We live in a fallen world and it would be very, very easy at any given point to become
incredibly discouraged, but I've got a good word for you today.
Encourage yourself in God's word and He will give you the strength and the wisdom to walk
through wherever He is leading you.
My name is Leanne Friesman and today's broadcast is about discouragement.
I wanted to talk about addiction, I wanted to talk about faithfulness, but when I started
looking at some scriptures, just some certain things began to kind of jump out at me.
Right now we're living in a really tough time.
I mean economically it's tough, there's persecution, there's misunderstandings, there's a lot of
false information swirling around, and we're living in a time and an era where we really
need God's wisdom and He wants to give it to you.
God is a good God and He will lead you, He will guide you, and He will show you where
to go and what to do next.
There are a couple things you're going to have to do.
You're going to have to shut down all the distractions that are around about you.
I mean it can be the media, it can be the phone, it can be family, it might have to
get really quiet before Him in order to hear.
You're going to have to spend some time in prayer and you're going to probably have to
spend a little bit of time in the Word of God because for me, I find out that the majority
of the time when I hear from Him, it's when I'm spending time in the Word of God and something
inside the Bible just jumps out at me and I know it's confirmation for where I'm going
and what I'm doing.
I want to read out of Psalms 138 7, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will
revive me, thou will stretch forth your hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and with
your right hand you will save me.
God is faithful and He is your protection, but in order to walk in that protection, you're
going to have to go where He leads you and you're going to have to be led by the Holy
Spirit.
John 14 27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, I
give it unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
It's very easy at this season to let the troubling thoughts permeate your mind.
I would say this is really one of those times where you're going to have to guard your thought
life.
You're going to have to think about what am I thinking about right now?
Why am I spending time focusing on this when I could be focusing on the answer?
Learning to take thoughts captive and not meditate on or spend a lot of time thinking
about negativity, it's necessary.
I have to do it all the time.
And you know what?
It doesn't matter how long you've walked with God.
You're still going to have to exercise discipline in the area of your thought life.
We all have to.
You can make decisions about what you want to think about.
Do you want to think about fear and anxiety and discouragement?
Do you want to make a mental list of everything that could go wrong?
Or do you want to focus on everything that could go right?
It's just a matter of what are you going to focus on.
This is a beautiful promise out of 2 Corinthians.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.
We are perplexed, but not in despair.
Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4, 8, and 9.
There's going to be adversity.
To say that you're going to become a Christian and that all of a sudden everything's going
to be easy is not realistic.
We've been studying the book of Acts lately and watching Paul go out on these missionary
journeys.
Do you know that a lot of places he went, he was stoned, he was attacked, he was beaten.
Was it God's will that he go there?
Yeah.
I mean, this might not be the big, you know, big word of faith message that everybody wants
to hear right now, but it's Bible.
Sometimes God asks you to be a Christian.
you to do very difficult things for him, for the kingdom.
He didn't say it was going to be easy, but he's got a plan.
And it's bigger than what you could know.
It's bigger than what you can understand.
He's going to walk you through it.
He's going to pull you out of it.
You know, in the Bible study, one
of the people that attend, a precious woman
that I love dearly, said, do you know that Paul's feet were
broken three times?
And yet, when you look at all of the places where he traveled,
he managed to overcome his pain and keep going.
I think he supernaturally had to be healed in order
to keep going.
He probably was.
God's grace is sufficient.
He is good.
He might tell you to do something
that you know is going to be very difficult,
but he's with you in the middle of it.
He will strengthen you as you walk through it.
He is good.
Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing
that he which began a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
If he is performing a good work in your life,
you could be very discouraged right now.
You could be very concerned about how
things look round about you.
But I am telling you, it is not over until it's over.
Do not give up now.
He has got you on a path.
He is teaching you some things by the spirit of God.
He's going to be glorified in all of it.
Trust him.
He will walk it out with you.
Psalms 31.24, be of good courage.
And you and he, God, will strengthen your heart.
All of you that hope in the Lord,
when you put your hope in him,
he is going to supernaturally give you the grace
and the strength and the wisdom
and the endurance to keep going.
You know, the only way you can be defeated
is if you just give up and quit,
if you just stop where you're at,
if you just say, well, I'm done.
I'm not going to do this anymore.
That's not the will of God.
He's not going to be glorified in you just,
you know, giving up and quitting.
He is going to be glorified in watching you
walk and walking really with you through the difficulty.
He's faithful.
Everyone gets discouraged.
We live in a fallen world.
We are surrounded by people that are filled with evil
and selfishness and flesh,
but you can walk victoriously with him through it all.
He is the author and the finisher of your faith.
You know, you can be confident knowing that he will finish
what he started in you.
He started a good work in you.
He started you on this journey.
He led you in this season.
He will be faithful to walk it out with you.
Don't be discouraged.
He is a good God,
and he is going to give you the victory.
Just hang on.