The Discouraged Christian

Have you ever felt discouraged church? Where sometimes you try so hard to do what is right, yet you feel like you are failing, that we just can’t do it, or that there is no hope? It can be disheartening. Discouragement is one of those things that effects us emotionally, it can affect us physically, it affects our relationships with other believers, with spouses, children, friends, and can cause us to feel distant from God. Discouragement is a feeling, it is an emotion that can mimic the symptoms of and lead to depression. The Hebrew word for discouraged is chathath that sums it up well.

Chathath - discouraged, shattered, disheartened, terrified, of great sadness.

In the spirit of transparency, I want to share this morning.I have struggled with discouragement, sadness, and depression. I am not sharing this for people to feel bad for me or for any other reason than to let those who are struggling this morning know that you are not alone. There have been many times I have thought that maybe I should step away from my role as a Pastor and as a teacher in the church or even leave the church.

Here is where my brain goes: if I am a believer, especially a Pastor, if I know His Word, if I believe His Word, I should not feel discouraged. How is it that I can stand up here and share the Good News of Jesus Christ when I struggle with these feelings? How can I share Jesus when I am such a mess inside at times? How can I share His love with others when I feel so beaten down and worthless at times? Can anybody in here relate this morning? Has anybody else felt this way or had similar thoughts?

For the believer, there are usually three underlying causes that contribute to discouragement.

Lack of Confidence in ourselves.

Lack of confidence in God.

Lack of hope for the future.

I can hear it now, “But Bob, Christians are not supposed to have confidence in themselves!” Stop it. Yes we are! If what we are doing is in and through Jesus, and truly glorifying God, we should have great confidence! Do you really think that our heavenly Father is going to look at you and say “NO! Do not be confident. I want you discouraged!” Absolutely not! He tells us the opposite! We should be confident in the hope that is Jesus Christ!

That feeling of discouragement, it will play games with our minds. We will think things that are not even real, we will create scenarios that do not exist, and we will start believing the lies that the world tells us or that we create in our minds. What do we do when we become discouraged? It is easy to say “lean on God for strength,” “bring it to the LORD,” or to start quoting scripture. Can I tell you something? That is exactly what we do, we bring it to the LORD and we lean on God for strength and guidance, and we seek counsel from fellow believers.

It can be difficult because when we are discouraged, we will often blame others, blame ourselves or blame God. The enemy knows that, and he will focus in on it, twist it up, rub salt in that wound, and laugh the whole time. It a trap. We will start thinking “I blew it,” “God’s not capable,” “I am a failure,” “I am worthless,” “there is no hope.” These are lies we tell ourselves, lies the world has told us, and lies the enemy wants you to believe!

There is another who knows when you are discouraged. Your heavenly Father. Jesus Christ knows your hurts and your failings. He will not leave you nor forsake you. He is the one our comfort comes from, the one our peace comes from, the one our strength comes from.

We have been given many examples in scripture of people who were discouraged. Let’s look at one in particular this morning. One of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Joshua 1:9 NLT

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Here is a little of the backstory. Joshua walked with Moses and the other Israelites since he was a kid. Joshua went on to become Moses General over the Israelites. When Moses died, God chose Joshua to complete the mission.

All of Israel was in mourning over the death of Moses. They mourned for thirty days. What a loving and Grace filled God! God knows His peoples hearts. He knew that the people needed time to mourn and to grieve. Everything in their lives had changed. As God does with us, he allows for that time. When God knew that Joshua was ready, he encouraged Joshua just like he does with each of us this morning. I want to show you something.

Joshua 1:5 (NLT)

5 ...I will not fail you or abandon you.

Joshua 1:6 NLT

6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.

Joshua 1:7 (NLT)

7 Be strong and very courageous...

Joshua 1:9 NLT

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Four times within the first nine verses of Joshua, God had to encourage Joshua. God promised Joshua that God was not going anywhere. God makes that same promise to each and every one of His children this morning. He makes the same promises to you and to me. The question is “are we obedient even in the pain and discouragement?” Do we listen for His voice and follow His command?

God reminded Joshua as He reminds us “how” to overcome fear and discouragement. God always gives us the “how to do it.” Through a personal relationship with Him. Look at what he tells Joshua in 1:8.

Joshua 1:8 NLT

8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

The book of instruction is of course the Bible. In this verse, God is pointing Joshua to Deuteronomy. What is absolutely amazing about this is that 1400 years later, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy. Through Christ, you tell the devil to flee, and by the very Word of God, he must go! That kind of personal relationship requires that we have an active role in the relationship.

The Word of God can not be written on our hearts if we are not in the Word. Hearing it, reading it, studying it. God is not going to commune with us in prayer if we do not commune with Him in prayer. We certainly can not fellowship with each other if we do not show up to fellowship. If we are not obedient to even the most basic commands of God, how can we expect prosperity and success?

See, those 613 laws of Moses were reduced to ten at Mt. Sinai. Micah reduced them to three. Jesus Christ reduced them further to two. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If all believers truly put these two commandments into practice, how much fighting, how much heartache, how much discouragement would we have? My guess is that we would not experience very much. God promises that if we remain obedient to Him, that we will succeed in those things we do that glorify Him. Let’s turn back to Joshua 1:9.

Joshua 1:9 NLT

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The enemy is going to try and steal what rightfully belongs to God. Our courage, our peace, our strength, all come from the LORD. The enemy will do everything he can to rob us of those things. The crazy thing is that sometimes the enemy does not even need to do anything, he just sits back and watches us do it to ourselves and each-other!

There is another side to this. It takes courage to admit our faults, to admit when we are wrong, and strength to make it right. When we fall outside of the will of God, outside of the character of Christ, we can not expect God to lead us when we have left the path and we are not allowing Him to lead us.

When we have done all that we can, not half-hearted, but have truly done what we can, God tells us RIGHT HERE that He will be with us wherever we go. As a matter of fact, there is an ancient Hebrew war cry. See that word “strong?” In the Hebrew, the word is Chazaq. Now, see the word “courageous?” In the Hebrew that word is Amets.

Rak Chazaq Amets

That Ancient war cry was “Rak Chazaq Amets!” A war cry that was shouted knowing that God would prevail. Through the blood of the Lamb, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ has given us the strength and the courage to conquer what seems unconquerable. He has given us the heavenly audacity, with His blessing, to face whatever comes our way! Victors in His name!

Brothers and sisters, we are in the midst of serious spiritual battle in this world and sadly within the church of Jesus Christ. It is going on all around us. Evil is on display and it is being honored. Evil is being glorified. It is a daily battle. It is difficult to not become discouraged, but God commands us to stand and battle the tempter and the thief who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy!

Jesus Christ reminds us:

John 16:33 NLT

33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

You do not have to overcome the world, Jesus has already done that! Guess what church? You will get angry, you will get discouraged, you are going to hurt, your faith will be shaken at times, you will want to quit. Our LORD and Savior knows that, he knows you, he knows me.

Know this! in every fiber of your being, that HE IS GOD! Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. God can not be tripped up and God does not make promises that he does not keep. That is where we find true hope this morning, true peace. In Him.

You may not be a Joshua leading an entire nation today, let me tell you this; You are so important to Jesus that He was born in humility, suffered for you, died for you, and overcame the world for you! He has bigger plans for you than you can even imagine.

Alter Call

Be encouraged this morning. You are loved! Bring Jesus your hurts this morning. Bring Him your discouragement. If you have something you need to make right with another person, today is the day. We can not allow our frail human emotions to block the blessing that God intends us and commands us to be. Do not give the evil one more power than he already has. Go to Abba Daddy ask Him to direct your steps, your heart, and your mind. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Do not be afraid or discouraged, your Father in Heaven is with you. God Bless you.