Battling Discouragement

Yesterday I was reminded of how many of us who have sexual brokenness must continue to battle discouragement. Discouragement is the opposite of what we all need. And what we all need is encouragement. In December of 2012 I was meditating on this passage in Hebrews 3:12-13;

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” 

Sin is deceitful. Sin lies to us, and our enemy drives those lies into our mind and heart. This is especially true if you have been at this for some time and keep seeing repeated failures. We begin to think;

• I am never going to get better.
• This just isn’t going to work for me.
• Surely, God has abandoned me, and I am so tired of trying.
• I am a lost cause and should just give up and try to minimize my efforts to stop.

Paul reaches the same conclusion in Romans 7 when he writes;

“So, I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 

What a wretched man I am!
Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

One thing I know about discouragement is that when it senses a chink in your armor or sees that you are weakening in your resolve, it pounces like a hungry lion on a wounded prey. It is ready to take you down and to keep you down.

Paul answers his own question in the very next verse …

“Thanks, be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

I am going to spend some time over the next few days talking about how we can defeat discouragement, and some of these answers will surprise you. However, for today I encourage you to remember this verse and realize that God will NEVER give up on you.

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

God started it and God will finish it. He will never give up on you. He is all in for you and is ready whenever you are.