Are you discouraged? Feeling down and out? Wondering why you should even bother trying to live
Christian life anymore, especially since you seem such a failure? Who hasn't felt worthless at times? Who hasn't grown impatient with themselves and felt sick over their lack of spiritual progress? (Lk. 8:15). YOU'RE NOT ALONE! We all go through those valleys of shadow of death. But take courage: way must lead up again soon! "Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is health of my countenance, and my God" (Ps. 42:11).Who would encourage you to quit? Would Christ want you to give up? The one who DIED for you? Would God pressure you to surrender? Too many have never realized what a vicious beast and enemy we must face! Even those who haven't rejected devil as a superstition haven't grasped how dangerous he really is to our health and well-being. God picks up pieces of lives that have been savagely torn and ripped apart and left for dead by sin (Isa. 49:24-25; Amos 3:12).
Satan's foaming at mouth against our incredible human potential and wants to take us out like a sniper - one at a time. He hates all mankind with a jealous rage (because we're created after Godkind), but he's especially targeted brethren (1 Pet. 5:8-11). The Devil can take some things that are true about you and twist them, taking them out of context, and blow them all out of proportion to DESTROY your will to survive! He never stops bad-mouthing us because he's a MURDEROUS CHARACTER ASSASSIN AND LIAR! (Jn. 8:44; Rev. 12:10) But don't let powers of darkness overcome your will to live in light! Don't accept Satan's depressed mind! Don't fall prey to his hopeless attitude of defeat! He has no right to condemn (Rom. 8:1,33).
King David would get discouraged, but he'd end his prayers on a positive note, showing healing effect of God's Spirit upon our minds while we're engaged in HEARTFELT PRAYER. "I had fainted, unless I had BELIEVED to see goodness of LORD in land of living. Wait on LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on LORD" (Ps. 27:13-14). David believed in God's goodness, hoped in His mercy, and waited for His sufficient grace - whether grace to pardon or empower (2 Cor. 12:9).
God will give us grace to bear up under life's many burdens (Heb. 4:16). His Holy Spirit enables us to be graceful - full of grace - even in adverse circumstances. We LIVE AND LEARN through a variety of situations to be gracious in word and deed, attitude and action. David knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that: "The LORD will give strength to His people: LORD will bless His people with strength" (Ps. 29:11). So "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in LORD"(Ps. 31:24).
Even if you've gotten carried away, your sins have taken you far from God, and Satan holds you captive ( 2 Tim. 2:26; I Cor. 5:5), remember God and He'll remember you! Not that He's ever forgotten you: "But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. Behold, I've graven you upon palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me" (Isa. 49:14-16). God's love for us goes far beyond our love for Him. He proved this when Jesus' palms had stakes driven through them (Zech. 13:6).
Some have been foolishly deceived by sin and have become carelessly entangled again - trapped in a danger zone - but as long as they don't give up they CAN overcome what has presently overcome them! (Heb. 3:13; 2 Pet. 2:20). It's only those who've completely turned their backs on God, who refuse to get back up when knocked down in ring, that will forfeit victory.
"And yet for all this (in spite of ourselves), when they be in land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am LORD their God" (Lev. 26:44). God promises to release, regather and restore. He'll free us from those sins that have cruelly held our time and attention, regather our spiritual senses (since Satan's psychological warfare had left us a basket-case and scatter-brained [Lk. 22:31-32; Deut. 28:66-67]), and restore us to sanity and a right relationship with Him (where we belong), even "If any of thine be driven out unto outmost parts of heaven, from thence will LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee"(Deut. 30:3-4). No matter how far you've strayed, God hasn't lost sight of you. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Ps. 139:7).
If you begin to cry out to God for help, even if it's only a whimper because you're so weak, He'll see and hear and respond. "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit... none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate" (Ps. 34:18,22). "For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be wroth: for spirit should fail before me, and souls which I have made... I have seen his ways and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners" (Isa. 57:15-18).
God sees what trouble we've gotten into and where our relapse into sin has dangerously misled and stranded us, bringing us almost to point of no return, but NOTHING can separate you from God's love unless you let it! (Rom 8:35-39). As long as there's a spark of God's Spirit, God can renew our minds and transform our lives! (Ps. 51:10). God will finish what He's started in our lives (Philip. 1:6; Isa. 66:9). Never forget that we worship a MIRACLE-WORKING GOD!
