Dealing With Discouragement
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Dealing With Discouragement
Trash-talk is a form of insult usually found in sports events, although it is not exclusive to sports or similarly characterized events.[1][2] It is often used to intimidate the opposition and/or make them less confident in their abilities as to win easier, but it can also be used in a humorous spirit. Trash-talk is often characterized by use of hyperbole or figurative language, such as "Your team can't run! You run like honey on ice!" Puns and other wordplay are commonly used.
"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee...his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see."
The man once known as Cassius Clay, before he won by technical knockout before the seventh round. Lyrical genius.
I'll call the President. President, we need the National Guard! We need as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! So call the dogs off! Send the National Guard, please!"
Recorded during a 34-8 romping of the Patriots on November 17, 1996. Epic. Shannon sharpe
"After the fight I'm gonna build myself a pretty home and use him as a bearskin rug. Liston even smells like a bear. I'm gonna give him to the local zoo after I whup him."
And then he destroyed Sonny "The Big Bear" Liston to become the youngest boxer (22) ever to take the title from a reigning heavyweight champion. cassius clay.
Be Determined Chapter Four: Workers and Warriors (Nehemiah 4)
British critic and author Thomas Carlyle called ridicule “the language of the devil.” Some people who can stand bravely when they are shot at will collapse when they are laughed at. Shakespeare called ridicule “paper bullets of the brain,” but those bullets have slain many a warrior.
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.
Sanballat was the Horonite governor of Samaria. In the book of Nehemiah, he is an outspoken critic adn detractor of the building of the walls of Jerusalem. His actions reveal his intentions.
He attempts to prevent the rebuilding of the wall.
He gathered enemies to fight against Nehemiah’s work.
He attempts to ambush Nehemiah by luring him off.
He hires Shemaiah to lure Nehemiah into the temple to have God kill him for entering.
And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?”
Note the questions: It is mocking What are they doing??? Will they restore it for themselves (quesions not only their abilities but their intentions.)
Will they sacrifice? Means this is an incredible task, and no one will give in that way.
Will the finish in a day means will they just give up?
Will they actually rebuild with all the junk that’s been lying around?
Burned sandstone will soften and be useless.
Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”
Tobiah. Governor of Ammon. Wealthy with strong connections in Judea. He was likely a Jew himself under appointment by a persian king.
He points out the sandstone is soft and the building of the wall will collapse.
Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.
prayer
Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
Prayer
So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
Important to note: They worked as they prayed.... Prayer is no substitute for work.
Satan would have loved nothing more than for Nehemiah to get into an argument with them, for that would have stopped the work. But Nehemiah prayed and kept on working.
But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.
There may be “Help Wanted” signs hanging all over the place, but Satan has no human resource problem.
Look at how the detractors have grown.
And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.
confusion- confusion- confusion. What is confusion? A double-minded person. is unstable in all their ways.
Detractors love nothing more than to hide behind a curtain of anonymity and create chaos. That is why gossip does so much damage in a church.
Confusion is avoided by having a single-minded devotion to the mission and vision.
Some of you have heard me repeatedly state that our mission is and our vision is..... and there’s a reason for that. If we don’t remember that and stick to it, then we play by anyone and everyone within and without’s ability to become the rudder of the ship and steer the direction. WE plainly place that mission and vision out in the open and have for a long time. Learn it.
No rudder that we cannot see should be able to direct our path. By placing the vision and mission at the forefront of our understanding of where we are headed, we not only indicate our map but we also offer detractors the opportunity to walk away. Yes, I just said let some walk away… God has plenty.
No rudder that we cannot see should be able to direct our path. Cut that rudder off… allow it to walk away in peace. But do not let that rudder undermine and injure the vision and purpose that God has for His church.
And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
Nehemiah not only prayed. He set a watch.
He did something.
In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”
Discouragement s ets in when the battle moves from outside the city to the inside of the city. There were no soldiers of the enemy in Jerusalem. There were no raids that had plundered them. There was one issue- discouragement.
When discouragement set in , the battle had moved from outside the camp to inside the camp.
Jesus had Judas… inside the camp.
Discouragement and complaining spread rapidly and hinder God’s work. When they said, “We are not able” they were agreeing with the enemy.
But note Nehemiah… he kept building, praying, watching and working.
And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”
This rumor began outside of Jerusalem, it was started by the enemies.
At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.”
The jews living just outside the city wall heard it, and went to Nehemiah 10 times...
Rumors and gossip are persistent.
So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.
And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
Faith and fear cannot reside in the same heart.
It is important to note that the work resumed in verse 15… but it is more important to note that the work STOPPED in verses 13-14. And that is exactly what the gossips, the liars, the detractors, the fearful, the naysayers and the lazy wanted.
At the end of the day, it is what the enemies wanted. Those without the camp. And those within the camp.
The things people say may hurt us, but they can never harm us, unless we let them get into our system and poison us.
If we spend time pondering the enemy’s words, we will give Satan a foothold from which he can launch another attack closer to home.
The best thing to do is to pray and commit the whole thing to the Lord; and then get back to your work!
Anything that keeps you from doing what God has called you to do will only help the enemy.
Friends, look closely at this verse on the screen. The 14th verse says this; I will cut out what we need to see the most.
Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord,
Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord,
When we face a situation that creates fear in our hearts, we must remind ourselves of the greatness of God. If we walk by sight and view God through the problems, we will fail,
Remember the 10 spies who were sent into the canaan land.... we can’t. Remember Joshua and Caleb… God can.
Remember David facing Goliath.
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
The late Dr. Alan Redpath explained why the Jews succeeded in getting their work done and keeping the enemy at bay: The people had a mind to work (v. 6), a heart to pray (v. 9), an eye to watch (v. 9), and an ear to hear (v. 20); and this gave them the victory (Victorious Christian Service, Revell, 1958; pp. 76–79).
Bottom Line:
Devotion Defeats Discouragement
Devotion Defeats Discouragement
English Standard Version Psalm 2
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Goliath ridiculed David and his sling.
Jesus was mocked by soldiers.
The crowd mocked Jesus on the cross.
Heroes of the faith endured mocking.
Why did this discouragement arise from the royal tribe of Judah?
They had David’s blood in their veins, and you would think they would be men and women of great faith and courage. The answer is found in Nehemiah 6:17–19: Some people in the tribe of Judah were secretly cooperating with the enemy. The ties of marriage were stronger than the bonds of commitment to the Lord. According to 13:15–22, some of the leaders of Judah were not wholly devoted to the Lord, but were more interested in making money. The combination of marriage and money divided their loyalties, and they became the cause of discouragement.
I have learned that, in the Lord’s work, discouragers are often doubters and compromisers. There is usually something wrong in their spiritual walk. They frequently lack faith in God’s Word, for one thing; and they are primarily interested in their own plans and pursuits. A double-minded person is unbelieving and unstable (James 1:5–8) and hinders the work of the Lord.
Remember Jesus statement to Peter… Get thee behind me , Satan....
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.