The Cure For Discouragement

There are times in life when circumstances seem beyond my control. Problems can arise that look impossible to solve, situations can continue longer than I expected, and discouragement can begin to take hold of my heart. But I have learned that I cannot allow what I see in the natural to become the focus of my life.

Hebrews 12:2 gives me the answer: “Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus,” who is the author and the perfecter of my faith. That is easier said than done when I am facing circumstances that appear overwhelming, but this is exactly where I have to begin.

I have experienced many moments during the course of my life and ministry when obstacles seemed like they might be the last straw. There have even been moments when I became so discouraged that I thought I might have to quit. But then I felt the stirring of the Spirit of God inside me. He reminded me of His promise and of the Word that was hidden in my heart. That Scripture arose in my spirit, faith came, and when I looked again, God had brought me through the circumstance.

I have learned that God does not see my problems the same way I see them. He sees them from a heavenly perspective. He sees them from an eternal perspective. He is Almighty God, and the things that are impossible with man are possible with God.

When I focus continually on what looks impossible, discouragement can take hold of me and distract me from what God has called me to do. That is why Hebrews 12:2 tells me to look away from everything that distracts me and focus my eyes upon Jesus.

Jesus is the author and the perfecter of my faith. He is the One who begins the work, and He is the One who brings my faith to maturity. This means God is continually working in me. Things that once overwhelmed me do not have to overwhelm me forever. As my faith matures, I learn how to trust God in areas where I once struggled.

The important thing is that I continue. I cannot stop.

I remember running cross-country races when I was in high school. They were compulsory, and if they had been optional, I definitely would not have volunteered. There were times during those races when I wanted to quit. I would reach the halfway point and think that I could simply stop. But I would tell myself, “No, I just can’t quit. I’ve got to finish this race.” Even if I came in last, I was going to finish.

Then, during the final two or three hundred yards, it often seemed as though a second wind would come. Suddenly I had energy I did not think I had. I would press ahead and cross the finish line.

That is an analogy of my walk with the Lord. I am running a race with patience and enduring unto the end. God gives me the energy. God gives me the strength. God gives me the ability to continue. Giving up is never the answer.

Hebrews 12:2 also tells me that Jesus, “for the joy” set before Him, endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus saw what was beyond the suffering. There was a goal before Him.

In the same way, there is joy in fulfilling what God has called me to do. There is peace and satisfaction in fulfilling His call. When I sit back, lick my wounds, and feel that I cannot go on, there is no real joy in that. But there is joy in fulfilling the call of God.

I also have to remember that I am not accomplishing this in my own strength. Jesus said that His burden is light and His yoke is easy. When I try to do everything my way and depend upon my own ability, life becomes difficult. I have to lean upon the Spirit of God who dwells inside me. I depend upon God’s ability, God’s efficiency, and God’s might.

The Holy Spirit is my helper, my comforter, my strength, and my guide. I have to learn to trust the anointing on the inside instead of continually looking at circumstances on the outside.

My flesh wants to grab hold of every negative thing it sees. My flesh wants to panic, and my natural mind can imagine the worst possible scenario. But my heart is in tune with the Holy Spirit. He tells me to be at peace. He tells me not to look at the circumstances but to look to Jesus, because Jesus is the author and the perfecter of my faith.

Mark chapter 5 gives me a powerful picture of this truth. Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came to Jesus because his little daughter was at the point of death. Mark 5:23 records his desperate request: “My little daughter lieth at the point of death.” He believed that if Jesus would come and lay His hands upon her, she would be healed and live.

Jesus went with him.

But while Jesus was on His way, there was a woman who had suffered with a flow of blood for twelve years. Mark 5 tells me that she had endured much suffering at the hands of many physicians. She had spent everything she had, yet instead of getting better, she had grown worse.

I can imagine the discouragement. Twelve years is a long time to deal with a problem. Sometimes I can deal with something physically, emotionally, financially, in my family, or in another area of life for so long that I wonder whether I will ever see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But this woman heard about Jesus.

Mark 5 says that she kept saying to herself, “If I could only touch his garment, I shall be restored to health.”

That is important to me. She kept saying it. Instead of continually speaking the problem, she began speaking what she believed. Faith was arising in her heart.

This teaches me that I need to find God’s promise concerning my condition and keep saying it. I need to keep speaking the Word of God instead of continually speaking my defeat. Faith does not arise when I speak the opposite of what God’s Word says. Faith arises when I speak what God’s Word says.

If I am believing God for healing, I can declare, “By your stripes, Lord, I am healed.” I can thank Him that He provided healing for me. Romans 8:11 also tells me that if the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me, He will quicken my mortal body. So I can thank God that His Spirit dwelling within me is quickening my mortal body.

My natural mind may argue with me because it is moved by what it sees and feels. But I must continue speaking God’s promise. If necessary, I can say it ten, fifteen, or twenty times a day because sometimes my head is so convinced otherwise. My head is moved by what it sees, but when I trust God and walk by faith, I begin seeing the situation the way God sees it.

I also receive the joy that comes from the presence of the Lord. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Sometimes I am looking for myself to feel better on the outside when what I need to do is start feeling better on the inside. When the glory begins to rise and the joy begins to rise on the inside, there will be an overflow on the outside.

This principle applies to every area of my life. If I have a stressful job, I need the help of heaven on the inside to help me succeed on the outside. I do not have to wait for everything around me to change before I can have peace. I can look to the Spirit of God within me. He supplies the joy, peace, and strength of heaven that I need to cope with life.

The woman in Mark 5 kept saying that if she could touch Jesus’ garment, she would be restored to health. Then she acted upon what she believed. She pressed through the crowd and touched Him.

Immediately, the flow of blood dried up at its source, and she felt in her body that she had been healed. Jesus also recognized that power had gone out from Him. Many people were touching Him because the crowd was pressing around Him from every direction, but this touch was different. This woman touched Him with faith.

Jesus told her, “Daughter, your faith,” her trust and confidence in Him springing forth from faith in God, “has restored you to health.”

That brings everything back to trust. I am not trusting in what I see or what I feel. I am not trusting in my lack or what I can see in my bank balance. I am trusting in the Lord who made heaven and earth. My trust is in the Lord because He is surely able to deliver me and set me free.

Ephesians 3:20 reminds me that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all I can ask, think, or even imagine, according to the power of God that is at work in me. Therefore, I cannot allow my thoughts to run wild and continually imagine the worst possible outcome. I have to cast down those imaginations, speak the Word of God, and allow faith to arise.

The woman with the issue of blood had every natural reason to be discouraged, but she kept saying what she believed. She kept moving toward Jesus, and she reached out with the touch of faith.

That is what I must remember when discouragement tries to take hold of me. I cannot stop because of what I see. I must keep speaking His Word, keep trusting His promise, and keep looking unto Jesus.

He is the author and the perfecter of my faith.

Source: Thurs. 10-02-2025 “The Cure For Discouragement” BC# 1,170 — YouTube

The Cure For Discouragement   Part Two

The Cure For Discouragement continues with the words Jesus spoke to the woman who had suffered for twelve years. After telling her that her faith had restored her to health, Jesus told her, “Go in peace,” and to be continually healed.

That speaks to me about living continually in what God has provided rather than waiting until a problem overwhelms me before I begin trusting Him. I do not want to wait until I am sick and then run to the Lord for healing. I want to believe God for divine health and thank Him every day for the life of God flowing in me.

The same principle applies to finances. I can get up every day and say, “Lord, thank You that You provide all my needs.” Philippians 4:19 declares that God supplies all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I do not have to know from month to month where everything is coming from. I know that God is my source.

I can say, “Lord, You are providing everything that I need. I don’t have to trust in my own strength. I don’t have to lean upon my own strength and my own understanding. I can trust You because You said You would never leave me nor forsake me.”

Proverbs 3:5 tells me to trust in the Lord with all my heart and not lean upon my own understanding. Psalm 37:25 also declares, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” These are promises I can hold onto when circumstances try to tell me something different.

The same applies when I am facing danger or uncertainty. Instead of allowing my thoughts to run wild and believing the worst possible scenario, I can trust God for His protection. Jesus said in John 16:33 that He has overcome the world. Even when everything around me appears to be falling apart, I can trust Him to be my source, my provider, and my protector.

I am not going to allow discouragement to distract me and take me away from the things of God. I am going to look unto Jesus because He is the author and the perfecter of my faith.

Hebrews 12:2 brings me right back to the foundation of this message: I am to look away from all that distracts me and look unto Jesus. Circumstances in the natural can be overwhelming, but I do not have to give them my continual attention. Jesus is more than able to deliver me, set me free, and keep me from falling.

Jesus told the woman in Mark 5, “Go in peace.” That peace is what I need in the middle of turmoil, stress, and the pressures of life. Philippians 4:7 speaks of the peace of God that passes understanding. It has nothing to do with what my natural mind understands. It is a peace that comes from within. The Holy Spirit is the dispenser of that peace, and when His peace rises up and overflows, it brings peace to my mind.

Sometimes it may look as though I am not getting ahead. It may even appear that I am going backward. But whenever I am trusting God, I am not going backward. I am going forward.

I may look at a circumstance I have been believing God to change and think, “Nothing seems to change.” But I cannot believe that report. Isaiah 43:18–19 says, “Remember ye not the former things,” and then God declares, “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth.”

God is the God of change. I cannot become so occupied with everything that distracts me that I fail to recognize the new thing when it begins to spring forth.

So I can get up every morning and declare Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.” I refuse to allow circumstances to overwhelm me. I trust the Lord because He is the author of my faith.

Then Mark 5 takes Jairus into what appears to be an even more impossible situation. While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from Jairus’ house and told him that his daughter had died. Jairus had been waiting for Jesus to come and heal her, and now he received the news that she was dead.

In the natural, that looked final.

But just because something looks dead does not mean God cannot resurrect it. Something I have been believing for may appear dead. The call of God upon my life may seem as though it has disappeared. A situation may look completely impossible in the natural, but that does not mean God is unable to resurrect it.

Matthew 10:8 records Jesus saying, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead.” God does not look at death and conclude that nothing more can be done. He is still God.

Jesus heard the report concerning Jairus’ daughter, but Mark 5:36 says that He ignored what they said. Then He told Jairus, “Be not afraid, only believe.”

That is what I must do when a bad report comes. I cannot allow myself to be seized with alarm and struck with fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear will try to arise in the natural, but I cannot give fear a foothold.

I will not let fear become my slave driver. I will not let fear drive me. I will let faith arise and drive fear out.

Jesus’ instruction to Jairus was to keep on believing. That same principle runs throughout this entire account. The woman kept on saying. Jesus told her to be continually healed. Jairus was told to keep on believing. God is showing me that I have to continue.

Psalm 3:3 says, “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” Hebrews 12:12 tells me, “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.”

Discouragement wants my hands to hang down and my head to fall, but God is the lifter of my head. Instead of surrendering to discouragement, I can lift my hands, strengthen my knees, stand upon His Word, thank Him for His promises, and keep on believing.

When Jesus arrived at Jairus’ house, people were already weeping and mourning. Jesus asked why they were making such an uproar and told them that the little girl was not dead but sleeping.

They laughed at Him.

They saw death, but Jesus saw something completely different. He saw her as sleeping because He was about to wake her up. Their unbelief did not change what Jesus knew He was going to do.

This also teaches me to be careful about sharing everything God has placed in my heart with people who do not have faith to believe. There will always be people who can give me all the reasons why something will not work. Jesus put the unbelieving people out and took the girl’s father and mother and those who were with Him into the room.

Then Jesus took the child firmly by the hand. There was no shadow of doubt in Him concerning what was about to happen.

The girl arose.

That reminds me that I cannot judge the final outcome of my life by what I see at this moment. God is able to provide for me. He is able to bring healing, change, and victory. He watches over His Word to perform it.

I therefore refuse to be distracted by every negative thing I see. I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but God does. Matthew 6:34 teaches me not to take anxious thought for tomorrow. I am not going to allow tomorrow to worry me. I am going to trust Him today.

Tomorrow I can get up and trust Him again because Lamentations 3:22–23 reminds me that His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.

The cure for discouragement is not found in staring harder at my circumstances. My answer is to look away from everything that distracts me and look unto Jesus. I will keep speaking His Word, believing His promises, running the race, trusting Him, receiving His peace and joy, and depending upon the Holy Spirit who lives inside me.

Isaiah 61 declares that the Spirit of the Lord brings good news, binds up the brokenhearted, and brings liberty to the captives. It speaks of “the oil of joy for mourning” and “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

If my heart has been broken, He can bind it up. If I have been captive to discouragement, He can set me free. If I have been mourning, He can give me the oil of joy. If my spirit has been burdened and heavy, I can put on the garment of praise.

I will not allow discouragement to determine my future. I will not allow fear to drive me, and I will not allow what I see today to convince me that God has stopped working. I am looking unto Jesus because He is the author and the perfecter of my faith, and because He is still working in me, I will keep on believing.

Source: Thurs. 10-02-2025 “The Cure For Discouragement” BC# 1,170 — YouTube