A Season of Hope
Help For The Discouraged
Joyce Meyer said…We are “appointed” (set in a certain direction) for something to happen a certain way, and when it doesn’t happen that way, we become “dis-appointed.” Disappointment not dealt with turns into discouragement...
1. Choose Life!
Deuteronomy 30:19…I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live…
2. Get a little Aggressive!
Matthew 11:12…From the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force (as a precious prize – a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion)…
THINK AGGRESSIVELY
Luke 14:31…What king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand (men) to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?...
PRAY AGGRESSIVELY
Hebrews 4:16…Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s umerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it)…
Ephesians 3:20…God is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams)…
GIVE AGGRESSIVELY
Luke 6:38…Give, and (gifts) will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into (the pouch formed by) the bosom (of your robe and used as a bag). For with the measure you deal out (with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others), it will be measured back to you…
WORK AGGRESSIVELY
Ecclesiastes 9:10…Whatever your hand finds to do, do it will all your might…
LOVE AGGRESSIVELY
John 15:12-13…This is My commandment: that you love one another (just) as I have loved you. No one has greater love (no one has shown stronger affection) than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends…
3. Trust Wisely
John 2:24…But Jesus (for His part) did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all (men)…
People are imperfect.
Ultimately, all people, regardless of who they are, will disappoint us if we place too much confidence in them. That is not cynicism or being judgmental, it is just a fact of life. It is also why it is best not to rely excessively on others – even those who are closest to us.
I have learned this the hard way…
But as we have seen in the life of Jesus, it is possible to trust people to a certain (healthy) degree without opening up ourselves to them in an unbalanced, unwise manner.
Like Jesus, you and I should love everyone, but we are not required to trust everyone one hundred percent.
Only a fool does that. Why? Because sooner or later, people will fail us, just as sooner or later we will fail others.
Fallibility is part of being human.
And it is the wise person who guards himself against it – in himself and in others…
Help For The Discouraged
Joyce Meyer said…We are “appointed” (set in a certain direction) for something to happen a certain way, and when it doesn’t happen that way, we become “dis-appointed.” Disappointment not dealt with turns into discouragement...
1. Choose Life!
Deuteronomy 30:19…I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live…
2. Get a little Aggressive!
Matthew 11:12…From the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force (as a precious prize – a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion)…
THINK AGGRESSIVELY
Luke 14:31…What king, going out to engage in conflict with another king, will not first sit down and consider and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand (men) to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?...
PRAY AGGRESSIVELY
Hebrews 4:16…Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s umerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it)…
Ephesians 3:20…God is able to do superabundantly, far over and above all that we (dare) ask or think (infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams)…
GIVE AGGRESSIVELY
Luke 6:38…Give, and (gifts) will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into (the pouch formed by) the bosom (of your robe and used as a bag). For with the measure you deal out (with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others), it will be measured back to you…
WORK AGGRESSIVELY
Ecclesiastes 9:10…Whatever your hand finds to do, do it will all your might…
LOVE AGGRESSIVELY
John 15:12-13…This is My commandment: that you love one another (just) as I have loved you. No one has greater love (no one has shown stronger affection) than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends…
3. Trust Wisely
John 2:24…But Jesus (for His part) did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all (men)…
People are imperfect.
Ultimately, all people, regardless of who they are, will disappoint us if we place too much confidence in them. That is not cynicism or being judgmental, it is just a fact of life. It is also why it is best not to rely excessively on others – even those who are closest to us.
I have learned this the hard way…
But as we have seen in the life of Jesus, it is possible to trust people to a certain (healthy) degree without opening up ourselves to them in an unbalanced, unwise manner.
Like Jesus, you and I should love everyone, but we are not required to trust everyone one hundred percent.
Only a fool does that. Why? Because sooner or later, people will fail us, just as sooner or later we will fail others.
Fallibility is part of being human.
And it is the wise person who guards himself against it – in himself and in others…
(safeguards, accountability)
Hebrews 12:1-3…Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Looking away (from all that will detract) to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith (giving the first incentive for our belief) and is also its Finisher (bringing it to maturity and perfection). He, for the joy (of obtaining the prize) that was set before Him, endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself (reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials), so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds…
Jesus is the only One who cannot fail you
Keep looking to Him
It does not take any special talent to give up, to lie down on the side of the road of life and say, I QUIT!
Once you get hold of Jesus, or better yet when He get hold of you, He begins to pump strength and energy and courage into you, and something strange and wonderful begins to happen. He won’t let you quit even when those feelings of discouragement overwhelm!
Hurt Breeds Suspicion
If you and I have friends or family fail us or let us down, Satan wants us to say, “That’s it – I’ll never trust anyone again.”
When we do that, we are playing right into the devil’s hands. If you have been hurt, don’t start thinking you can’t trust anybody. If you do, you will allow Satan to rob you of many of God’s greatest blessings.
We have got to keep pressing on despite everything the enemy may throw in our path to cause us to become discouraged, give up, or quit short of attaining God’s ideal!
Philippians 3:12-14…Not that I have now attained (this ideal), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own (yet); but one thing I do (it is my one aspiration): forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly) prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward…
Philippians 1:6…And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ (right up to the time of His return), developing (that good work) and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you…
Ephesians 3:17…May Christ through your faith (actually) dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love…
I refuse to be discouraged,To be sad, or to cry;
Hebrews 12:1-3…Let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Looking away (from all that will detract) to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith (giving the first incentive for our belief) and is also its Finisher (bringing it to maturity and perfection). He, for the joy (of obtaining the prize) that was set before Him, endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself (reckon up and consider it all in comparison with your trials), so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds…
Jesus is the only One who cannot fail you
Keep looking to Him
It does not take any special talent to give up, to lie down on the side of the road of life and say, I QUIT!
Once you get hold of Jesus, or better yet when He get hold of you, He begins to pump strength and energy and courage into you, and something strange and wonderful begins to happen. He won’t let you quit even when those feelings of discouragement overwhelm!
Hurt Breeds Suspicion
If you and I have friends or family fail us or let us down, Satan wants us to say, “That’s it – I’ll never trust anyone again.”
When we do that, we are playing right into the devil’s hands. If you have been hurt, don’t start thinking you can’t trust anybody. If you do, you will allow Satan to rob you of many of God’s greatest blessings.
We have got to keep pressing on despite everything the enemy may throw in our path to cause us to become discouraged, give up, or quit short of attaining God’s ideal!
Philippians 3:12-14…Not that I have now attained (this ideal), or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own (yet); but one thing I do (it is my one aspiration): forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the (supreme and heavenly) prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward…
Philippians 1:6…And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ (right up to the time of His return), developing (that good work) and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you…
Ephesians 3:17…May Christ through your faith (actually) dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love…
I refuse to be discouraged,To be sad, or to cry;
I refuse to be downhearted,and here's the reason why...
I have a God who's mighty,Who's sovereign and supreme;
I have a God who loves me,and I am on His team.
He is all wise and powerful,Jesus is His name;
Though everything is changeable,My God remains the same.
My God knows all that's happening;Beginning to the end,
His presence is my comfort,He is my dearest friend.
When sickness comes to weaken me,To bring my head down low,
I call upon my mighty God;Into His arms I go.
When circumstances threatento rob me from my peace;
He draws me close unto His breast,Where all my strivings cease.
And when my heart melts within me,and weakness takes control;
He gathers me into His arms,He soothes my heart and soul.
The great "I AM" is with me,My life is in His hand,
The Son, the Lord is my hope,It's in His strength I stand.
I refuse to be defeated,My eyes are on my God;
He has promised to be with me,as through this life I trod.
I'm looking past all my circumstances,To Heaven's throne above;
My prayers have reachedthe heart of God,I'm resting in His love.
I give God thanks in everything,My eyes are on His face;
The battle's His, the victory is mine;He'll help me win the race.
By BJ George
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