God wants to take you further than discouragement allows you to go. After more than two decades and a huge mistake he named Ishmael, Abraham finds himself in a state of discouragement asking God about that promised son they’d discussed long ago. Abraham is just asking for a son when God goes deeper than discouragement allowed him to go. God starts talking about kings that were in the works and nations that were in his heritage!
Spiritual depression results as we slowly grow cynical gradually growing calloused in our faith as frustration and disappointment lessens the fire in our lives. Discouragement had moved Abraham into a place of lower expectation. Understanding that faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11) allows us to see that discouragement trains our faith to shut up and sit down. This leaves us in a conquerable frame of mind. The revelation of just one word from God can move us from a conquerable frame of mind to a conquering frame of mind. We must rise up!
Faith dismantles the suicidal depression that attacks various areas of our lives attempting to cause us to die a slow death of a meaningless existence. This is a form of suicidal drift from the dreams of God.
You were never created to live out a life that you could live without God’s help. A life you can live without him is not the life He’s called you to live. Stop asking God for easy and get in the fighters frame of mind!
Aren’t you glad God doesn’t consult your budget to determine your dream? Don’t be surprised when you are asked to do bigger things than you can do. Stop looking at your checkbook for validation of your dream! Rehearsing your mountain will confine you to a conquerable frame of mind. Stop rehearsing your mountain to your God and start rehearsing your God to your mountain.
When we read Ezekiel 37 and we find God asking Ezekiel if the very dry bones in the valley can live we quickly understand that our opinion about our situation matters to God. God’s not just trying to get us to break through. God is trying to get us to know him more intimately so we become more specifically who He has designed us to be. WE ARE THE GIANT KILLERS OF OUR GENERATION!
Stop letting discouragement talk you out of God’s promises for your life. He’s taking you deeper than discouragement allows you to go. You must defeat discouragement to move from a conquerable frame of mind to a conquering frame of mind. Abraham moved past his discouragement and God did something beyond his wildest imagination. Forty-two generations after Abraham’s discouragement about not being able to have a son, Jesus comes out of Mary’s womb saying, “I am the seed of Abraham!”
God will take you further than discouragement wants to allow you to go. Rise above discouraging perspectives by rehearsing encouraging perspectives today. Here are a few verses that have really helped me along the way:
Ps 118:13-14I was pushed back & about to fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength & my defense; he has become my salvation. NIV
Jer 1:19They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. NIV
Jer 33:6Behold, I will bring you health and cure, and I will cure you, and will reveal unto you the abundance of peace and truth. NAS
Lam 3:28-29When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: wait for hope to appear. MSG
2 Cor 1:4He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. MSG
Isa 43:2“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…NIV Peace comes from the presence of God not the absence of problems.
2 Thess 3:5May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. (NIV)
1 Tim 6:12Fight the good fight of the faith… NIV
We are at war and God is at work! DONT GIVE UP!!!