Redirect

Psalm 42:⁵ “Why are you discouraged, my soul? Why are you so restless? Put your hope in God, because I will still praise him. He is my saviour and my God.” (GW)

I get asked quite often, ‘Pastor, how do I defeat discouragement?’ Discouragement can be a very tricky thing. If we do not tackle and overcome discouragement, it can actually be a huge setback. Ex.6:⁹ “So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.“ (emphasis added). Discouragement actually stops people from receiving the Word of God. I mean this was Moses, he was legit, delivering God’s Word to the people straight from the throne of grace. But the people were not able to receive it because they were discouraged.

Are you discouraged by the brutality of what is going on in the world? Are you discouraged by health challenges, financial challenges, or relationship pressures? Are you discouraged by life generally? If you do not tackle discouragement, it can lead down the drain. Beginning today, we will be empowered to defeat discouragement in our lives in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Like in every other area of life, to overcome you have to rethink that area of life. Even with salvation, for us to overcome sin and be saved through the finished work of Jesus, we needed to rethink. In fact, the word repent is the word Metanoia which means to rethink and redirect. So, it always starts with rethinking.

So, how do I defeat discouragement? You defeat discouragement by rethinking how you feel about the things that discourage you. Everyone that was great and has been great has had to deal with being discouraged. Jesus was discouraged at some point. Paul was also discouraged. David was discouraged at some point too. If you find that you have to deal with discouragement time and again, you are in good company. However, the key thing is that you need to be empowered to defeat discouragement. Jesus, Paul, and David all defeated discouragement. All the great men, even those still on the earth today have learnt how to defeat discouragement. You too will defeat discouragement.

David said in Psalm 42:⁵ “Why am I so discouraged? Why am I sad? I will put my hope in God…” (emphasis added). In other words, David was saying, I will take charge of my thoughts and redirect it toward God.  Take charge of your thoughts and redirect them toward God.

Prayer (hymn): Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come? Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home? When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He. His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me… Amen!