R329 Overcoming Discouragement

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on overcoming discouragement. Indeed we will be encouraged as we study the Word of God together today and know that we're here for you to encourage you both online at TEWonline.org. That's TEWonline.org, a great place to grab resources like the new Ruth Bell Graham DVD we've been talking about, the book from Dr. Wilton about Saturdays with Billy, and a wonderful Trusting God DVD. Those are just some of the resources you'll find at TEWonline.org, and of course know we'd love to pray with you. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now let's open our hearts and God's Word together with the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton. Now friends, I wonder if you have ever been discouraged before. In fact, I'm going to just ask the question. If you've ever been discouraged, would you raise your hands please?

Thank you so much. That makes me feel a whole lot better. You see, every one of us have suffered discouragement. I've spoken to people who have gone to their doctor and who have taken the right medicine and undergone the right treatment and yet they just don't seem to be made well again. I've spoken to people who have lost loved ones despite all the prayer. I've spoken to people whose marriages are on the rocks and they are discouraged. They are doing everything. They're going to marriage counseling, but nothing seems to work. They're discouraged.

I've spoken to people who are contemplating selling their home and moving into a smaller home because they're struggling to make ends meet. I've spoken to people in all walks of life, in our church and in our community, in politics. If there is one thing Satan wants to do, he wants to discourage God's people. Nehemiah was no different. Nehemiah was given an inaudible, unbelievable, magnificent task and yet he faced discouragement. I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 4. Nehemiah chapter 4 and follow along in God's Word.

Listen to what the Word says. When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews and in the presence of his associates, it's remarkable how people like this always go and gather other people to join them in trying to discourage others.

Listen to what happened. He ridiculed the Jews and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Now, there's a lot of sarcasm here, folks. Will they offer sacrifices?

Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble, burned as they are? And of course, whenever you get a Sanballat like this in the business place or in the community, it's guaranteed there's going to be a Tobiah right behind him.

Watch what happens. Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, What they are building, if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their walls of stones. Nehemiah said, Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads.

Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not blot cover up their sin, their guilt or blot out their sins from your side, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half of its height, for the people work with all of their heart. But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come against and to fight against Jerusalem and to stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and we posted to God day and night to meet this threat. Meanwhile, the people in Judah said the strength of the laborers is giving out.

There is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall. Also, our enemies said before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them. They were defiant. They said it doesn't matter what you do or what you say to me, we will stand up against you and we'll kill them and we'll put an end to the work. Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, wherever you turn, they will attack us. Therefore, I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families with their swords, spears and bows. And after I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, don't be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives in your homes. And when our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. But from that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah, kind of reminds me of the deacons who were rebuilding the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.

But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, the work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there, our God will fight for us. So we continued the work with half the men holding spears from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night so they can serve us as gods by night and workmen by day. Neither I nor my gods with me took off our clothes, each had his weapon even when we went for water. May the Lord write his word upon our hearts this morning. When I read verse 16, God spoke to me about my role as dad. Now folks I've got a confession, I'm not used to sitting in a chair all day. What a waste of time.

On Friday he was out of it most of the day and when he woke he was in a lot of pain and I just sat there. What a waste of time. And I read that verse, the officers posted themselves behind all the people. The dads posted themselves next to their sons and daughters. The business people posted themselves in the fortress of God's garrison. The Christian people posted themselves on the walls around the city and said Satan will not attack our nation anymore. This man Nehemiah it seems to me perhaps understood what so many of us understood when our businesses fail, when our lives crumble, when our marriages are in upheaval, when our lives seem to fall apart. Nehemiah understood that. He faced discouragement just like all people do but what did he do about it? Well there are six principles here, I want to share them with you. How can I overcome discouragement?

How can you overcome discouragement? What can we do according to God's Word? Number one, talk to God. Yes sir, verse four. Nehemiah said hear us oh God.

Look at verse nine. But we prayed to our God. Talk to God, isn't that simple? Isn't that the most simple yet most profound thing that you could ever imagine? Talk to God.

Nothing like it. There's nothing like prayer. There's nothing like just simply telling God. I don't know how many times my precious wife when we've gone through discouragement or something's happened in our family just brings us together and says why don't we just have a little chat with God? Why don't we just talk to God?

Young person, older person. Let me tell you in Spartanburg there are many of them I've never seen them so discouraged as they are today. Our superintendents, principals, board members, community leaders. I want us to pray for our mayor James Talley, an exceptionally fine gentleman. I want us to pray for our moms and dads. I want us to pray for our medical personnel. I want us to pray for our children. We've got people who are sick and dying. We've got children who are scared and running away. We've got people who are angry.

We've got people who have broken hearts, businesses that are failing, people who don't know what to do next. We're going to come into God's house tonight and maybe just for 10 minutes we're going to talk to God. What did Nehemiah do when he got discouraged? He talked to God. But I also want you to note, never lose heart. Never lose heart.

Not only talk to God, but he never lost heart. Look down there at verse six. I love verse six. Verse six is just a power punch.

It's an explosion all on its own. So we rebuilt the wall. Now folks, remember this comes in the aftermath of Sanballat. Here he was, Tobiah, the Arabs, all the people who began to rally around him. It began with Sanballat. It always begins with one person.

And right in the aftermath of what was going on, the Bible says we rebuilt the wall till it reached half its height. Now what was the basis for the people worked with all of their heart? Never lose heart. It's so easy to lose heart. I confess to you, I lose heart folks. You know, if all life is is a broken arm, we don't have a lot of problems, do we? Because people come back from those things and they play for Auburn.

It's guaranteed. And God sometimes needs our little sticks to be cut upon so that we can be shaped to be what he wants us to be. A beautiful flute that the master can pick up and play a beautiful tune on. If we want to just remain all sticks lying in the road, we're never going to become what God wants us to be. But there's still principles. Talk to God. Never lose heart. Next, remember who God is. Remember who God is. Look at verse 14.

Bible says very clearly, don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord. Why? Because he is great and he's awesome.

He's awesome. Remember the Lord. But I'm going to say to you that as Christians, when we get discouraged, isn't it true? Would you not all agree today that even though we love the Lord and even though we know he died for us, and even though we know that he's done so much for us, when we get discouraged, we think he's put us down and forgotten us.

And he hasn't. Nehemiah said to the people right there in Jerusalem, remember the Lord, but I want you to know the next principle. Prepare yourself.

Prepare yourself. Look at verse nine again. But we prayed to our God. We posted to God day and night. Look at verse 23.

Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the gods with me took off our clothes. Paul had this in mind when he wrote to the church at Ephesus. Look with me at Ephesians chapter six. Remarkable passage in Ephesians chapter six.

Listen to what he says. Verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Here it is. I love this. Put on the full armor of God. Why? Why do we need to do that? So that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

You go and look at Sanballat. Go and look at the discouragement. This was a scheme, folks. It was a deliberate plot against God's people. When your marriage breaks, the devil is scheming to break your marriage.

When you suffer discouragement, he wants to get hold of you. Listen, put on the whole armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, powers of the dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that, not if the day comes, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

Wow! Forgive the interruption. We'll be back in just a moment. But that reminder of putting on the full armor of God so that we can stand our ground. Listen, I pray that you know that you are not alone in that process.

Sometimes we need help getting the armor on, don't we? We would love to help you, to pray with you, and connect you with resources that will help you grow in your faith. You can connect with us on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. And every single day, friends are writing and asking us to pray, and in particular, sharing their stories about how God's working through the encouraging word with Dr. Don Wilton. If you'd like to do so, he would love to hear your story, love to know how God's at work, love to know how he can pray for you.

His email is Don, D-O-N, at T-E-W, online dot O-R-G. That's Don, D-O-N, at T-E-W, online dot O-R-G. It would bless him to hear from you. In the past few weeks, he's been doing something remarkable in a different part of our building where he's just calling out over the names of people that have given their lives to Christ.

He's praying earnestly. Just know that we together would love to pray with you and for you. You can also speak to someone and have them pray with you and for you right now, right now, 866-899-WORD. We'll connect you with one of us. Happy to talk and listen and pray and connect you with resources.

That number again, 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great Bible teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. You discouraged this morning? Look to God. Talk to God. Never lose heart. Remember who God is.

Prepare yourself. Number five, stick to the assignment. Stick to the assignment. Look at verse six.

So we went and rebuilt the wall. They did what God told them to do. Stick to it. Keep your heart up. I'll tell you something, folks, don't leave the assignment that God has given to you. Stick to the assignment and finally claim the victory.

Claim the victory. It's right there in verse 20. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there and our God will fight for us.

Well, that's very good. You know what we do as Christians? We say that's in the Word of God. So I'm just going to put that over here for just a minute.

I'm putting that over there because that's something that I cannot handle. And God's Word says I must claim the victory before I've even begun the fight. He's placing man's dilemma back into the context of faith.

It is that simple trusting. Someone in our community wrote me a letter when I talked about jumping off a ledge into your father's arms as a child. And he wrote me this letter how that he came to know Jesus that Sunday as I preached, as we worshiped. And he said to me, when you said that, I realized that God was there and that I need to take that leap of faith because he's not going to leave me. And so it is that you and I as human beings, we come joined together with God's Word.

We hide God's Word in our heart. We appropriate it and we become encouraged by it. Overcoming discouragement. And so I began to ask myself, what are some of the practical things that we can do to overcome discouragement?

This is what the Word says. How can we apply this in practice? I want to give you seven suggestions.

Are you ready for these? These are practical suggestions to help you overcome discouragement, whatever it is in your life. Check your energy level, both physically and emotionally.

Folks, this is true of all of us. It is a guaranteed fact that if you are physically exhausted, you are going to be less able to handle discouragement. You know what discouragement does? It makes you more exhausted.

It kind of works against. The more discouraged, the more exhausted. The more things you're fighting with, the tighter you get. And the worse you get physically and emotionally, the less you're able to cope with discouragement. Check your energy level.

Number two, make sure that you get proper exercise. Now I'm going to share a secret with you this morning. You know, in the first two years that I was here in Spartanburg, I gained over 20 pounds.

That's right. I was beginning to develop furniture disease. My chest was dropping into my drawers. Folks, I paid a lot of money for this.

It was worth every cent. It's wonderful. Now folks, I want to tell you something. I haven't lost a whole lot of weight, but I've never felt better.

I can't describe it to you. I don't look like Arnold Whatsy's name. I am getting there. I'm not going to take off my jacket. And I probably will never get there.

But you know something? There are times that I will go to the nautilus and I'm so tired and I'm so exhausted and I don't want to do it. And I'll walk on that machine and I'll push and I'll jerk and I'll lie and I'll fall over the place. And in 30 minutes, I'll walk out there and I just feel so much better.

It's like the cobwebs have left my head. Have you noticed all the flowers around? Do you walk? Why don't you start walking every day? Just walk. Walk around your neighborhood. Smell the roses. Go to Milliken.

What a beautiful park. On and on it goes. Make sure you have proper exercise. Third, spend time with someone who's not discouraged. You want to overcome discouragement? Find somebody. You don't know anybody? Come to me. I'll show you. They're all over this congregation. Find someone who's not discouraged.

They'll pick you up in a New York second. Number four, do something for someone else. Why don't you, if you're discouraged today about your marriage, family, find something that you can do for somebody else this afternoon and see what it does for you. Don't go home and sit in front of a TV set. Go and do something for somebody else. Then next, accomplish a task.

Set yourself a job. Say this is what I'm going to do and go and accomplish it. And number six, here's a very important one. Attempt to learn important lessons from difficult situations and personal mistakes. Learn something from it. Folks, this week I learned from mistakes that I've made. Here, I've said things that I ought not to say. Here in the church, would you forgive me for that? Would you forgive me if I've ever said anything to you that has caused you discouragement? Are you prepared to turn to your wife or your husband today and say, would you forgive me for what I've done? Learn something from your mistakes. But there's a final point and I must close with this. Always remember that God has a sense of humor. You want to overcome discouragement, folks? Remember that God has a sense of humor.

He does. God's got a sense of humor. Anyone need a cat? Are you discouraged today? What has God told you to do?

You know, it's a very simple formula. It's difficult to understand sometimes. And if you're anything like me, you get into it like that, it's hard to be able to even make sense out of our discouragement sometimes, isn't it? God's there. He's in control. It is hard, isn't it, to make sense of that discouragement sometimes? But being reminded, as Dr. Don just did, that God is there.

He's in control. He's promised never to leave us or forsake us. And as a part of the body of Christ, God has compelled us to be available to you anytime. Right now, you can pick up a phone and call 866-899-WORD and talk with someone, pray with someone. If God stirred questions to your heart, let's discover the answers in God's Word together at 866-899-9673. I pray you'll jot it down.

Store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll always connect you with one of us, happy to talk or listen or pray or connect you with great resources. But maybe right now, the call you don't need to make is to us. But you just would open your heart to what the pastor is going to call us to do next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much. And I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. Welcome to the family of God. I'm convinced that some of you just prayed along with the pastor to give your life to Jesus Christ or maybe rededicate your life because this message about overcoming discouragement has reminded of you of the power of God in and through you to get you over even the most deep valley. I pray that you know we stand ready to pray with you as well. And not only that, if you just gave your life to Jesus or you just rededicated your life, Dr. Wilton wants you to have a wonderful group of information, a packet so to speak, and we'll give it to you for free if you'll call us and let us know at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Or if you'd rather, we'll meet online as well. Our website is TEWonline.org. We would love to connect with you there. That's TEWonline.org.

And there's some wonderful resources right there like this. When Jesus comes, every eye will see him, even those who crucified Jesus and those who mocked the name of Jesus. Do not be shocked or surprised at what's going on in America today.

We had better wake up, America. Jesus is coming again. This month, for your gift of support of the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Wilton's powerful and timely message, Trusting God, along with the bonus DVD movie on celebrating Ruth Bell Graham, a life marked by the faithfulness of God. Call us at 866-899-WORD to request Trusting God and the bonus DVD movie today for a gift of $20 or more. Thank you for standing with us. That number again is 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And before we get away, closing words from our pastor and chief encourager here at The Encouraging Word, Dr. Don Wilton. You know, every single time I get up and have the privilege of being able to share God's word with you, I pray for you. And I ask God to allow me to see you through my spiritual heart because I know how much God loves you.

I just want you to know that it means a great deal to me that you would write to me, that you would allow us to partner together. Your life is important. It's important, first of all, to the Lord Jesus every step of every day. But it's also important to me because I'm part of your family. We are part of the family of God. So God bless you, my friend, and thank you for letting me pray for you. Our time's gone for today, but there's more great teaching on the way tomorrow.

Dr. Wilton talks about getting our house in order. That's another powerful message coming up. And between now and then, let's stay connected on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org and always available for prayer at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673.