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We live in a fallen world and it would be very, very easy at any given point to become

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incredibly discouraged, but I've got a good word for you today.

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Encourage yourself in God's word and He will give you the strength and the wisdom to walk

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through wherever He is leading you.

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My name is Leanne Friesman and today's broadcast is about discouragement.

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I wanted to talk about addiction, I wanted to talk about faithfulness, but when I started

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looking at some scriptures, just some certain things began to kind of jump out at me.

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Right now we're living in a really tough time.

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I mean economically it's tough, there's persecution, there's misunderstandings, there's a lot of

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false information swirling around, and we're living in a time and an era where we really

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need God's wisdom and He wants to give it to you.

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God is a good God and He will lead you, He will guide you, and He will show you where

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to go and what to do next.

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There are a couple things you're going to have to do.

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You're going to have to shut down all the distractions that are around about you.

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I mean it can be the media, it can be the phone, it can be family, it might have to

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get really quiet before Him in order to hear.

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You're going to have to spend some time in prayer and you're going to probably have to

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spend a little bit of time in the Word of God because for me, I find out that the majority

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of the time when I hear from Him, it's when I'm spending time in the Word of God and something

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inside the Bible just jumps out at me and I know it's confirmation for where I'm going

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and what I'm doing.

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I want to read out of Psalms 138 7, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will

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revive me, thou will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and with

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your right hand you will save me.

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God is faithful and He is your protection, but in order to walk in that protection, you're

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going to have to go where He leads you and you're going to have to be led by the Holy

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Spirit.

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John 14 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, I

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give it unto you.

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Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

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It's very easy at this season to let the troubling thoughts permeate your mind.

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I would say this is really one of those times where you're going to have to guard your thought

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life.

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You're going to have to think about what am I thinking about right now?

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Why am I spending time focusing on this when I could be focusing on the answer?

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Learning to take thoughts captive and not meditate on or spend a lot of time thinking

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about negativity, it's necessary.

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I have to do it all the time.

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And you know what?

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It doesn't matter how long you've walked with God.

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You're still going to have to exercise discipline in the area of your thought life.

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We all have to.

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You can make decisions about what you want to think about.

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Do you want to think about fear and anxiety and discouragement?

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Do you want to make a mental list of everything that could go wrong?

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Or do you want to focus on everything that could go right?

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It's just a matter of what are you going to focus on.

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This is a beautiful promise out of 2 Corinthians.

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We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

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We are perplexed, but not in despair.

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Persecuted, but not forsaken.

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Cast down, but not destroyed.

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2 Corinthians 4, 8, and 9.

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There's going to be adversity.

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To say that you're going to become a Christian and that all of a sudden everything's going

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to be easy is not realistic.

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We've been studying the book of Acts lately and watching Paul go out on these missionary

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journeys.

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Do you know that a lot of places he went, he was stoned, he was attacked, he was beaten.

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Was it God's will that he go there?

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Yeah.

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I mean, this might not be the big, you know, big word of faith message that everybody wants

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to hear right now, but it's Bible.

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Sometimes God asks you to be a Christian.

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Sometimes God asks you to be a Christian.

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you to do very difficult things for him, for the kingdom.

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He didn't say it was going to be easy, but he's got a plan.

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And it's bigger than what you could know.

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It's bigger than what you can understand.

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He's going to walk you through it.

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He's going to pull you out of it.

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You know, in the Bible study, one

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of the people that attend, a precious woman

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that I love dearly, said, do you know that Paul's feet were

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broken three times?

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And yet, when you look at all of the places where he traveled,

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he managed to overcome his pain and keep going.

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I think he supernaturally had to be healed in order

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to keep going.

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He probably was.

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God's grace is sufficient.

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He is good.

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He might tell you to do something

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that you know is going to be very difficult,

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but he's with you in the middle of it.

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He will strengthen you as you walk through it.

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He is good.

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Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing

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that he which began a good work in you

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will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

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If he is performing a good work in your life,

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you could be very discouraged right now.

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You could be very concerned about how

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things look round about you.

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But I am telling you, it is not over until it's over.

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Do not give up now.

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He has got you on a path.

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He is teaching you some things by the spirit of God.

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He's going to be glorified in all of it.

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Trust him.

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He will walk it out with you.

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Psalms 31.24, be of good courage.

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And you and he, God, will strengthen your heart.

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All of you that hope in the Lord,

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when you put your hope in him,

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he is going to supernaturally give you the grace

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and the strength and the wisdom

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and the endurance to keep going.

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You know, the only way you can be defeated

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is if you just give up and quit,

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if you just stop where you're at,

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if you just say, well, I'm done.

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I'm not going to do this anymore.

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That's not the will of God.

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He's not going to be glorified in you just,

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you know, giving up and quitting.

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He is going to be glorified in watching you

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walk and walking really with you through the difficulty.

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He's faithful.

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Everyone gets discouraged.

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We live in a fallen world.

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We are surrounded by people that are filled with evil

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and selfishness and flesh,

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but you can walk victoriously with him through it all.

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He is the author and the finisher of your faith.

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You know, you can be confident knowing that he will finish

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what he started in you.

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He started a good work in you.

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He started you on this journey.

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He led you in this season.

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He will be faithful to walk it out with you.

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Don't be discouraged.

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He is a good God,

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and he is going to give you the victory.

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Just hang on.