Joyce Meyer - Straight Talk on Discouragement: Overcoming Emotional Battles with the Power of Gods Word!

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Amplified Bible (amp). The Amplified Bible, Old Testament, copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified Bible, New Testament, copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures marked kjv are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Originally published as Help Me I'm Discouraged.

Warner Books Edition

Copyright 1998 by Joyce Meyer

All rights reserved.

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W e have all been disappointed at one time or another. In fact, it would be surprising if we went through the week without encountering some kind of disappointment. We are appointed (set in a certain direction) for something to happen a certain way, and when it doesn't happen that way, we become dis-appointed.

Disappointment not dealt with turns into discouragement. If we stay discouraged very long, we are liable to become devastated, and devastation leaves us unable to handle anything.

Many devastated Christians are lying along the roadside of life because they have not learned how to handle disappointment. The devastation they are experiencing now most likely began with a minor disappointment not dealt with.

Jesus healed all who were oppressed of the devil. (Acts 10:38 kjv.) It is not God's will for us to live disappointed, devastated or oppressed! When we become disappointed, we must learn to become re-appointed to keep from becoming discouraged, then devastated.

When we learn to place our hope and confidence in Jesus the Rock (1 Corinthians 10:4) and resist the devil at the onset, we can live in the joy and peace of the Lord, free from discouragement.

FREE FROM OPPRESSION

THE GREATER ONE LIVES IN US

God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.

Acts 10:38

D uring His earthly ministry, Jesus calling, we could even say His job, was to go about in the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon Him and deliver all those who were oppressed by the devil. That power is available to us today. It is not God's will for His children to be harassed or oppressed, and Jesus power is available to deliver us from oppression today.

According to Webster's dictionary, to oppress is to weigh heavily upon, especially so as to depress the mind or spirits. Other meanings are to crush or overwhelm, to press down.

I believe the enemy, Satan, can oppress not only our mind or spirit but any part of our being, including our body and soul. Sometimes he does so without our even knowing what specifically is bothering us.

At times each of us has had something weigh heavily upon us. Most of us have experienced oppression to the point of it being hard to think and make decisions. At other times we have been oppressed physically.

We must keep in mind that Satan at various times will try to oppress different parts of our being in different ways for different reasons. We have the power available to us through Jesus to be aggressive against the devil. If we aren't aggressive toward him, he will be aggressive toward us.

Although the devil is the root of all evil, there are things we do in the flesh that can cause us to feel overwhelmed or bring a heaviness on us. We can feel overwhelmed by not dealing with little problems as they occur. People who gossip, complain, backbite and judge can experience a feeling of heaviness.

In order for us to feel uplifted, as though there were a spring of living water flowing out of us, we must resist the devil who tries to oppress us and all his ways. But we must also refuse to bring oppression and depression upon ourselves. And most important, we must aggressively tackle the things God tells us to do. When we obey God, we will undertake some challenging projects. But the Lord gives us His Spirit to powerfully work in us to enable us to do what He has asked.

Again according to Webster, to be aggressive is to initiate forceful action, to be energetic or boldly assertiveenterprising, which itself means to be imaginative.

As it was originally created by God, the power of man to imagine is not meant to be some kind of wicked, evil thing. It is the creative imagination of man that keeps coming up with new ideas and bringing forth new processes through innovative thoughts. Think how creative Adam must have been to name all the animals in his holy state before he fell into sin. Some of us have trouble coming up with a name for our dog!

Led by the Spirit

By following the leading of the Holy Spirit and allowing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) to be evident in our lives, we are initiators and innovators. We can purposefully bring forth the creative ability of God that is on the inside of us. Many people are bored because they are in an oppressed state rather than in a godly aggressive state. Exercising our God-given creativity eliminates boredom!

Some of us are naturally more creative, imaginative, innovative and aggressive than others. But each of us can use the creativity, imagination, innovativeness and aggression that God has placed within us to make our lives more satisfying, productive and fulfilling.

Instead of waiting for something to come on us, we can initiate. For example, instead of waiting for others to be friendly toward us, we can initiate friendships.

Keep the Devil on the Run

The devil lies to us. (John 8:44.) If we aren't aggressive against him and stop listening to his lies, he will run our life. He goes about like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), but we have the Lion of Judah, Jesus, inside us. We are the ones who should be doing the roaring!

When the devil makes one move toward us, we should keep ourselves so spiritually attuned that we pick up exactly what he's trying to do and back him down. It should take only a few seconds.

The devil is always trying to come against us. As long as we back down, he keeps on coming. If we make one move against him in the authority Jesus made available to us, the devil has to back down.

We need to continue standing in our authority against him. If we stop, he will start moving against us, backing us up. The devil is a liar, a bully, a bluff, a deceiver. He comes like a lion, but he is not the lion. We believers in Jesus Christ have the power of the greater one on the inside of us. greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4 kjv).

Know the Word well enough that the minute a thought comes into your head that doesn't line up with God's Word, you can say to the devil, Liar! No, I'm not listening to you.

You can spend your life backing up and hiding from the devil, or forcing him to back up.

Choose Life

I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.

Deuteronomy 30:19

Happiness and joy do not come from the outside. They come from within. They are a conscious decision, a deliberate choice, one that we make ourselves each day we live.