Enemies of the Heart: Discouragement
“For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” -- 2 Timothy 1:6-7
Discouragement is one of those emotions that can stop people in their tracks. It is likely the main reason people give up going to the gym because the results are not coming fast enough. Discouragement sets in and the gym is replaced with binge watching on the couch. But, to borrow a phrase from Jocko Willink, “Discipline equals freedom.”
God does not give us a spirit of fear but of power. Emotions ebb and flow with your day and your temperament. Many times we make some of our worst decisions when they are based on our emotions. If we take motivation as an example, many people are motivated to tackle a new goal or project. Motivation, however, wears off over time. It is not motivation that completes projects, it is self discipline to continue going regardless of how you are feeling that does. I will give you another example. The first time I ever had anything published I was over the moon with joy. I thought that day that nothing could take that happiness away. An hour later as I was on my way to work I got a flat tire. The happiness was quickly erased as I now had to change a tire in my dress clothes. My feelings proved fickle in the face of life.
These are important lessons for our walk with Jesus as well. C.S. Lewis once said “if you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity.” There will be times of discouragement in your faith. There will be situations in which you are tempted or your faith tested. True Christianity is not easy. We are called to a higher standard in life when we are following Jesus. However, we must not become discouraged.
In my mind, this is why the discipline of Scripture memorization is so important. We must imprint on our minds and our hearts the Word of God. When we do that we began to able to take every thought captive. We can push through the discouragement not because of our own power, but because of His power. When we take the promises of God on our hearts we begin to live by them and not by our emotions. There is no one on earth that can rise above their own world view. Our world view dictates how we see and interact with the world. If we have a Biblical worldview then we interact with the world through the lens of Scripture. This allows us to tap into the power of the spirit. It allows us to acknowledge our discouragement but not give in to it. The trait of self-discipline is needed every day of our lives. Discipline gives us the ability to live the lives that we want to live and more importantly it gives us the ability to live our lives for Jesus.
(“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” -- Matthew 16:24–27
Jesus calls us to deny ourselves. Jesus calls us to follow Him and obey His commands. These actions take a daily discipline that we are going to set aside our discouragement and follow the King of Kings into the life He has set before us.