“PRAY LEST YOU FAINT.”-{Luke 18:1}

DISCOURAGEMENT;

Discouragement is not unknown to the human race, and followers of Christ are not protected from its temptation, or indeed yielding to it and experiencing at times it’s mental and emotional “crippling.” In the Old Testament a Hebrew word for “Discouragement “-“Thachath” which comes from the Hebrew root word “chathath” which means “dismayed, discouraged, disappointed BEATEN DOWN.” The word is used in Deuteronomy 31:8. Discouragement can “beat” us down, to despair, and despondency, depression, if left unchecked, by the Truth of Scripture!
  • The non-believer turns to various sources to counteract, the Christian has God and His Word as their Source to advise, direct, and enable us in those times of great temptation or even if we have succumbed to discouragement. Though we do not always avail of His provision do we?
  • Here is a verse of ENCOURAGEMENT for the Discouraged heart, ” His divine POWER has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very GREAT PROMISES…“-{2 Peter 1:3-4}. POWER and GREAT PROMISES from God available to the child of God!

DISCOURAGEMENT- TWO-PRONG ATTACK;

The enemy has a familiar two-prong attack that those of old experienced such as…
JOSHUA was warned THREE times in Joshua chapter one.-” Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”-{Joshua 1:9{
DAVID prayed for his son, “David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.”-{1 Chronicles 28:20}
NEHEMIAH -“For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, God, strengthen my hands.”-{Nehemiah 6:9}
Joshua, Solomon, and Nehemiah, were all involved in spiritual conflict or about to be and we see TWO Common assaults, temptations used in their lives to seek to dishearten them to cause them to STOP them from going forward about the things of God, namely, “FEAR AND DISCOURAGEMENT” They both are mentioned in the verses above!

Do you know anything about “fear and discouragement?”

Sure you do! When you came to Christ did those two evils drop off from coming to your mind, where you no longer experience their temptations or evil pang? No, Indeed at times they may have heightened as you encountered conflict in the will of God as you made choices to Honor the LORD Jesus through trusting and obeying His Word. The “fear’ comes in various forms, the fear of others’ opinions of you, the fear of the unknown, the fear of being rejected, and the fear of standing up for right in case of the consequences. Abraham, Peter, Paul. All experienced the temptation to “FEAR” in their lives. And fear travels with discouragement!

DISCOURAGEMENT’S GOAL;

Nehemiah 6:9 gives us some insight into the GOAL of Fear and discouragement. Note the order. Nehemiah said of those who were trying to stop him from fulfilling God’s will for him in the rebuilding of the wall when he says “They tried to FRIGHTEN us.” Note this is the first shot of poison to seek to gain entrance into their lives. Where does “fear” attack? your ankle? shin? arm? no! Your MIND! Your THINKING! Fear attacks the mind seeking to affect the emotions to incline the will in regard to the choices to make or not. But not the order. FEAR- DISCOURAGE- The purpose of fear was to DISCOURAGE them- to lose heart in the work to what end? The work “would not be done” that they would QUIT! Give up, throw in the towel!
  • And so it is with you and I, FEAR, DISCOURAGEMENT- QUIT! THE BATTLE IS FOR YOUR MIND- YOUR THOUGHT LIFE!

FISHING FOR YOU;

Imagine if you are fishing. And you are catching fish using a specific bait and someone tells you to change the bait and perhaps use something else. You wouldn’t take their advice. Why not? Because what you are using is… WORKING! The evidence? You are catching fish!
S,o the evil one, uses the SPECIFIC “Bait” of “FEAR, DISCOURAGEMENT” in order to tempt you to QUIT praying, Quit Trusting, Quit obeying, QUIT! Throw in the Towel, and GIVE UP!

PERSONAL TESTIMONY;

I was a young believer and daily I had a time when I would go alone to a place to pray. And I would lay on the ground and pray… and sometimes I would lose heart, become DISCOURAGED, and I noticed later on after a few days I had lost heart and stopped praying BECAUSE the evil one would REMIND me of my PAST SIN… And that was one of the baits he used to tempt me to discouragement… and it worked. I quit praying… and then I would start praying again and … later on, the same “bait” would be cast to my mind of past failures sin, and I would stop. He had found a “bait” that worked to DERIAL me from PRAYING!
  • Yours may not be past failures or sin, it may be something else, such as “doubt” has He really saved you? Doubt can He be trusted? Or the accusation may come ‘He will answer others’ prayers but how can He answer yours?’ and THE EVIL ONE TEMPTS YOU BY TURNING YOU inward TO LOOK AT YOURSELF AWAY FROM JESUS CHRIST AND HIS MERITS – which alone is Sufficient for your standing before God as it is mine and every child of God! Remembrance of my failure and sin had DISCOURAGED me from Persevering in Prayer! Do you see that? At the time I couldn’t, “But God….” was kind enough to show me His Blood had cleansed all my sin… and I had to learn to, Pray Through My Feelings and Thoughts of condemnation that were part of the evil one’s seeking to “catch” my mind, and effect my emotions aa result and the choices to STOP PRAYING!

THINK ABOUT IT;

When is the last time you stopped persevering in prayer, what was the “THOUGHT” that caused you to lose heart, yield to discouragement and … Give up?

FALSE CONCEPT we often Entertain;

That if we are “doing the LORD’S Work” that means we should not encounter conflict or hard times, but that it should be plain sailing, as evidence we are “doing the LORD’S Work!” SERIOUSLY, WE EXPECT TO NOT ENCOUNTER CONFLICT IN THE WILL OF GOD! Ephesians 6 speaks of the evil foe, the conflict we have, and our need to put on the armor of God. ARMOUR WAS NEEDED IN TIMES OF PEACE BUT WAR. WE ARE IN A SPIRITUAL WAR. And PRAYER is one of the Spiritual weapons we have been given, not as “something to do” in a list of “Christian activities in the club” but for warfare, spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness.
  • Paul wrote in Epeshians-“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”-{Ephesians 6:11-13}

PAY ATTENTION.

If you were to take a little time and write down in a book each time you quit persevering in prayer… and note was it a “THOUGHT” of FEAR? DISCOURAGEMENT, that was used to derail you? Did the evil one AGAIN CATCH you with thoughts of DISCOURAGEMENT, Hopelessness, a loss of confidence… despair? and yield to discouragement… and stop persevering in Prayer!
We have looked at 5 of a host of potentials in the last 4 devotionals on “5 Reasons We Don’t Persevere In Prayer,” to seek to TEMPT you from persevering in prayer, namely Delays. Disappointments. Doubts. Disobedience and now DISCOURAGEMENT.
” BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS DO NOT BE AFRAID DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD US WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO.”- Joshua 1:9
 

REMEMBER GOD’S PRESENCE AND PROMISE

Joshua was told to be strong and courageous and not to yield to fear and discouragement because of who was Present with him- THE LORD! He would face unknowns as will you but the Unknown is Known to the LORD who is present with you in all His power to bring about what will honor Him!
 

REMEMBER TO PERSEVERE IN PRAYER!

In the conflict Nehemiah CHOOSES not to yield to the temptation to quit because of the words and actions of others- and the “FEAR AND DISCOURGAMENT” they tried to fill his mind with. He RECOGNIZED it and what did he do? He TURNED TO THE LORD- not away from Him but to Him and prays specifially asking Him to “strengthen our hands”!
Jesus told His disciples in a time of great difficulty, he was about to go to the CROSS, DIE, BUT HAD TOLD them HE would Arise again and would come back and in the meantime He tells them to “PRAY LEST YOU FAINT!”-{Luke 18:1}
 
Hope this little series of these “5 Reasons We Don’t Persevere In prayer”  will encourage, and help equip you to pass on to HELP Others in their fight against despair, obstacles that seek to TEMPT you to throw in the towel and not persevere in prayer and the outcome if yielded to? FAINT- TO SPIRITUALLY THROW IN THE TOWEL!
DON’T CHOOSE TO BE DISCOURAGED! THAT’S RIGHT. YOU MAY BE TEMPTED BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO YIELD AND CHOOSE TO BE DISCOURAGED…”
One way Jesus tells us is to “PRAY LEST YOU FAINT!”  We too do and will encounter Fear and DISCOURAGEMENT but we need not yield we can continue on and One way is to REMEMBER THE LORD is ALWAYS Present with us and His Promises for us! 
Prayer is exercising faith, dependence, and confidence in a faithful God!
God bless
Aidan