Discouraged?

Mike Evans

I received this letter today from Mike Evans of the Jerusalem Prayer Team and just felt compelled to share it.  Everyone struggles with discouragement and I felt in these days of wars and rumors of war with earthquakes and tsunami's we all could stand to hear a message that will bring encouragement.  See, we need to get to a place where we, like David (that is King David of the Old Testament) can encourage ourselves in the Lord.  We have to dig deep and begin to make ourselves stronger.  It is work to study the Word but the fruit is SO worth it!  Enjoy!


Here is the letter:
As I prayed for you this morning, the word that kept coming to mind was "encourage." I know what it is to be discouraged. I've been discouraged hundreds of times, but I've also been encouraged just as many times. 

I was discouraged at the age of eleven when my drunken father picked me up above his head by my neck and strangled me. I awoke in my own dried vomit.

I was discouraged at seventeen as I left my house with a brown paper lunch bag. My father cursed me as I made my way down the road toward the Army induction center.

I was discouraged at nineteen when my car was stolen with all my earthly possessions inside, including my wallet. I was forced to sleep in the Salvation Army shelter.

I was discouraged at college when everyone was going home for Christmas, and I didn't have the funds or a loving home where I could go. I didn't really have the money to stay in the dorm over the holidays or money with which to buy food.

I was discouraged when I passed out Gideon Bibles to the Marines in Beirut and shared the Gospel with them. The next morning, their barracks was destroyed by a Hezbollah truck bomb in a terrorist attack. I found myself in the middle of an all-out war.

I was discouraged in Iraq when I went up to the north to take food and blankets to the Kurds who had been gassed by Saddam Hussein when the first Persian Gulf War broke out.


Yes, I've been discouraged.


What I'm about to share with you are the very words I've used to encourage myself. These words have broken the spirit of discouragement. No one is immune to problems. Anyone who attempts anything for God will have problems and will be discouraged. 

Today, I want to encourage you:

God is greater than you think, closer than you think. He is more ambitious than you think, more committed than you think.

Satan will attempt to get you to focus on and to magnify the problem rather than to focus on God and to magnify Him.

The Bible says to let the weak say, "I am strong," let the oppressed say, "I am free," and let the sick say, "I am healed."

The Bible says that no weapon formed against you will prosper and that God will never leave you nor forsake you.

It's time to starve your fears and feed your faith by magnifying the Lord rather than that which is discouraging you.

Proverbs 20:24: "Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to figure out everything that happens along the way?" Psalm 37:23: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."

The Bible declares that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

I encourage you today to count your blessings rather than your problems. Look at what is right with your life rather than what is wrong.

Psalm 118:24: "This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it."

When I've been discouraged, I've chosen to rejoice in the Lord and be glad. It has broken the spirit of discouragement. No matter what you are experiencing today, everything is subject to change—your finances, your dreams, your health, your marriage—because God is on the throne.
David was discouraged when the entire nation of Israel was running in fear because of a strongman, Goliath. He was cursed by that giant who screamed, "Am I a dog that you come with a stick?"

David encouraged himself in the Lord and declared aloud, "You've come with a sword and a shield, but I have come in the name of the Lord. This day I will feed your head to the birds of the air."

Be encouraged today. Stop right now and encourage yourself in the Lord. Pray this prayer with me:

Father, I magnify you because you are my source. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I bless you, Father, because I take the shield of faith, and I quench every fiery dart of the wicked. I overcome evil with good. No weapon formed against me will prosper. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.   End Letter.


Wasn't that good?  WE need to do this.  It's not enough to READ the Word - we need to DO the Word!  Be encouraged my friend!  God is STILL God and He is STILL on His throne and the best part is that HE LOVES YOU VERY MUCH!