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Do you get discouraged? I'm sure you don't, but I sure do. I get discouraged when I feel like I'm pulled in too many directions to be really good at any one thing. I feel the crushing weight of discouragement when I feel like nothing I try to do gets any traction; when my career, my music, or my life feels like it's stuck in the muck.
Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I read a quote a couple of days ago on Twitter that stuck with me. I want to share that with you today as one of the steps to dealing with discouragement as well as expand on that with a couple more points that I hope are helpful to you.
1. Narrow your audience down to ONE. Yes, that's right. I said it. Narrow your audience down to ONE. With so many voices speaking to our hearts and minds about what we should and shouldn't do, where we should and shouldn't go, what we should or shouldn't say, there is only one voice we need to listen to. There is only one direction we should look for answers. Look up.Listen to the voice of your Heavenly Father.
He absorbed the full weight of God's wrath and punishment for your sin; past, present, and future. Not only that, he clothed you in his righteousness so that when the Father looks at you, he sees Jesus.
Over to you. If you've read this far, you've overheard me preaching to myself. Has any of this resonated with you? Please comment and let's encourage one another further.
1. Narrow your audience down to ONE. Yes, that's right. I said it. Narrow your audience down to ONE. With so many voices speaking to our hearts and minds about what we should and shouldn't do, where we should and shouldn't go, what we should or shouldn't say, there is only one voice we need to listen to. There is only one direction we should look for answers. Look up.Listen to the voice of your Heavenly Father.
2. Realize that your Heavenly Father is fully pleased with you. I threw out this thought on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and it started a great discussion. What I want you to know is this: If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. Christ took the weight of your sin and shame upon himself when he died on the cross. Did you hear that?
He took your sin.
All of your sin.
Every sin.
Yes. Even that one.
He absorbed the full weight of God's wrath and punishment for your sin; past, present, and future. Not only that, he clothed you in his righteousness so that when the Father looks at you, he sees Jesus.
You're not guilty anymore.
This is more than acquittal.
This is not a cosmic legal loophole.
This is more than reasonable doubt.
You are declared innocent.
You are declared righteous.
You're no longer a sinner who sometimes does good.
You're now a saint who sometimes stumbles.
3. Be thankful. I discussed in a previous post how thankfulness is the gateway to blessing and evangelism. My friends, we have so much to be thankful for. We were wretched sinners, yet the Father is fully pleased with us in Christ. That is a reason to celebrate and a weapon with which to kill discouragement.
Proverbs 15:15 (NLT) says:
For the despondent, every day brings trouble;Be encouraged today, brother. Rejoice today, sister. Your audience of ONE is giving you a standing ovation and cheering, "Bravo!"
for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.
Over to you. If you've read this far, you've overheard me preaching to myself. Has any of this resonated with you? Please comment and let's encourage one another further.
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