Encouragement that Calms Fears

It is supernatural when God gives you the ability to keep going, when a few minutes ago you were ready to give up. Dr. Tony Evans talks about beating discouragement and overcoming the victim mentality.

And he brings something in your experience that quickens you, wakes you up, so you can get up and keep going. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. There are modern-day treatments for depression, but today Dr. Evans will tell us about an age-old treatment that doesn't require a prescription and only has positive side effects.

Let's join him as he takes us to 1 Kings 19 for today's message. All of us have been in level number one, discouragement. Many of us have been in level number two, depression. And so we know what it is, or we know people who know what it is, to have the need for an emotional miracle.

If nothing else ever changed in our lives with regard to our circumstances, our situation, if I could just get my mind straight, if I could just get my thinking right, if I could just get my mind straight, I can make it, but no matter what externally happens, there's a demon in my head that I can't shake. That's our situation today with Elijah. Here is a prophet on steroids.

He's got it going on, and he is doing large, but in less than 24 hours. His world changes, his life collapses, and in less than a day, everything is turned around, and he is gone from the hilltop, the mountain peak of victory to the valley of despair. And many of us know that sometimes it doesn't take 24 hours for things to turn on you, a pink slip that you didn't anticipate, a person walking out of your life who you were counting on, a diagnosis or a physical ailment that you didn't even know was operating within your body in less than 24 hours.

Your need for a miracle has now dumped in your head, and there is a need for a supernatural intervention into your emotional stability and well-being. That's our situation with Elijah. He's going to find himself, what many of us have often found ourselves, in a black hole, because his whole world is going to be turned upside down in a day. When we come to chapter 19, we find out what led to this emergency shift in his emotions. You see, he had an expectation, because when we finish chapter 18, he had told Ahab, cheer up, laugh, party, eat, and drink, because it's going to rain. And Ahab got in the chariot and made his way home.

Elijah beat him home by running. The problem is, Ahab went home and told his wife Jez, Jez, there's this prophet Elijah, and he'd been killed 400 of my boys, and he stopped the rain, he brought back the rain, and Jezebel said, I'm going to send a message to Elijah that if you don't get out of town by tomorrow this time, you're a dead man. Now, Ahab had a controlling wife. He had a woman who was telling him what to do. He had a controlling wife, and this wife had taken over when it was Elijah's anticipation that Ahab was going to turn things around.

He didn't know who he was married to. He was married to a lady named Jezebel, and Jezebel was running this show. Jezebel was calling this shot, and Jezebel was telling him, Elijah, you're a dead man. Some of y'all work for Jezebel. Some of y'all work with Jezebel. Some of y'all live with Jezebel. Jezebel is an evil threat that comes your way.

It is something or someone who threatens your well-being, because you're threatened by tomorrow this time you're going to be dead. And he's trying to figure out now, overnight, his whole life has changed because somebody has gotten into his head. So what he does is he goes on another day's journey.

The man had run 15 miles. Now he's going to go on a whole other day's journey. He sits under the juniper tree, verse 4, and he requests for himself that he might die. It is enough now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my father's. He wants to die 24 hours after the biggest miracle he's seen?

This is a fast, slippery slope. Okay, watch this now. Elijah is not a carnal Christian. Elijah is not an unspiritual person. He's been called a man of God. We just saw the hand of the Lord was on him.

So guess what? It's possible for spiritual people to get depressed. Depression is not a sign of lack of spirituality. Why would spiritual people get discouraged, depressed, into despair, and even get suicidal? Why would that happen to a spiritual people? Because we found out in James 5 that we are of like nature.

We're human. And in our flesh and blood, that is, in our humanness, we become subject to influences that trigger thoughts in our minds. So you can be spiritual and be down. You can be spiritual and be emotionally struggling through something. So don't automatically feel that your discouragement is due to your carnality. Now, if you are carnal, and if you are spiritual, then it could very well be related to that.

But it's not automatically related to that, specifically in the life of someone who is pursuing God. So he's ready to give up. He's ready to throw in the towel. And when he's ready to throw in the towel, he lays down, because he's so tired, under a juniper tree, which is only a tree big enough for one person to lay under it. And there was an angel touching him and said, Arise, eat, verse 5.

He looked up, and behold, there at his head a bread cake, baked on hot stones, a jar of water, so that he ate and drank and lay down again. The angel only showed up after Elijah had had an honest conversation with God. You see, he told God, I want to die. He told God, I'm not good as my fathers. He told God, I have nothing left. He told God, I'm done. And God sent an angel. The reason why a lot of us don't get our angels is because we're not honest with God. The angel of the Lord comes in, in verse 7, a second time, Arise, eat, because your journey is too great for you.

Now watch this. So he lets him rest before he lets him continue. So he arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of the food 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. That's how you know it's supernatural, because what he ate lasted in 40 days and 40 nights.

See, that ain't normal. It is supernatural when God comes through and when God gives you the ability to keep going when a few minutes ago you were ready to give up. And that's how you know God has shown up in your life, when you're ready to throw in the towel and he brings something in your experience that quickens you, wakes you up so you can get up and keep going. And guess where he told him to go? To the mountain of God.

Okay, watch this now. When you are depressed, many times the last place you want to go is to the mountain of God. The mountain of God means to go in God's presence.

That's the last place you want to go. But that's the first place God wants you to run to. He wants you to run to his presence and bring your depression with you, bring your discouragement with you. He'll give you enough to get to the mountain to get to his presence. So he calls him into his presence.

Then it gets really interesting. Then it came to a cave, lodge there, verse 9, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here, Elijah? Now we have a lesson in Christian counseling.

Okay? God is now taking the form of a counselor and he says, What are you doing here, Elijah? Whenever I counsel or any one of our counselors counsel, we ask, Why are you here? Now, God doesn't have to ask, Why are you here? Because he doesn't know. Because he knows why you're here. He knows that you've been frustrated.

In fact, he just fed you. But he asks him, Why are you here? The reason God asks him, Why are you here? is not for God to get information. The reason he asks, Why are you here?

is for him to fully express what he's dealing with. So what are you dealing with, Elijah? And here's what Elijah says.

Elijah says, I have been very zealous for the Lord, for the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone have left and they seek my life to take it away. Okay? So let's discuss why he's here. Why are you in this situation? Why are you so depressed? Okay, you ask me, God, I'm going to tell you. I committed myself to you.

I dedicated myself to you. All them other people are unspiritual. They didn't keep your covenants.

They were worshiping those idols. And I'm, Oh yeah, by myself. He has adopted a victim's mentality. A victim's mentality is a mindset that you adopt because of negative circumstances that says, I'm where I am because everybody else is where they are. I'm here by myself because none of them are agreeing with you.

And that's put me out here by myself and you got me out here by myself. That's a victim's mentality. Now you can be a victim, but you are to never adopt a victim's mentality where everybody else is responsible for where you are. A victim's mentality is because of them, I'm here. And as long as you have that kind of mentality, you'll always be there.

You may be a victim, but you are to never adopt the victim's mentality because then that allows you to put off being responsible to make the change you should make because they're not making the change they should make. Dr. Evans, we'll come back in a moment with an illustration that'll help you see that victim mentality in a different light. Stay with us. As we turn the page on 2020 and get ready to step into a new year, the world is looking for answers. With so many reasons to be hopeless in our media craze society, you can help bring messages of hope and life with your year-end gift today. As our thanks, we'll send you Dr. Evans 20 most popular sermons on CD and MP3, as well as his devotional book, Called for a Purpose. Visit TonyEvans.org for details. And the lesson you're hearing today is in fact one of those 20 most requested messages of the year. As a reminder, when you donate and request the best of Tony Evans 2020, we'll also send you a copy of his popular devotional book, Called for a Purpose. It'll help you learn how your past experience, personal development, and giftedness all fit into your calling, and we'll encourage you to follow God's plan for your destiny. Get Tony's best so you can be your best.

20 messages to end 2020, plus his powerful devotional book. Just visit TonyEvans.org for details before this limited-time offer runs out. That's TonyEvans.org. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24-7. One more time, that's 1-800-800-3222.

I'll repeat all that information for you later, but right now, let's get back to today's lesson. The Cowboys cannot say, if it wasn't for them Cardinals, we would score. But them Cardinals, they keep on getting in our way. Every time we try to throw a pass, they try to steal it. Every time we try to run a few yards, they keep throwing us to the ground. Every time we try to kick a field goal, they try to block it.

Shucks, that ain't right. If they would just leave us alone, we would score every time we get the ball. But we got these 11 other guys on the other side of the ball, and they just keep trying to stop us every time we try to go somewhere. Well, if they adopted that mentality for three hours, they would live in defeat, because those 11 men are never going to change. They're never going to stop trying to steal the ball, stop trying to block the pass, stop trying to block the kick, stop trying to tackle. They're never going to change. And if you spent all your time on this side of the line trying to get them to change on that side of the line, it's going to be a long day, because they are never ever going to change.

There are some things in your life that are never ever going to change. Those people are going to change. Those kids are not going to change.

That mate's not going to change. The circumstances are not going to change. But if you live for their change, you become their victim. And that's a victim's mentality.

No, the cowboys must decide, regardless of what they do, we gonna huddle to determine what we gonna do. Cause we gonna not let what they do determine what we do, cause what we do is gonna overcome what they do, cause greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. That means you're not operating like a victim. Now, please don't misunderstand me. You may be a victim. It may be unfair. It may not be right. It may be evil.

So you may be a victim, but that's different than adopting the mindset of a victim. And too many of us socially and economically and in this case spiritually have become victims of the devil. If it wasn't for the devil, I wouldn't be here.

Guess what? He ain't changing. If it wasn't for them sinners, I wouldn't be stuck here. They not changing. If it wasn't for this situation, I wouldn't be here. Okay, that may be true, but they may never change.

So what are you gonna do? And many of us block the supernatural because we become comfortable as victims. So God says, go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by. It was a great wind rending the mountain and breaking it into pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. There was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Verse 12, He said, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. But after the fire, the sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in the mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah? Hmm. That's the same question.

So let's follow this. He asked him a question, he gives him a victim's answer, he then gives him all these experiences, but he says, I wasn't in none of them. I was only in the blowing breeze. Don't only look for the supernatural in something extraordinary. The supernatural, that is the voice and presence of God, often shows up in the ordinary. In other words, he wasn't in the fire, he wasn't in the wind, he wasn't in the earthquake, he was in the breeze. He brought him to the mountain of God into a quiet place of his presence. Because many of us don't hear God because there are too many other voices we're hearing.

Too many loud things, the wind, the fire, the earthquake. And he says, no, I'm in the breeze. I'm in the nice, soft thing that you're getting with my presence. Now, why are you here?

Well, he says, when he heard it, he wrapped his face. He said in verse 14, he says it again, I'm very jealous for the Lord, but the people have forsaken you. I alone am left.

They seek to take my life. So guess what God does? You find at the end of verse 3, it says, he left his servant behind. So, Elijah is by himself, because depression gets worse if there's nobody in your life to change your thinking. See, if you're feeling sorry for yourself, and you're talking to yourself, that's a bad conversation for yourself.

You're already feeling sorry, and there's nobody to talk to but you, about you, regarding you, to tell you what you ought to do, and you aren't in a place to even hear you correctly, and what you are telling you is only related to how you feel, then your discussion with yourself is helping yourself to become worse off about you. So God then enters the picture and tells him, Elijah, tell me how you feel. Stop talking to yourself, because when you talk to yourself, you were getting depressed, you were suicidal, start talking to me, okay?

Now, I'm going to show you the wind and the rain and all that stuff. Now, talk to me again, God. No, no, no, Elijah, don't talk to yourself, because you and you aren't getting together with you real good. So y'all talk to me. You, yourself, and I, y'all have a conversation just with me, because you talking to you is killing you, because whenever you talk to you, you want to kill you. Since I don't want you to kill you, stop talking you to you, and y'all talk to me. What depression, discouragement, despair often brings is distorted information. God has to clarify, verse 18, yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

Now, what's his complaint? I'm the only one! God says, there's seven thousand folk like you out there. It's just you are so psychologically bent right now, all you see is you. I got seven thousand people you don't even know about who have the same faith, same commitment, same loyalty that you have.

So you are wanting to die off of misinformation. You don't have the right information. And so, what did God's presence in his counseling session do? Give him new data. And then God closes by doing one other thing for him.

And it's a very important thing. In verses 19 through 21, he runs into a man named Elisha. The end of verse 19 says, And Elisha passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah, Elisha does, and please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.

And he said to him, Go back again, for what have I done to you? So he returned from following him, took the pair of oxen, sacrificed them, boiled their flesh with the implements, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him. Because sometime when you're discouraged, you need somebody with flesh and blood.

Sometimes talking to God, there's a spirit out there, he's real, but he's a spirit out there. So guess what God did? God gave him a friend. God said, look, I'm going to bring somebody in your life who is going to minister to you, because right now your ministry has been depleted, and your get up and go is not there.

So guess what? Now that I have been counseling with you and you brought me into the equation of your victim's mentality, I got somebody I have already set up to bring into your life to minister, to encourage, to lift you up, and to bring you out of your depression. God has an angel for you, he's got a person for you, he has himself for you. He gave Elijah all three of those to give him a supernatural experience to lift him out of his depression. And one of the reasons that the church exists is to have people available in your life when you are down who can embrace you, minister to you, lift you up, and he can use you to do the same thing for somebody else. Because when we are depressed, we need another perspective. That doesn't deny the reality of how we feel.

What it does is it doesn't let you live there. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with a closing illustration about how to overcome the fear of being eaten alive by the things that threaten us. First though, if you'd like to hear the full length version of today's message, including material we didn't have time to bring you on the air, you can get it as a part of our current series, The Best of Tony Evans 2020. As I mentioned earlier, all 20 messages in this collection are a gift to you when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. And for a limited time, we'll also include a copy of his devotional book, Called for a Purpose. Just drop by tonyevans.org where you can get all the details and make your donation online. Again, that's tonyevans.org.

Or you can call our 24 hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you with your request. Words like impossible or incurable don't apply when God is part of the equation. But tomorrow, Dr. Evans will explain that seeing miracles happen is in some ways up to us. Right now though, he's back with this closing illustration. A father one day was at the zoo with his son. And they were at the lion's cage. And the lion roared. And it terrified the little boy. He took off.

The father didn't move. He said, boy, come back here! He said, daddy, run!

Run! The lion! The lion! He said, boy, I said, come back here! He said, daddy, the lion! The lion! He said, boy, I told you, come back here! He said, but dad, don't you see the lion? Dad said, no, I'm staring at the cage. When you are discouraged, all you hear is the voice of the lion. You need somebody in your life who can discuss the cage.

Who can tell you about the bars. Who can tell you that lion's got a big mouth, but he ain't going nowhere. Because he's being held in by something greater. Some of us are being destroyed by Satan. You need somebody who can whisper about the power of God in your life. Somebody is being intimidated by Jezebel. And you need to know from somebody who can see outside of you that greater is he that is in you than Jezebel who is threatening you. You need to be lifted out of your discouragement through honesty with God, through taking care of yourself physically in order to get the rest you need or the help you need, and to have somebody in your life who loves you enough and God enough to hook the two together. When that takes place, you may still get discouraged, but God will lift you out of it because even godly people have to struggle with discouragement. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.