Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, July 22nd. For believers, true faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that will sustain us when we're disillusioned. Here's part two of the message on defeating discouragement. We're all going to get disappointed many times in life. Because you see, disappointment is inevitable, it's inescapable, it's unavoidable.
We're going to disappoint some people, some people are going to disappoint us. And oftentimes it's the very people we love the most or the people who love us the most.
So, you're not going to ever reach a stage in life where you're not going to experience disappointment. You're going to feel it.
Sometimes it's going to be very hurtful and very painful. But what do you do with it? If you don't know how to deal with disappointment, It can become the beginning of discouragement in your life. And once it does, Oftentimes it'll take you down a road of hurt. Pain Disappointment.
after disappointment, after disappointment. And the kind of hurt and pain that those around you feel, the consequences of your unresolved conflict in this disappointment that you face.
So, what happens when? you become discouraged.
Well, I want you to think about this. First thing that happens is your mind gets divided. A divided mind is that inner gnawing that goes on on the inside. That grabs your attention no matter where you are. No matter who you're with.
No matter what the situation, the circumstances, when you have a divided mind, you cannot focus and do your best. You cannot do your best with a divided mind. You have to be able to deal with it. You have to be able to deal with the disappointment, lest you become discouraged. And when you are, you're going to have a divided mind because back in the recesses of your mind and your heart, You're thinking about what's wrong, thinking about the failure, thinking about the past, thinking about how you're treated, thinking about how people respond, thinking about what you'd like to have, thinking about what you don't have.
And so your mind is divided.
So when you come to focus on your job, it's difficult to do because you have a divided mind. A second thing that happens is this. You look for somebody to blame. That's just as normal and natural as it can be. And so, what happens?
Oftentimes, you blame God. God, if you're sovereign, you could have kept this from happening. God, this is your fault. You allowed this disappointment in my life. You've been the one who's allowed me to become discouraged.
Well, God may have allowed the disappointment. But he did not intend for you to become discouraged to the point of wrecking and ruining your life or losing your joy and your relationship to him.
Sometimes We want to blame someone else. That's always the easier thing to do.
Well, if he is If she, if he'd have done this and she'd have done that. We want to blame someone else for our discouragement. They disappointed me. I put my faith in them. They were disloyal.
She didn't love me. He didn't love me. They walked away. They failed me. Always blame someone else.
You know the worst person to blame? And that's yourself. And I've heard this so many times, if I'd a. If I'd have done this, and if I'd have done that. And if she'd have done this or he'd have done that.
You live an if-out of life. If you live an if-out of life, you're going to live a life of discouragement. You're going to live a life that is depressed. You're going to live a life that has no happiness and no joy and no peace and no contentment, and you're going to be a continuing disappointment to yourself. We all make mistakes.
But blaming ourselves, living in the past, blaming our circumstances, blaming God, blaming others, listen, when you get discouraged, that's what you're prone to do. A third thing that's evident, and that's this. we become very angry at our circumstances. We are angry because of error. discontent in our discouragement in life and We begin to be angry.
We're angry toward ourselves, angry toward God, angry toward other people. And you know what happens? When you begin to be angry and you have unresolved anger in your life because of your circumstances, what you do is you drive people away from you. People not interested in knowing or fellowshipping or relating to people who live in anger. Because what happens is they're going to spew it out on people all around them.
Now what happens if you don't deal with your anger? Here's what happens. You become depressed because depression, there are some exceptions to this, depression primarily is unresolved anger, conflict in my life that I absolutely will not resolve. You're depressed. You're angry, angry about your circumstances.
Because you're so totally Listen. totally discouraged about life. You're angry about how you got there, angry that you're there, angry that you don't know how to get out. And I think there are many people who commit crimes. They're so angry, they do not know how to deal with life, relate to other people, and that anger reaches a stage that it has to be vented in some fashion or the other, and that's exactly what they do: they vent it on someone else.
Then, one of the things that living in discouragement does is estranges people from you.
Now all of us love people. who are encouragers to us. And for example, Let me ask you this, is there anybody in your life A friend, or someone, maybe someone you love dearly, that when you think about them, you smile on the inside. I've got some friends when I think about them, I'm happy on the inside. You know what?
Because of what they mean to me. Because of what I know I mean to them. You know what happens when you live a discouraged life? Here's what happens. You naturally are going to share it.
Well One of the most important things in life is a friend. The longer you live, the more important your friends become. But if you're one of those persons who's living in the realm of discouragement, you know what happens? You separate yourself from people. People really don't like to fellowship with someone who is just living in a state of discouragement unless, watch this, unless they too live in a state of discouragement.
And so when you get together, you have this awesome party of total negativism. Because what you try to do is you try to outdo the other person.
Well, if that happened to you, well, let me tell you what happened to me. And so, what you're doing is, you're trying to outdo each other on your painful experiences in life. And imagine how you go home. With all the disappointments you had before you met the person, and now you have all of hers or his to take home with you, and now you can evaluate just how bad things are. That's what we do.
We live in discouragement, we estrange ourselves from other people. Oftentimes A person who lives in a state of discouragement continually, you begin to make very unwise decisions. Very unwise decisions.
Sometimes it's a decision in a relationship.
Sometimes it's a decision financially.
Sometimes it's a decision that will absolutely sends you running down the wrong pathway to lose everything. Yeah. You see, you can't live in a state. of discouragement. And make it in life.
God did not intend for you to live that way. He intended for you to live with joy and confidence and peace in your life. But you say, oh, but look, I'm in this awesome valley of discouragement. I feel totally defeated in life.
Well, let me ask you a question. What do you intend to do? about the state of discouragement you're presently in. You say, what can I do? I'm going to tell you in a moment.
But are you one of those persons who's decided Not gonna get any better. This is the way it is. And I think one of the most devastating stages a person can reach is this. They're in the trough of discouragement. And they come to this conclusion.
Well, this is the way life is. This is who I am. This is the way it'll always be. I just got left out. This is my luck.
Watch this. Believers don't talk luck. That's not in our vocabulary. We don't go and look. We going blessing not luck We're talking about what God can do in our life, not what faith sends us.
And Nehemiah could have given lots of reasons for being very discouraged and gone back. To the king. Lib is a cupbearer. Finally died in a foreign country. You know what?
God used him because he refused to be overwhelmed by what he saw. and what he felt. He could have been disappointed and sulked in it. But he chose to be obedient to God. He chose to believe God for the best.
And there's so many people who are living in discouragement who just, the problem is they cannot believe that God loves them. They cannot believe that God cares. And you may be one of those persons. You say, why would He care about me? He does.
That's his nature to care about you. That's his nature to love you. He wants the best for you. Say, but look what I've done. It has nothing to do with what you've done.
It has to do with the character of God. You're looking at the wrong thing. You're looking at yourself, you should be looking at God. What does He think? What does He feel?
What does He say? What does He promise? What about His power? What about His love? What about His goodness?
He says He stored up goodness for those who reverence Him.
So what you have to ask is this. Not can I get out of this. But will I? You want to step out of that discouragement? You're gonna step on a whole higher level of living?
You want to regain the joy and the peace and the happiness that maybe you once had, or maybe you've never had it. But you surely do want it. You can. If you will make a choice, remember, and I've said it again and again on purpose: disappointments. We're all going to have them.
inevitable, inescapable. Unavoidable. We're going to get disappointed and we're going to disappoint others. But discouragement is a choice. We don't have to be discouraged because the bottom's dropped out.
You can't get so low that Almighty God can't pick you up, lift you up, and take you out and send you on a different way. And I think about people that I've known through the years who've been at rock bottom and just a little below that. It looked like they didn't have a chance in life. Let a few years go by and they're on top. Why?
Because they refuse to give up. They refused to live in the pits of discouragement. They chose to make a decision. They chose to step out. They chose to believe God.
They chose to take a step. They chose not to be. what they could have been. Had they simply salt? And soaked in their own pity party because things were not good for them.
Now When I think about Nehrama and how he responded, it was always an encouragement. And so what did he do? He sought the Lord. He had made the request. He listened to God's direction.
He went to Jerusalem. He got the leaders together. He challenged the people and they went to work and they got the job done. He would not tolerate Discouragement. He wouldn't accept it for himself.
He wouldn't accept it from them. When they got discouraged, he said, we're going to build. They said, but they're going to attack us and we're going to lose our families. He said, all right. One man hold a sword.
The other man hold the hammer. But we're going to build this wall. and they got it built in 52 days. You say, all right. I'm one of those persons whose led disappointment discouraged me.
Here I am. What do I do?
Well, I want to Just simply say this to you. I want to tell you what I know will work. Because it's worked in my life through many times of difficulty, hardship, and pain.
Well, I've been disappointed a lot of times. when I've been hurt lots of times. When I felt what disloyalty is all about, I felt what walking away is all about. I felt what loneliness is all about. criticism.
And all the things and false accusations. I know something about some of that. There are a lot of people who know a whole lot more about hurt and disappointment than I do. But I do know enough to know that you do not have to live in discouragement. You do not have to surrender.
to those emotions.
So I want you to listen carefully. When you're disappointed, And you find yourself heading in the direction of being discouraged. Here's what you do. You confess aloud to your Heavenly Father. Father, I know you're with me.
in this disappointment. And there's discouragement. And are you with me? Secondly, Father, I know that you're in control of my life. You know all about what's going on, and you have power to change anything you choose.
Father, I know that you're going to turn this for good. You know my pain, my hurt. what I'm feeling. I know you're going to turn this for good. And I'm looking.
to see how you turn. This for good.
Now listen carefully. When you are disappointed by someone Or something, whatever the situation may be, if you will begin immediately to cry out to the Father, Father, I know you're with me in this. I'm deeply disappointed. deeply hurt. Father, you're in absolute control of my life.
And you can limit the intensity. of my hurt or my pain. If you choose to do so, Father? I know That you've made a promise, that you're working everything in our life for our good because you said you've stored up goodness for us. You said you've established your throne in the heavens.
And your sovereignty rules over all. I'm under your control and your authority. You said you cause all things to work together for good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. And I love you, Lord. Let me ask you a question.
How can you live in discouragement? Confessing those three absolutely. Unquestionable. biblical truths to your Heavenly Father. He will lift you up.
You'll be surprised what will happen. You say, Well, now, how long do I have to confess that?
Well, let me ask you a question. How long have you been discouraged? You said I've been discouraged a long time. You confess those three things aloud to your Heavenly Father. I know that you're with me.
Because you love me unconditionally. I know that you're controlling all my circumstances because you're all-powerful. I know that you're working for something good out of this because you promised it. My friend, God will lift you out. Of the pits and the slime of discouragement.
If you will begin to confess those three things to Him and keep on confessing them to Him, here's what happens: your attitude changes. Your outlook, your viewpoint of things are gonna change. Why? Because all of a sudden, the Father, He is the point of focus. Your focus is upon Him, not your circumstances, not your disappointments, and not your discouragement, but He becomes the focus.
And what happens? Your attitude changes. Your viewpoint changes, and you know what happens? Your actions will change, and your circumstances will change.
Now, there are some circumstances. That God brings a person to, that maybe death is the next event in their life. You say, well, nobody could be encouraged knowing they're going to die. I could name you a brother today. Who loves God.
Who never thought he'd be here. this past week. who arta had planned to be dead. Before that. And he has encouraged so many people.
His life is such a beautiful example of one who refused to be discouraged. Disappointed that all these things happen? Yes. But what? He knows.
The father hasn't left him. He knows the father's in control of his body. And he knows that God is working something good out of that. even in the midst of it.
Now here's the question. Today facing your discouragement in life, no matter what it is. Before you turn it off. You're going to have to make a choice. I'm going to stay where I am.
In my discouragement, the slime pits of despair. I'm going by faith. Trust my Heavenly Father. To lift me out of this. I don't know how he's gonna do it.
They'll know exactly when it's going to happen. But he's with me in it. He's in control of it. And he's working it for my good. I anticipate.
deliverance from this discouragement. And I am willing to take whatever step the Father wants me to take. Listen carefully. Watch this. 99.9% of the time, God will require something of you that may look very insignificant.
But it is the key step. to bring you out of your discouragement. Put you on a level. that you would never have dreamed God could place you. It is a choice you make, and here ultimately is the choice.
Am I willing to believe? that my Heavenly Father loves me. Unconditionally. and doesn't want me discouraged. Am I willing to believe that he has the power and the will and the desire?
to change my circumstances. And if not my circumstances at first, it changed my attitude, yes. And do I believe that even God Can work something good even in this difficult, seemingly impossible situation I find myself. The question is, do you believe That God is able. Ready?
and willing. Because he loves you. You make the choice. to stay there. or to stand up.
and move on. Father, how grateful we are. You want the best for us. And the decision is ours. And I pray the Holy Spirit.
will speak to every single person who hears this message. to realize You love every single one of us. You want the best for all of us. that it's our choice. You'll encourage us to make the choice.
But ultimately, we make the choice. And I pray that you'll transform the life first. and the circumstances of those in whose life you're working. even while they listen. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of Defeating Discouragement. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
