Discouraged ?

"...David encouraged himself in the Lord his God" 
 I Samuel 30:6

The  word of the Lord found in I Samuel is a example for those of us who are discouraged. The first action is to lay discouragement aside as a tattered garment which is to be cast off and discarded.

The discouragement that has kept you down, that has submerged you, that has kept you down trodden and robbed you of the confidence must be addressed at once in order to be free and allow you to face the future.

Discouragement does not come from the Lord and He has not permitted me.

Discouragement typically comes because in our reasoning's we have rationalized the answers to our problems--and leaned on our own understanding. We have maneuvered and manipulated with self-effort, and by taking things into our own hands and developing your own plans we actually prolong our discouragement.

These are not the Lord's plans, they are ours. These are not the Lord's idea's, they are ours.

When we rely on our own strength and understanding our plans fail to materialize, and they result in weariness , striving , struggling in our own human energy which fails to produce achievement and fulfillment  that we desired.

Rather than admit that our plans have failed  to produce the wisdom and guidance that we had hoped we keep striving only to experience a wave of bewilderment and discouragement that sets us back even further.

It's time to return to the Lord. It's time to look to the Lord for His Presence. By His word and by His Spirit we will recieve comfort from His presence when we call out in humility and faith. The Lord will hear and  release a gift of faith in our hearts to believe for the impossible.

The Lord longs to bring us forth in triumph, rejoicing in His ability to take our humility and faith, and bring us into victory. With His help we will be lifted out of discouragement and hopelessness into victory and fulfillment. "Not by power nor by might, but by My Spirit..."

"Why are thou cast down, O my Soul?...hope thou in God" Psalms 42:5