Published by admin on 22 Feb 2019 at 01:14 pm
WHEN DISCOURAGEMENT COMES
Have you ever had discouraging days? Sure you have, we all do. And we feel we are left all alone in the world with no one to comfort us. Well, I’ve had a few of those lately, and just this week a beloved friend died who had cancer, whom I’ve ministered to, anointed with oil, laid hands on, prayed in faith, did everything the Bible called for, and he STILL died. And I’m not the only one discouraged, just think about his wife, parents, children, and family. What do you do in that case?
Now, the Lord Jesus said in John 16:32-33,
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
It’s sure hard to be of good cheer in a case like this, yet, our heavenly Father has not abandoned us, nor broken His promises to us. But it’s sure hard to see how His promise of healing applied here. You can say, yes, he will never be sick again. And that’s true, but the Lord Jesus healed all who came to Him in THIS life, and never told anyone no. So to the untrained eye, it would look like God didn’t keep His Word. But it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie. IMPOSSIBLE. So when things like this happen, we need to not be angry at God, for there is surely an explanation, even if we cannot see it.
Jesus had no failures in healing, and he admonished the disciples when they failed to heal a young man, and Jesus said when asked what went wrong, “Because of your unbelief”. He didn’t blame the boy or his father. So apparently, unbelief stops healing. In the case of Jesus in His own village, unbelief stopped healing there, as it says in Mark 6:1-6,
1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Now, I used this same passage a couple weeks ago in an article. The LORD keeps impressing upon me the danger of unbelief. Even Jesus was stopped in His tracks by unbelief. It isn’t that Jesus WOULDN’T heal, but He COULDN’T do any mighty work there because of their unbelief.
6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Don’t think for a minute that unbelief cannot cost you your life. I find there are MANY causes of unbelief: and fear is the root of unbelief. You can be very uneducated in the Word of God, and yet believe you’re healed, and you will be. Yet, you can have so many conflicts within, and even though you may love the LORD, you can still miss out on your healing. Ministers can look at “the mountain” and fall into unbelief at the magnitude of the symptoms they’re praying against. The person being ministered to can be full of doubt and unbelief, having never seen God do a miracle before. There can be “religious teachings” that are held as truth that run against what the Bible actually teaches. And I can go on and on, the list is very long. But the bottom line is, sickness is not of God, it is from our failure to live according to God’s Word.
It is written in 1 John 3:7-8,
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Did you grasp that? The whole purpose the Son of God was manifested, that is, sent to this Earth in the flesh of a man, was that He might destroy the works of the devil. What are those works? Sin, fear, sickness, disobedience to God’s Word, death, envy, greed, lust, and everything else you can name that is not of the Holy Spirit.
The only thing that the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus did not take away is OUR FREE WILL! We are still “free” to doubt, to fear, to disobey God, to lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, rob banks, you name it. We are still “free” to say we believe God and trust Him out of one side of our mouth, and spout unbelief out of the other side. What I’m trying to say is this: Jesus conquered all the things that destroy us, YET, He left us with our own free will, and that “free will” still can doubt God’s Word to the point that it won’t work for us. We have to CHOOSE to believe, in spite of sickness, financial woes, discouragement, or whatever. You see, the devil hits us with everything that is common to man, but he CANNOT take us away from God. That part we seem to do all by ourselves, sometimes to the point when God’s promises don’t work for us, we get upset and blame God.
Like I said earlier, it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie. But it IS possible for us to believe the devil’s lies, and therefore fall short of God’s promises. The devil can hit you so hard with pain and symptoms that you may think you are not healed by the stripes of Jesus. You can become so very discouraged that you may take your own life. The stuff the devil throws at you is very real, and I’ve experienced pain so bad that I wanted to die, yet in my heart I knew God’s Word is true, and that I was healed by the stripes of Jesus. You can believe God’s Word so strongly that there is no room in you for the devil’s affliction, but you must CONTEND for that kind of faith, it doesn’t just fall on you like ripe apples off of the tree.
I think many WANT to be healed and WANT to believe God, but when the symptoms become severe enough, they are overwhelmed and faith turns into doubt. Some cannot be swayed into doubt and unbelief, but they’ve been tried in the fire, without question. There has to be something in you, the “OVERCOMER”, that will not let you roll over and be defeated. Some have it, some don’t. That doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you, but it does mean you may not lay hold onto everything you want in God’s promises. You see, God leaves that part up to you, it’s part of your “free will”. Discouragement will come, and Jesus said so. What we do with it determines the outcome.
It is written in Revelation 21:5-8,
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Yes, discouragement will come unto all. But the LORD is offering us freely His Holy Spirit to dwell inside each and every believer. We have the OVERCOMER on the inside, if we will let Him come and dwell in us. When discouragement comes, we turn to the OVERCOMER and do what? WE OVERCOME! That’s God’s will for us, and if we do that, we will not miss out on any good thing from the LORD. There’s no room in God’s Kingdom for the works of the devil listed in verse 8. Notice the first two He listed first: the fearful, and unbelieving. That’s what kept Jesus from doing a mighty work in His own village.
Fear and unbelief will keep YOU from being an OVERCOMER. Don’t fall for it!
Todd Craig on 22 Feb 2019 at 4:11 pm #
Amen Brother. Hope to see you tomorrow.
Duane Finnie on 23 Feb 2019 at 4:45 pm #
Amen, thank you Brother…
Lorie leahy on 25 Feb 2019 at 1:13 pm #
Thank you Jerry