Discouragement

Katherine Walden

Posted on by Kath Walden

April 11, 2020

Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
This Easter Saturday, reflect on the dashed dreams and hopes of the disciples as they awoke the morning after Jesus’ death. Peter’s heart was crushed, for he denied the One he loved most. John tried to console an inconsolable Mary as he held the mother of the one who died a seemingly shame-filled, gruesome death. Other disciples cringed as they remembered their desperate dash into the night, abandoning Jesus. Others dealt with the death of their revolutionary dreams; Jesus wasn’t going to take the physical throne of Jerusalem, ousting their oppressors once and for all. Yes, it was a dark time for the disciples. However, It is only in the darkest of nights that the stars shine their brightest. Joy comes in the morning.

Graham Cooke

Posted on by Kath Walden

Father, I’m weary of being misunderstood. I’m tired of the ungracious scrutiny of others. Hide me, dear Lord, in the secret place of Your presence. Keep me from people who speak about me, but not to me. I am helpless against the riptide of their words. I cannot defend myself. Refresh my heart to look on them with love. I accept this part of Your cross. Change my heart to speak with Your love and sculpt my life through these situations. Let their hard words chiel away my roughness, forming Christ.

K P Yohannan

Posted on by Kath Walden

When you are faced with disappointments and when all around you seems hopeless, do not give up or try to solve the problem yourself. Satan tries to use these disappointments to discourage you and bring you down, but God can use them for a better purpose. Go to Christ instead. He is able to lead you out of your discouragement. And if you focus on Him, He will use times of trials in your life to bring you closer to Him. You need only to look to Him. He is willing. Make your choice.

Billy Graham

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Some people have a warped idea of living the Christian life. Seeing talented, successful Christians, they attempt to imitate them. For them, the grass on the other side of the fence is always greener. But when they discover that their own gifts are different or their contributions are more modest (or even invisible), they collapse in discouragement and overlook genuine opportunities that are open to them. They have forgotten that they are here to serve Christ, not themselves.

Jean Nicolas (J N) Grou

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How are we to approach such blessed strength? First of all, through a steadfast will to refuse nothing that God requires of us, and to do nothing deliberately which can displease Him. Next, we must learn to take our faults humbly, as proofs of our weakness, and use them to increase our trust in God, and our mistrust of self. Neither must we be discouraged at our own wretchedness, or give way to the thought that we cannot do or bear any special thing; our duty is, while confessing that of ourselves it is impossible, to remember that God is all-powerful, and that through Him we can do whatever He may require of us.

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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The many contradictions in our lives – such as being home while feeling homeless, being busy while feeling bored, being popular while feeling lonely, being believers while feeling many doubts – can frustrate, irritate, and even discourage us. They make us feel that we are never fully present. Every door that opens for us makes us see how many more doors are closed. But there is another response. These same contradictions can bring us into touch with a deeper longing for the fulfillment of a desire that lives beneath all desires and that only God can satisfy. Contradictions, thus understood, create the friction that can help us move toward God.

Harold Ockenga

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What a blessing it is when in the midst of our discouragements and sometimes our self-aversion because of failures or littleness of spirit we are able to look away to this glorious fact of our relationship to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Nighness is brought about by Christ dwelling in us….Christ brings God to us and brings us to God. Nighness or nearness results in blessing. He who is near to God has access to the divine resources of blessing and help.

Ralph Erskine

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Let no extreme difficulty discourage you, and make you think, Oh! it is impossible relief can now come; What? Are not all things possible to him that hath all things in his hand? Yea, “All things are possible to him that believeth;” and it is possible for you to do all things through Christ strengthening you, even to overleap the highest walls, to break bows of steel in pieces, and wade through the deepest fords in your way.