Encouragement and Discouragement

My friend Janessa wrote a blog post today about the reality of discouragement in the life of believers. I started to write a short comment and ended up writing a blog post, myself (see below).

Discouragement is part of the war we are fighting. When I am most spiritually awake, I pay attention to the voices in my head and hold them up against two possible camps.

"Suzanne, you should be better at this by now. I can't believe you're in this same situation again."

"Good Christians don't have struggles."

"A really strong Christian should be able to go it alone, without bothering people who probably have enough problems of their own."

Who's more likely to be telling me those things, God or Satan?

Some days, discouragement is even encouraging. Think about all of the trials of Job. What got Satan's attention? God was boasting about Job (Job 1:8).

Think about that again. Boasting about him. And Job was a regular human like any of us.

What if, when we're attacked with discouragement, it's because God's just been telling Satan about how much we're doing for Him? I don't mean that in a "look how great we are" sort of way, but in a "look how great the God who's got our back is" sort of way.

What if God is saying, "Have you considered my servant Suzanne?"

I don't know why God allows Satan to come at us, why He allows the trials of our lives. Job never knew why, either, but hearing about who God was quieted his desperate complaints. And we know a lot more about God than Job did. We know Jesus.

I love that when Paul is begging the Lord for the removal of his weakness, the response he gets back isn't "Absolutely, you can have a much greater impact that way" or "If you'd just buck up, you could do it yourself." That's where we want to go. Or I do, anyway.

Nope. Here's what Paul hears, and his response to it: "And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Expect depression like you accept the reality of Satan. But claim the reality of the protection of Christ and fight with every ounce of strength He gives you to throw the devil's lies back in his face. The trials are real, and life can seem too long and too hard, but the fact is that this war has been WON. Christ empowers us to stand against the onslaughts of Hell itself.

And on the days when the only sacrifice we have to offer is a broken spirit (Psalm 51:17), even that sacrifice makes the demons cower and the angels dance and the Father proud of His children.

Amazing love, indeed!