WHEN WE’RE FEELING HEAVY-HEARTED OR DISCOURAGED
We all get disappointed and discouraged at times and want to indulge in a bit of self-pity over one thing or another. It’s human nature. We get tired of always fighting and working and fighting and working. Our hearts feel like they just can’t take any more grief.
Jesus’ disciples had the same problem.
Jesus took them to the Mount of Olives just before his crucifixion. He told them to pray while he off by himself to pray. But when he “rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow” (Luke 22:45).
That’s how I sometimes feel on a grey Saturday. We’re used to sunshine here in Las Vegas. So, if the sky is overcast, we can feel the whole city of tourists and locals alike, groaning and downcast. The atmosphere turns claustrophobic and heavy, and I don’t want to do anything but take a long nap and wake up later.
But Jesus “said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” (vs.46). And isn’t that just so true? If we stay in our “poor me, I want to sleep” state we’re much more likely to fall into deeper temptations that get harder and harder to escape, and the things we need to get done, get farther and farther from us. Satan is eagerly looking for a break in our confidence. “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
A great example of someone who let the “poor me” temptation escalate into years of sorrow was the disabled man at the pool of Bethesda.
This man had been coming down to the pool to get his healing for years on end. Jesus asked him: “Do you want to become well? Are you really in earnest about getting well?” (John 5:6). The man didn’t even just say yes. Instead, he answered by blaming other people, saying it was their fault he wasn’t healed.
It’s easy to blame others, or the atmosphere, or our background for our lack of joy, health, and happiness. But Jesus told the disabled man he had to take a more assertive action for himself. “Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked” (vs.8-9).
When there’s no one around to lift us up out of our slump, we need to take the responsibility to do it ourselves, acting more assertively on what God’s Word says. And because God already knew we’d have some problems with this, He put lots of scriptures throughout the Bible to help us. I call them cures for the blues.
Hebrews 12:12 is a good one: “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet.”
And 1 Timothy 1:6-7 says: “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Isaiah 61:3 tells us the Lord gives us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” But we’re the ones who need to get dressed. When we’re feeling burdened, the last thing we want to do is get up, wash up, and go to the closet and put on something bright and happy.
I remember the words of Rose Marie, a secretary I once met. When I complimented her on how pretty she looked one day, she replied, “I always try to look my best when I feel my worst.” Great advice.
One day “David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (1 Sam. 30:6).
We don’t want the devil to pounce on us and take us down. Let’s encourage ourselves in the Lord like David did; and let’s pick ourselves up with the spoken word of God, like the man at the pool of Bethesda. We CAN do it.
Love, Carolyn
In this sample book, I’ve chosen 7 chapters specifically about point of view. The true stories show the DIFFERENT WAYS GOD SEES THINGS compared to how we sometimes perceive them.
These chapters will help you to see challenging situations from God’s point of view, and in doing so, you will worry less and be more trusting and CONFIDENT IN FACING EVERYDAY OBSTACLES.
Chapters included are: DANGEROUS ILLUSIONS, DEFERRING TO THE SPIRIT WITHIN, CHANGING DOUBTFUL PRAYERS, INFORMATION VS REVELATION, MAMMON IS A LIVING BEAST, I’LL JUST IGNORE IT – NOT! and APRIL FOOLS
If you’d like a free printable PDF file of one of my sample books, just e-mail me at CJMOLICA@HOTMAIL.COM
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