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Tag Archives: Discouragement


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Love for The Truth

Love for the Truth

 

Awhile ago during my quiet time, I felt the Spirit give me a new exciting direction in my calling.  With my passion ignited, I went off to enjoy the day, but soon the dampening cloud of discouragement moved in. I started to think; What’s the point? Would anyone really care? Who am I to do this? Perhaps I’m wasting my time. Is it really God’s will? As those thoughts started to invade my mind, discouragement and frustration started to set in. Immediately, I recognized that “discouragement” as the enemy’s attack. I began to pray.  After you’ve been hit enough with it, you start to recognize it – usually. I prayed and it wasn’t too long before those thoughts were fleeting. Though I was still seeking clarity and confirmation regarding God’s will – there was no more discouragement.

One of the enemy’s biggest suppressors to us moving forward in God’s will is discouragement. It is a very effective strategy because many of us have a layer of self-doubt, and often what God calls us to do is beyond ourselves so it’s easy for that self-doubt to set in.

Believing lies are the death of us in many ways. Today I read in Jeremiah 28-29. Several times it said believing lies is rebellion against God. Jeremiah 28:16, 29:32. Never really thought about it like that before, but it reinforced how diligent we need to be in purging the lies in our lives by having a LOVE for the TRUTH.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

God’s love for us is tremendous. In His perfect love, He has given us all we need to dispel all unrighteous deception – His Word. The Truth is extremely powerful and when it abides in us, because we abide in it, then we can overcome all. But it’s up to us to abide in that pure Word in faith letting it penetrate and become active in our daily lives.

Do you read and meditate on the ENTIRE Word of God? (All of it’s applicable to us today.)
Do you read God’s pure Word with a passion for truth or some other reason?
Are you reliant on others’ writings?

When you have a love for the truth you question your beliefs. You ask why you do what you do because you desire to be living in the Truth. And it isn’t questioning necessarily what you say you believe, but what your life SHOWS you believe.

For a lack of LOVE for the TRUTH, many are in bondage, afflicted, and troubled. John 8:32 Lies are at the root of most bondage. There are many types of bondage and only by dwelling in the Truth will the lies be exposed for what they are.  Otherwise we will continue to believe them to be accurate. The only way out of deception is for us to come face to face what is real; Truth that comes from God’s Word – not man’s interpretation of it. THE Truth is to be the foundation of our beliefs, because it affects everything else.

Often we do what we do without deeply considering why or where we learned those thoughts and behaviors. Not questioning allows the lies to remain, thus the bondage.  Further, we are often blinded to what is happening in our own lives, because we’ve lived with our way of thinking, be it right or wrong, for so long. We don’t question it or stop questioning it.  We let unexamined thoughts and beliefs drive our decisions and behaviors.

As 2 Thessalonians 2:10 states, in theses days, the most important thing we can do is have a LOVE for the TRUTH – otherwise we will fall prey to the unrighteous deception that will be posing as the truth of God.  Because of the times we are in, I strongly feel we must fully know that we are listening to God’s voice and not someone else’s.   Therefore, we need to seriously start questioning what we are thinking and why we do what we do in light of God’s truth and let God guide us to the paths of righteousness.


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Defeating Discouragement

Blog Talk Radio: Defeating Discouragement: Part I

A new PODCAST (click here to listen) is available on overcoming discouragement in our lives. You can also get it at itunes. Search for Stirring the Deep under podcasts.

Overview: Discouragement is something we all face. In this show, I talk about how to defeat the discouragement in your life by embracing the truth. It isn’t an “ignorance is bliss” ideal that often comes with the “positive” thinking philiosophy, but it’s looking head on at the truth of our situations and battling them with the truth. God has given us much in Christ. We need to learn and embrace what we have in Him.

Ephesians 1:18-19 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

Blog Talk Radio: Defeating Discouragement: Part II

A new PODCAST (click here to listen) is available on overcoming discouragement in our lives. You can also get it at itunes. Search for Stirring the Deep under podcasts.

Overview: In the previous show, I talked about the source of discouragement and how when we get to the source we are enabled to battle this debilitating emotion.

Here I talk about three consequences of falling into discouragement and the steps to come out of it. This is an emotion that steals many precious moments of our lives that could be filled with growth and peace. It’s an emotion we all experience, yes, but we don’t have to dwell and live in it.


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Discouragement Reframed

Discouragement Reframed

Mad

Mad

Sad

Sad

Scared

Scared

There is a psychological paradigm that classifies our emotions into four main categories: sad, mad, glad, and scared.

Discouragement falls somewhere among mad, sad and scared.

Mad because life isn’t going as we want, sad because life is failing us, and scared because we feel out of control.

Discouragement seems less like a carnal reaction than say envy, but giving into bouts of frustration puts a wall in the midst of our oneness with God.

Discouragement is unmet expectations. In the mindset of the flesh, we are in control and when things don’t go our way we get frustrated. We expected to be a better person or to act a different way. We expected someone else to respond differently. We expected a situation to turn out one way and it did another. As a result, out of our mouth spew complaints, the fruit of discouragement. Complaining results from our decision that the person, situation, or ourselves should be different at this moment in time. Says who? Us? Are we in charge or God?

This emotion is a hard one to face. We don’t like it when someone tells us we shouldn’t be discouraged. We feel it is justified and unavoidable because of our situations. That life has treated us unfairly so we deserve to be at least a little discouraged. We all go through trying situations, but it is how we respond to those situations that makes the difference between living a life unto God and unto ourselves.

It’s about perspective. A bout of discouragement is the response of our flesh (our carnal self) to a situation that throws us for a loop. Conversely, our spirits (new life born of God) see the same situation as an opportunity to depend upon God, to witness His power, and to learn to live in His strength not ours. The latter perspective infuses truth, power, and hope into what is happening.

The ability to approach a situation with a spirit mindset is based on a deep understanding of who God is and who we are in Him. So, the purpose of tough situations is to deepen our understanding and trust in God. If we respond in faith, He uses them for good to create intimacy and oneness because they increase our trust in Him. When we feel the onset of discouragement, we need to dig deep into God’s truth, our faith, because we are presented with an opportunity to enter into a deeper level of spiritual maturity.

These situations are not only to enhance our faith in Him but our faith is the way out of discouragement. By believing and clinging to our new life, we abandon the flesh mindset leaving it powerless.

Ephesians 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

Ephesians 4:24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Paul’s phrasing of putting on is an action we do. It suggests we have a choice to make. It is a decision we make at a given moment. But what gives us the ability to make that decision is a lifestyle of being in the Word that increases our knowledge that increases our trust, and creates expereineces to solidify that trust. Then when the moment arises we’ll be able to respond as spirit beings lacking nothing and not mere men.

We will get discouraged. We are growing in the spirit and we aren’t perfect yet, but we are to push forward, renew our minds, and implement the little faith we have to grab a hold of the truth of who He is and who we are in Him. As we do those situations that once caused discouragement will start to manifest praise.