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Dangers of discouragement part III
To Read the previous articles in this series: Click here for part one and here for part two
III. Think the Wrong Thing.
There is a reason that when God gave us armor for our battle (Ephesians 6) he covered our head with the helmet of salvation. Satan loves to get in our head and mess with us. He delights in messing with our brain. I have met many a Christian that is suffering from the unfortunate experience of having his brain scrambled by the devil. They wind up thinking wrong and it affects every area of their life. Notice with me two classic examples of this:
A) John the Baptist - I believe beyond any shadow of a doubt that John the Baptist was a man’s man. He was rough, bold and fearless. One of the reasons for this is that he knew who Jesus was. It was John the Baptist who pointed out Jesus and said “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”(John 1:29). Fast forward from this exciting time to find John the Baptist sitting in jail, getting ready to be beheaded for his rough preaching and bold stand against sin. He sends his disciples to ask a question of Jesus. The question he asks is this according to Matthew 11:2,3 “Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Now what happened to Behold the Lamb of God? John got discouraged, he spent time considering his surroundings and his situation rather that who Jesus was and he allowed the devil to scramble his brain. When you notice Christ’s response to John’s disciples from Matthew 11:4,5, let me just highlight one key word: “Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” John didn’t need some advance revelation or new information about the person of Christ what he needed was to be reminded of what he already knew. He needed to be reminded of what was in his heart and mind when he said “Behold the Lamb of God..” In short, he needed to quit thinking the wrong thing.
B) Mary & Martha - If you take a few minutes and read John 11 you will see that at the death of their brother, Mary & Martha both (to different degrees) allowed their discouragement to cloud their thinking and get in their head. It is clear from the early parts of the chapter that Jesus knew exactly what was going on and had a plan to handle it.
How often to we wind up discouraged and wind up thinking the wrong things? Probably more than we realize. Many folks live their lives in discouragement and think the wrong things constantly.
Due to the fact that it is December and I want to start off 2004 in a different subject let me just post the remainder of this outline with little to no comment on it. If you look up the references and study the passages I am sure it will help you with this matter of discouragement.
IV. Do the Wrong Thing
A) Moses smote the rock-Numbers 20
B) Elijah Ran- I Kings 19
C) How many times have we done the wrong thing due to discouragement?
V. See the Wrong Thing
A) Giants instead of victory-Numbers 13:30-33
1) it was called the promised land for a reason
2) God had given it to them
B) Dead girl instead of God’s Power-Mark 5
C) Peter walking on the water looked away from Christ and saw the waves
VI. Get in the Wrong place
A) Jonah in a fish
B) Elijah under a tree
C) Prodigal son in a hog pen
VII. Get in the Wrong Spirit
A) Spirit of defeatism
B) Spirit of murmuring
C) Spirit of criticism
Conclusion
Things to remember when discouragement sets in:
A) God knows all about it
B) Confess all known sin
C) Do what you know to be right even if you don’t feel like it
D) Trust God to work it out
Remember Galatians 6:7-9 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Discouragement if not dealt with will lead to despondency which will lead to depression
I trust you will have a merry Christmas and look forward to writing next month.
Because of Calvary,
David Iseminger
Romans 10:13-15