If you're a human being, you know what it's like to be discouraged. No one goes through a "cherry-pie" life where everything works out all the time and nothing ever backfires or misfires. Anyone with experience of any kind can probably name a time they were discouraged. However, we aren't always discouraged when our plans don't work out. Sometimes we get discouraged because our good intentions get ruined before we can even try to execute them. Other times we get discouraged because of something someone tells us: "You don't belong. You can't finish that. You can't be redeemed from that mess you made. Who do you think you are?" We can even discourage ourselves by dwelling on our mistakes or imperfections. It's surprisingly easy to become discouraged. Of course, how people handle discouragement tends to vary. Some just shake it off, while others let it weigh them down. Still others pretend to forget it, but never really do. When opportunity comes, they can't reach for it anymore. Or perhaps it's not that they can't, but that they don't know that they can...
There was a king in ancient Israel whose name was Joash. One day he was given an opportunity by God from a dying prophet, and not just any prophet, but the famous prophet Elisha, who had performed a number of miracles throughout his career. However, Joash's receiving the gift was preceded by the prophet telling him to do something rather unusual. How he handled this is told to us in 2 Kings 13.
"Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:14-19 NKJV)
Can you see yourself here? "Um...no," you might reply, "I fail to see what this has to do with me at all. I'm not king of Israel, I'm not talking to dying prophets, and I haven't shot any arrows out the window lately". Granted, this literal situation has probably never been replicated in real life, but there are some analogies we can draw out of this. You see, the king quit early. Essentially, he gave up. He was given a task, albeit a strange one, but he didn't finish it. Why? I don't know, but my guess would be that he felt silly or thought he had done enough. Maybe he even allowed his feelings about smacking the ground to discourage him. After all, what could he accomplish by smacking the floor? The prophet was sick and dying. Maybe the king thought Elisha was delusional. At any rate he stopped.
I can't prove these thoughts went through Joash's head. I'm purely speculating, but whatever his reason for quitting, the repercussion was simple: he would not be as victorious as he could have been against his enemy, and he would not accomplish what he could have accomplished.
So often we let discouragement hold us back. Since discouragement can be caused by a huge variety of things, its versatility makes it a prime weapon for the devil to use against people. If we get truly discouraged, we don't finish. We stop, just like Joash did. Instead of pursuing our dreams and the plans God has for us, we drag our heels and live like we've been defeated, before we even try. Then we dwell on ourselves, and become further discouraged with just how little we've done and seem able to do. We wonder where God is in our mess, and that can discourage us too. We lose focus, passion, energy, and quality of life. While this doesn't affect everyone on the same levels or with the same intensity, there is no doubt that discouragement can keep us back from what we could do if we'd only fix our eyes on our God, and not ourselves. Here's the deal, though. To put it quite simply,
There was a king in ancient Israel whose name was Joash. One day he was given an opportunity by God from a dying prophet, and not just any prophet, but the famous prophet Elisha, who had performed a number of miracles throughout his career. However, Joash's receiving the gift was preceded by the prophet telling him to do something rather unusual. How he handled this is told to us in 2 Kings 13.
"Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!” And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:14-19 NKJV)
Can you see yourself here? "Um...no," you might reply, "I fail to see what this has to do with me at all. I'm not king of Israel, I'm not talking to dying prophets, and I haven't shot any arrows out the window lately". Granted, this literal situation has probably never been replicated in real life, but there are some analogies we can draw out of this. You see, the king quit early. Essentially, he gave up. He was given a task, albeit a strange one, but he didn't finish it. Why? I don't know, but my guess would be that he felt silly or thought he had done enough. Maybe he even allowed his feelings about smacking the ground to discourage him. After all, what could he accomplish by smacking the floor? The prophet was sick and dying. Maybe the king thought Elisha was delusional. At any rate he stopped.
I can't prove these thoughts went through Joash's head. I'm purely speculating, but whatever his reason for quitting, the repercussion was simple: he would not be as victorious as he could have been against his enemy, and he would not accomplish what he could have accomplished.
So often we let discouragement hold us back. Since discouragement can be caused by a huge variety of things, its versatility makes it a prime weapon for the devil to use against people. If we get truly discouraged, we don't finish. We stop, just like Joash did. Instead of pursuing our dreams and the plans God has for us, we drag our heels and live like we've been defeated, before we even try. Then we dwell on ourselves, and become further discouraged with just how little we've done and seem able to do. We wonder where God is in our mess, and that can discourage us too. We lose focus, passion, energy, and quality of life. While this doesn't affect everyone on the same levels or with the same intensity, there is no doubt that discouragement can keep us back from what we could do if we'd only fix our eyes on our God, and not ourselves. Here's the deal, though. To put it quite simply,
God did not make us to be discouraged!!!
God sent His Son Jesus to die...for you. (John 3:16)
God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell...in you. (John 14:26)
God put entire circumstances and plans in place...for you. (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:10)
God did not come to condemn but to save...you. (John 3:17)
There is no counting the number of thoughts God thinks...towards you. (Psalm 40:5)
Power beyond human comprehension has been invested...in you. (Acts 1:8)
Allow me to just blast away a few false things you may be believing about God without even realizing it:
He's not sitting in heaven waiting to smack you when you sin.
He's not fuming about your past mistakes.
He isn't sick of you.
He hasn't given up on you...and He never will.
He's not surprised by your failures.
He knows you better than you know yourself, and loves you anyway.
He's not using a check list to evaluate you.
You see, God never wanted you to serve Him religiously. He wants you to serve Him relationally, to give Him your best and trust Him with the rest, not because you are obligated by some rule or precept, but because you love Him and He loves you.
Don't believe for a moment that God is disappointed in you. Resolve as a Christian that you will no longer live defeated. You may lose the occasional battle against sin. When that happens, turn and ask forgiveness from Jesus, Who won the war against sin. Your plans and ideas may not come to fruition, or may fail miserably. When that happens, take them to God. He'll redeem your mess. You may face insurmountable obstacles. When that happens, ask God to bring you through them. He can, and will. He cares for you.
What would happen if the church were to suddenly shrug off discouragement once and for all and fix its focus on the One Who founded it? What if we spoke of God's power rather than our failings? His love more than our bitterness? His grace more than our sins? His peace more than our worries? What if we fixed our eyes on Jesus once and for all and chose to take our strength from Him? What if we refused to let discouragement have one more day of our lives?
Let's say this Light bulb represents a Christian. He has a light to shine. He can impact the room he's in, and can put light where darkness once was, because He's plugged into the ultimate power source.
Now let's take that force and multiply it, using it to represent the church.
No matter how dark the background of this blog is, these lights stand out. They won't be wiped out by the font color either. Nothing the enemy does can stop us unless we let him. Let's not let him anymore. We are made and loved by an all-powerful God who saved us from our sins! Now, let's live like it. No more discouragement allowed. God gave you a dream, a life, and gifts. Give them to Him, and see what He will do!
(NKJV means New King James Version)
(Light bulb animation acquired from http://www.animationlibrary.com/animation_download/24389/, a webpage not owned or operated by I-BulldogStudios)
(NKJV means New King James Version)
(Light bulb animation acquired from http://www.animationlibrary.com/animation_download/24389/, a webpage not owned or operated by I-BulldogStudios)
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