Overcome Discouragement

Jesus has no enemies that can defeat him. They are all conquered. Every aspect of our redemption is fulfilled. Our great high priest, our great mediator, the lamb of God, he did it all for us. Now he sits at the right hand of God. He’s our example of how to finish strong. He’s our example for going on. In life, one of the greatest enemy you will face is discouragement. No matter how it comes against you—it will come as family troubles, financial troubles, health troubles, criticism, something broken, something lost, something wounded—so when discouragement comes, it seems the natural reaction to a negative situation. But when it comes, it’s the enemies attempt to assassinate your destiny. Discouragement is your enemy. 

When Christ stepped into history, here came a sinless man. He never fell away from God. He was “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:19) Christ endured the contradiction that he was born sinless and lived sinless yet had to die for sin. He bore that reality on his back. He was perfect. Jesus loved the people that killed him. They misunderstood him. He never raised his hand against the government. He never raised a sword. He never raised an army. He didn’t cause any trouble that way. All he did was love, save, redeem and rescue. He was murdered for that. That was part of God’s plan. That’s what God wanted. He wanted this to happen for us. Jesus needed to endure the contradiction. He was always being misunderstood. He was always attacked. Always ridiculed. Always criticized. If the perfect guy endured contradictions, how much more will we, the imperfect, endured contradictions. The way we handle contradictions determines if we finish our race. 

When we do everything the Lord says to do, many times, all hell will break lose. The devil will get upset. We are heading upstream. We are renewing our mind. We are thinking and acting differently. We are thinking like a kingdom citizen and no longer a slave. We are to be sons and daughters of God and not slaves. A contradiction plants the seeds of discouragement. 

Years ago, my wife and I went through a hostile thing. I kept thinking that I had not lived a life that deserved to be treated that bad. I have never smoked or drank. I’ve been married to the same woman. I felt it wasn’t fair. When bad things happen to good people, it creates a contradiction. How we process the contradiction determines whether we get out of the prison of discouragement to finish the destiny or race we are called to. 

I figured out God is good even when people aren’t. I figured out God is good when life is bad. I figured out God is for me even when people or life are against me. I can’t interpret who God is by what I am going through. If I’m going through bad things, that doesn’t make God bad. God’s constant. He’s the same. He’s unchanging. 

We have to conquer contradictions by knowing God so well, that contradictions fade away. They can not stand up under the reality of your knowledge of God. It’s amazing that we call things like earthquakes and other bad things “acts of God”. They are not acts of God. The fingerprints of God are never on the bad things. 

“Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 

Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. 

“Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” 

“And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (1 Samuel 30:1-8) 

When the devil really wants to discourage you he will attack your finance or your family. David’s men all wept. He was the recipient of their anger. David responded oppositely to his men. He had the same weight and burden due to the contradiction. He was doing good for God. He was walking into his destiny. His story shows us that the greater the destiny we have the greater the assault from the enemy will be. The enemy will try to talk us out of our destiny through discouragement. He will try to get you to believe his lie and turn you from God’s plan for you. He wants us to turn from God.