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 THE WORD IS YOUR SOURCE OF POWER      
                         Facing the Hindrance of Discouragement                             
     
Thanks be to God who gives us the VICTORY through Christ - 1 Corinthians 15:57 

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 By: Dr. Bill Miller                             Volume XVIII Number 21                                    May 24, 2015
  

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

It's hard to get our thinking wrapped around the idea that WORDS have POWER; but they do, even life and death POWER and some have more than others. Both spoken words and written words can have POWER and the Words of God have the most POWER. In fact, they have more than any other POWER source in the universe. Whenever God speaks, life is created or something is produced. Whenever somebody else repeats those same words, life is created or something is produced because the POWER is in the words. And even when those words are written down, they continue to create life and produce things.

 

That's why your Bible is so POWERFUL: it contains many words originally spoken by God and the rest were inspired by God. Since the foundation of the world, God has spoken many, many words, and did you realize that they're ALL eternal words? Indeed, every word has an eternal purpose and every word contains within it the empowerment to accomplish the assigned purpose. In all of eternity God has never spoken an idle word because every one of them pursues a divine purpose. A relatively few of His words have been recorded in writing, set down on paper by inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that others are able to access the POWER to fulfill those assigned purposes in our lives. All we have to do is AGREE with the words and then apply our FAITH as we use them so that their intended purposes can be manifested.

 

In order to connect to the POWER source, all we have to do is read our Bibles. In fact, it's so powerful that results can be produced, changes can be made and victories won just by the reading of it. But when we start to UNDERSTAND what we're reading, when we achieve a personal REVELATION of what God is saying to us through His WORD, that's when really big things start to happen. The POWER magnifies, and that's why it's important to be on the lookout for negative influences and forces that come into our lives trying to diminish what the WORD has been sent to accomplish. In sum, it has been the purpose of this entire series of newsletters to point out potential hindrances that we should be guarding against because they separate Believers from the POWER of the WORD to produce spiritual victory in every area of life: spirit, soul and body.

 

This week the spotlight is on yet another hindrance called DISCOURAGEMENT. In the last few years a lot of people have had to deal with it all over the planet because of various deteriorating issues that go on in the world systems. Many of those issues are difficult to deal with and it seems fairly evident that mankind is incapable of coming up with meaningful solutions. Well-read Christians know that in the WORD there's a solution for every single one of those issues, but people controlling the U.S. version of the world's systems are rejecting Christianity and Christian solutions in unprecedented fervor. So conditions continue to grow worse. And, as all of these factors come together, HOPELESSNESS sets in and DISCOURAGEMENT soon follows.

 

Some Basic Thoughts about Discouragement

 

Most of us need to learn a few basic things about this particular hindrance to be able to deal with it effectively. To start with the word DISCOURAGEMENT actually means the LOSS OF ONE'S COURAGE. So, when folks get DISCOURAGED they've LOST the ability to deal with their hardships with confidence and resolve. They feel defeated and don't see themselves returning to the way it was before the occurrence of the thing(s) that "caused" their DISCOURAGEMENT. They're also anxious, concerned and worried about the future and they wonder why God doesn't come to the rescue especially if financial, job security or health issues start to threaten their families. As DISCOURAGEMENT presents itself, many Christians lose enough of their faith to cause them to stop trusting the WORD for its POWER; and with lowered faith a real hindrance sets in that's going to impede the POWER of the WORD from doing its work.

 

Now it seems like most people think that DISCOURAGEMENT is an acceptable reaction to difficult circumstances. How could we NOT be DISCOURAGED in the face of all the hardships and uncertainties? But Jesus said a whole bunch of times, "don't let your heart be troubled" (John 14:1, 14:27 and many other places). Also, in the Old Testament God COMMANDED Joshua to "be strong and courageous" in the face of possible loss of life as they went in to take possession of the Promised Land (Joshua 1:5-9). Over and over again the Bible tells us to NOT allow ourselves to become DISCOURAGED or worried or troubled or anxious or fearful. Sometimes we just gloss over those kinds of scriptures as if they're only expressing God's "preferences" or "suggestions" for something that we can choose to go along with or not according to how we "feel." But if we take all those scriptures exactly as they're written and consider more seriously that the LORD Creator of the Universe NEVER gives "suggestions," they seem to lead to two very important biblical principles:

 

1. People possess the ability to NOT be DISCOURAGED when we're facing unfavorable circumstances.

2. We have a responsibility to RESIST DISCOURAGEMENT whenever it tries to show up.

 

It doesn't seem likely that our Father would INSTRUCT us to do things we aren't able to do; so based on these two principles the Bible point of view seems to be that it's NOT acceptable to linger around passively in DISCOURAGEMENT. To do so is to give our circumstances power over us that they're not supposed to have. To do so is to give the enemy an open door to send defeat and failure and insufficiency into our lives. To do so is to give up our chance of obtaining the real VICTORY we're HOPING FOR in all the important areas of life where we're being challenged.

 

And, to linger around in DISCOURAGEMENT is to allow the enemy to STEAL probably the most important thing we possess apart from salvation which is our FAITH. Believers who're DISCOURAGED have weakened FAITH, so they're having trouble trusting God to help them through their trials and to not forsake them. But God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and what He told Joshua He would do for him all those years ago (Joshua 1:5), He'll also do for us; and even greater things will He do for us because we live under a BETTER COVENANT (Hebrews 8:6).  

 

The truth is, it's NOT easy to win this battle but we each have a bible-based responsibility to ENCOURAGE OURSELVES in Christ and to make a concerted effort to come out of our DISCOURAGEMENT.  

 

Encouraging Ourselves in the Lord

 

A good example of self-encouragement is King David before he became King but after he had been anointed for it by the Prophet Samuel. He had been fleeing for years from the persecution of the jealous King Saul. And, after years of running here and there and hiding out wherever he could, he came to the point in his life in 1 Samuel 30 when the Amalekites raided his settlement and kidnapped all the women and children including his two wives. On top of that his own followers wanted to stone him and the Bible says David was DISCOURAGED (1 Samuel 30:6). So, before going out to reclaim all their losses from the enemy, David ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD HIS GOD. And then later when they DID go out against the enemy, they experienced total success.    

 

Another example is the Apostle Paul who faced many difficult tribulations over the course of his long traveling ministry. On one occasion he and the ship he was traveling on as a prisoner on his way to Rome were involved in a hurricane they couldn't get out of for 14 days. When everyone else was ready to give up, the prisoner-Apostle stood among them and said "...keep up your courage...I believe God that (this) will turn out exactly as I have been told" (Acts 27:22-25). Paul ENCOURAGED himself and the men with him by SPEAKING powerfully in FAITH the WORDS that the Lord had told him would happen. He refused to lose his confidence and resolve even in the midst of a storm so violent it eventually succeeded in breaking up the ship. But as Paul had prophesied, there was NO loss of life.

 

These examples demonstrate the ability of the Believer to overcome DISCOURAGEMENTin the face of great difficulty. And they didn't have to do it alone either; God was with them every step of the way just as He is with us. But what most of us try to do to overcome our DISCOURAGEMENT is resist the circumstances we're facing when what the Word is showing us to do is RESIST THE DISCOURAGEMENT. No one wants to be DISCOURAGED so we try to remove what we think is the "cause," i.e. the circumstances. We pray against the circumstances, we beg God to remove the circumstances and then we go out in our own strength to get rid of the circumstances. But the Word says God will take care of those circumstances for us through GRACE (Hebrews 4:16) by FAITH (Ephesians 2:8). When we try to RESIST the circumstances ourselves, the DISCOURAGEMENT continues because we're FOCUSING on the wrong thing and trying to do God's job. As the DISCOURAGEMENT continues, our FAITH weakens; and as our FAITH weakens, we have increasing difficulty to receive God's GRACE; and in God's GRACE is the empowerment we're needing to overcome the circumstances.

 

In short, the most important thing to do when we're faced with trials and tribulations is ENCOURAGE OURSELVES IN THE LORD. While we're working to RESIST the DISCOURAGEMENT, the GRACE that God made available at the Cross of Calvary will begin to take care of the circumstances FOR us through the POWER of the WORD. We have to recognize DISCOURAGEMENT for what it is: a serious threat to our ability to benefit from the POWER of the WORD to produce total victory over our circumstances.

 

Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on May 31. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3),compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx 

 

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1 

 

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

 

PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.

 

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