You will throw in the towel. And the devil sitting back having a ha ha ha, he, he, he because you talked yourself out of the game. It's marinating right now. It's marinating right now. But I'm telling you right now, you are going and you have all listen. Let me change that. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. You are not going to defeat discouragement. You have already defeated discouragement. Discouragement is under your feet. Discouragement is detail. You are the head already. You have already been victorious. You have already defeated discouragement. You are defeating discouragement right now. And I declare that evil spirit be lifted off of you at the sound of my voice in the mighty name of Jesus. The number of conversations I've had with people who are ready to walk away, be lifted off of you right now in Jesus' name. You are not defeated. You are victorious. I want to show you a few more things on how Satan, using some of the same stories, how Satan uses discouragement. You go back to Numbers chapter 13. Remember, we're talking about the uh 12 spies. God already promised the land, but the spies were focused on the giants and they for and their fortified cities and how small they were. And Numbers 13, 33, is you know, they said we were in our own sight as grosshoppers. The enemy appeared larger to them. The people lost courage. And so this is what Satan does: Satan will shift our attention from God's faithfulness to our weakness. Satan will shift our attention from God's promise to our problems. Satan will shift our attention from God's power to our limitation. You have to understand what discouragement does from Satan. He magnifies obstacles and he will minimize God's promises. Satan magnifies obstacles and minimizes God's promises. You must understand this. I must understand this because what the what God spoke, you cannot be overwhelmed by finances, by opposition, by qualifications, or by or or by timing. You can't do it. God is faithful. God has given you a promise. God's power is on is limitless. It's unlimited. You have to get over the weaknesses, you have to get over your problems, you have to get over the apparent limitations. We cannot fall into the trap of letting Satan magnify the obstacles. God said it, so we must believe it. Let's then go back to that second example. What about Elijah? Satan will use weariness to create vulnerability. Satan uses your weariness to create a vulnerability. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah said, I want you to just take my life. Just kill me right here. Kill me right now. I'm not worthy to live. I'm alone. It's just me. You know why that occurred? Emotional exhaustion. Physical exhaustion. Constant pressure. This is real, by the way. This is real. I'm feeling it right now. I'm feeling the flow. I have found truth in my own life. Maybe it's not true for you, but this is the truth for me. I have found in my own personal life Satan often attacks after I encounter victories because of spiritual fatigue's lower resistance. When you are in need of a move of God, man, we will pray, we will fast, we will confess, we will declare, man, we will believe God so you know, believe God's so big, and we'll put in all of the faithful energy, time, and effort. And the moment God does what we were believing for, what happens? Our guard gets lowered. We our resistance lowers. I found in my own personal life, Satan often attacks me after I encounter a victory. Discouragement comes through exhaustion. If you are tired, then it's because you don't know how to rest in God. Jesus said, All of you who are overburdened, all of you who are weary, come to me, capital M me, and I will give you rest. If you and I are tired, exhausted, and it's emotional and it's physical, and we constantly feel pressure, it means that we are not resting in the Lord. This is the reason why Jesus and Matthew 26, when he was in the Garden of Ghessinome and he keeps asking his three best friends to pray, he says, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. I'm telling you, the flesh, you have a flesh, and the flesh will experience uh emotional and physical and pressure. But I'm telling you this thing right now. Satan will use weariness and he will find a hole, a chink in your armor, or a chip in your armor, and he will expose it and cause you to say things that you would have never said in a thousand years. Satan, just like Elijah, uses isolation. 1 Kings 19, 10. I'm the only one left. Discouragement will tell you nobody understands, nobody cares, nobody's, you know, nobody is standing with me. It's just me, myself, and I. Not even my wife understands, not even my husband understands, no one understands. Isolation makes discouragement so much more louder because there are no godly voices speaking truth into your life. Isolation makes discouragement so much more louder because you eliminate godly voices from speaking truth into your life or into your situation. Look at how Satan uses discouragement. He he attacks, he isolates, he discourages, and then he will try to neutralize. Satan will attack, he will isolate, he will discourage you, and then he will seek to neutralize you. This is how Satan uses discouragement. It makes me think about Nehemiah because I don't have that here, but I think about Nehemiah and what was happening there in Nehemiah chapter 4. See, yeah, yeah, hold on. Where's my pen? I have a pen somewhere. I'm gonna write this down because this is good. I'm gonna have to preach this one day. Discouragement will cause you or a believer. Let me let me work this out. Discouragement will convince a believer that they are outside of God's will. Yeah, there it is. There it is. Remember in in Nehemiah chapter 4 that I read, as soon as the wall rebuilding began, criticism appeared. Mockery showed up. They then began to receive death threats. We're gonna kill you, we're gonna destroy the wall. And all of these things that came was trying to stop the construction. And but it was more than just the stopping the construction of the wall, it was to discourage the builders. There it is. Shit, but they kid I okay. All of the opposition that Nehemiah encountered was more than just trying to stop the construction, they sowed seeds to discourage the builders. That's why it says in Nehemiah 4.10, the strength of the laborers is failing. If if if Satan can get you discouraged from doing the good thing that God has told you to do, because it comes back to this thing right here opposition confirms significance. Opposition confirms significance. Opposition, when you and I encounter it, will falsely try to convince you that you just may be outside of God's will. My, my, my, my, my. Then John chapter 21. This is how he Satan uses it. John chapter 21. Let me find the verse. Hallelujah. I think it's in verse 20. I was reading. Yeah, there it is. John chapter 21. How else does Satan use discouragement? He uses it as comparison. This is what I opened with the uh the uh podcast with John chapter 21. Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple John, or yes, saw that disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also leaned on his breast at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, but Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, If I will that he remains till I come, what is that to you? You just follow me. Man, look at this. Peter asked about John's future. And Jesus replied, Why is that your business? Comparison creates discouragement because it begins to shift the focus to another person's ministry, to another person's success, to another person's calling, to another person's role, to another person's position, to another person's authority. And what happens is we begin to focus on someone else's work, ministry, success, calling, purpose, etc., rather than God's assignment for us. Discouragement will cause you to begin to compare. Satan has a strategy of discouragement. It shifts your focus to the attention on the problem, and he begins to create fear and anxiety. Then what you'll see is there will be an isolation to the believer. Listen, let me say this again. Number one, focuses the attention on the problem. Number two, it creates a fear and anxiety. Number three, it will isolate the believer. Number four, it distorts your perspective. Number five, it produces a hopelessness. And that's what we saw in Abraham and Sarah. It produces not faithfulness, but hopelessness. And number six, it causes a withdrawal or quitting. And sorry, number Number seven, number seven, the last one. Number seven, it causes you to compare. I gave you seven things on the Satan's strategy of discouragement. Focuses attention on the problem. Number two, creates fear and anxiety. Number three, isolates the believer. Number four, distorts perspective. Number five, produces hopelessness. Number six, causes withdrawal or quitting. And number seven, causes you to compare. This is the reason why one of the most powerful verses on overcoming discouragement is found in 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 6. But David encouraged himself in the Lord. But David encouraged himself and the Lord. Oftentimes we want someone to come and encourage us. But my question is, how often do you encourage yourself? How often do you remind yourself of God's promises? How often do you get up and preach to yourself in the mirror? How often do you turn on the YouTube? How often do you turn on the podcast? How often do you sit your dogs and your cats down and you begin to encourage yourself in the Lord? So strength comes to you. I've talked about all of these things from defining what discouragement is and what's the causes of discouragement? And how does Satan use discouragement? What does discouragement look like if it's you know prevalent in our life? And now, the most important, how do we overcome discouragement? How do we overcome discouragement? Because I'm talking to you about defeating discouragement once and for all where you cut the stinking head off. How do we overcome discouragement? 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 6. But David encouraged himself in the Lord. Man. While David was away, the enemy attacked the camp. They took everyone's wives and children's and and and they they came back and their camp was raided. The people were so angry at David that the Bible says, actually, let's turn there. Let me let me turn on my tablet. Let me turn there. Because I highlighted a verse I wanted to look at. 1 Samuel 30. Appreciate Pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth uh talking about discouragement because it leaped in my spirit. I gotta do a podcast on that. Hallelujah. Here it is, uh 1 Samuel chapter 30, verse 4. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. Verse 6. Now David was greatly distressed. Now look at David. David, David himself is going through it. David himself is trying to like, oh my goodness, what happened? But look here. For the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. David did not deny the reality of the situation. He only encouraged himself in the Lord. When you encourage yourself in the Lord, you will renew your faith in the Lord. When you encourage yourself in the Lord, you renew your faith in the Lord. You know why? Because he was because he was facing a true reality that their camp was raided. Everyone wanted to kill him. Everyone wanted to take his head. But David had to bring strength to himself. But it's fine. It's fine. It's my podcast, so whatever. But when is the last time you encouraged yourself? When is the last time you brought strength to yourself? Or do you always need someone to send you a text message? Do you always need someone to call you? Are you the one that says, wow, no one called me? Wow, no one checked up on me. Okay, well, hold up here. When's the last time you built yourself up? We do not have permission from God to ever live another day feeling defeated or discouraged or downtrodden. We we do not have permission to walk around defeated, downtrodden, or discouraged. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. Preach to yourself. Remind yourself of the promise of God. Remember what God has spoken already over you. Amen. The second way about how we overcome uh discouragement is in Joshua chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. After Moses had died, uh Joshua had a crazy assignment. He had a big task. And God had to keep telling him, You're gonna lead the people into the promised land. But be of, you know, be strong and be of good courage. Oftentimes God had to tell him, be strong and courageous, uh, you know, Joshua. So God's remedy or antidote for fear and discouragement was meditation on the word, be obedient to the word, listen to my word, be be confident in what I'm telling you. This is this is literally what God is telling Joshua 8 9. But the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. But the book of the law, the law, the law, shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night. You may uh so that you may uh observe to do according to all that's written in it. For then it will make your way prosperous and you will have good success. Have I not commanded you, be of strong and of good courage, do not be afraid or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. What was God's antidote for discouragement or for fear? It was to stay in his word, meditate on God's word, be obedient to God's word, have confidence in God's presence. And this and that's my encouragement to you. Do not see when you encourage yourself, you ensure that the book of the law shall never not depart from your mouth. We've got to make sure that the book of the law is always in our mouth. I know you can preach a good sermon, ma'am. I know you can preach a good sermon, sir. My question is when is the last time you preach to yourself? Number three is to remember God's faithfulness. How do we overcome discouragement? Remember God's faithfulness. In Deuteronomy chapter 8. This is a verse Pastor Terry was preaching on this past Sunday, um, right here at Abundant Life Church in Radcliffe. I'm trying to find the verse here because I got it here. Here it is right here. Deuteronomy 8.2. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, uh, in your mind, and whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And now, verse 18 of Deuteronomy 8. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. What is the point that I'm trying to at least lay out to us here? The thing is to defeat discouragement and never live in a state of discouragement, defeat, or downtrodden. Remember God's faithfulness. You're gonna have to sit back and remember where you know what was your life like before Christ. You know that problem that you were facing in your marriage that that you didn't think that you would ever overcome, yet here you are still having a thriving marriage. You remember that situation that occurred financially that you didn't know that you would be able to overcome, yet here you are thriving financially. You have to remember every victory that God has brought your way, whether in business, whether in ministry, whether in your personal life, whether it's finances, your family, whatever it is. Remember God's faithfulness. Remember, Deuteronomy is filled of the promise of God, of that, you know, of the Lord's going to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey, brooks of water, wheat and barley, vines and fig trees and pomegranates and olive trees and honey, and that you'll never lack again. And the Lord only has one request: remember the Lord your God, for he is the one who gave you the power to get all of this. Don't forget the Lord. Remember God's faithfulness. You have to take time to just thank the Lord for how he showed up because then you will then soon remember what the Lord did before, he'll do it again. It will bring strength to you. Remember God's faithfulness. Faith sometimes requires preaching to yourself. How else do we overcome discouragement? Stay connected to believers. Stay connected to believers. And Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24. Hebrews 10, 24. Let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. Discouragement thrives in isolation. So therefore, the antidote to discouragement is you've got to be around other people. What does that look like? Encourage one another. God designed us to encourage one another, bring strength to one another, pray for one another. You and I must stay connected to believers. You can't be alone. You can't hide at home. You can't hide in your office. You can't, you can't hide on the couch at dark with the with the blinds and the door shut. You have to stay make an effort to stay connected to people. Oftentimes we want people to make an effort to stay connected to us. When's the last time you sent a text message? When's the last time that you reached out? We want everyone to do something for us, but we must make the effort to stay connected to people. Discouragement thrives in isolation. Get out of isolation. Here's what about this one? What's the what's what's the other way that we can overcome uh discouragement? Fix your eyes on Christ. On Hebrews chapter 12, it says, looking unto Jesus, 12-2, looking unto Jesus, the altar and finisher of our faith, who the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising his shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So, how do we overcome discouragement? Fix your eyes on Christ. Get it off of yourself, get your eyes off of your problems, get your eyes off of the opposition. It's not enough to just get your eyes off of yourself, off of the problem, or off of the opposition. You must fix your eyes on Christ. Fix your eyes. Look unto Jesus. The cure for discouragement is not just positive thinking. We have to change and fix our attention on Jesus Christ. If you look to Jesus, who is the author and finisher, God is going to finish what he started. For the joy set before him, you know why Christ was able to endure the cross? Because he's fixed his eyes on you so that way we would fix our eyes on him. The joy that was set before him, I am the joy that was set before him. Christ set his eyes. Christ fixed his eyes on us so that in return we would fix our eyes on him. You gotta get your eyes off of what you're feeling, what you're seeing. I'm telling you how we overcome discouragement. Encourage yourself in the Lord. Return to or keep God's word in your mouth. Meditate on the word, confess his word, be strong and courageous. Remember the faithfulness of God. Remember it was the Lord. Don't forget how the Lord like recall those testimonies, recall those victories. Remember all of the work that you put in that got you to where you're at. And because you obeyed the Lord. Stay connected to believers. Get out of isolation. Get around strong, spirit-filled people who will encourage you, pray for you, and bring strength to you. Get your eyes off of your problems. Fix your eyes on Christ. Discouragement is not just merely an emotion, it is a battleground of faith. And I walked us through throughout scriptures. Many of God's people experienced it. From Moses to Elijah to David to Nehemiah and Jeremiah, then you had Paul, and you had even some of those disciples. The issue was not whether discouragement comes, the issue is whether we as believers will allow it to define us or whether we're going to give a response, the proper response to discouragement. What's the ultimate response to discouragement? But David encouraged himself in the Lord. Any believer who learns to bring strength to himself in God can face any opposition, any delay, any disappointment, and any adversity without ever doubting the promise of God ever again. I want you to know that discouragement has been defeated in your life. The chains of discouragement has been broken off of your life, and you will never hear the sound of that chain or that ball again. I release this evil spirit off of many people. At the sound of my voice, I want you to say, I'm free. I want you to say I'm free. I want you to say that I'm free in Jesus' name. I will not be made low. But it's time to rise from the ashes to do everything that the Lord has called me to do in the mighty name of Jesus. And everyone said, Amen and amen. I want to thank you for taking time to listen to today's episode. I minister to myself as much as I know I'm bringing strength to other people. Discouragement has been defeated. Discouragement has been defeated. We talked about how to recognize it, how to resist it, and more importantly, how to rise above it. Thank you so much again for listening to the Kingdom Conversation podcast, where we are transforming ordinary minds into a kingdom mindset. I love you, and I call you blessed and highly favored.