"Dear brothers
and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great
joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance
to grow. So let it grow, for when your
endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing”
(James 1:2-4 NLT).
I recently came
across some humorous ways to know if you would have been better to stay in bed
than to get up and face the day. You know it’s going to be a bad day when…
· You turn on the morning news and it’s showing you emergency routes out of
town.
· The sun comes up in the west.
· Your boss tells you not to bother taking off your coat.
· You jump out of bed and you miss the floor.
· The bird singing outside your bedroom window is a vulture.
· You wake and your dentures are locked together.
· Your car’s horn gets stuck while you’re following a group of Hell’s
Angels.
· You call to get your messages and are told it’s none of your business.
· Your tax return check bounces.
· You step on the scale and it says “tilt.”
· You call suicide prevention, and they put you on hold.
Perhaps you have your own list as to when you know it is going to be a really bad day. Yet regardless, it is important to know that we should not be surprised when we experience obstacles in life. All who achieve worthwhile success in life will have to endure great trials; and these trials can make it challenging to keep a good attitude. To be more specific, there are five big attitude obstacles: discouragement, change, problems, fear, and failure. Each of these five are worth considering individually to better understand how you can make it through while maintaining the difference maker, a right attitude.
There are five
keys that can help us to overcome discouragement. First, take you
discouragement to the Lord. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all of our cares
upon Him because He cares for us. A lady named Hannah in the Bible experienced
a great amount of discouragement. Hannah had good reason to feel discouraged
and bitter: She was unable to have children. She shared her husband with a
woman who ridiculed her. Her loving husband could not solve her problem. Even
the high priest misunderstood her motives. But instead of retaliating or giving
up hope, Hannah prayed. She brought her problem honestly before God.
Each of us may
face times of barrenness when nothing comes to life in our work, ministry, or
relationships. It is difficult to pray in faith when we feel so ineffective.
But, as Hannah discovered, prayer opens the way for God to work (portions from The
Handbook of Application). Therefore, as the old hymn proclaims, we should
never be discouraged as we take it to the Lord in prayer. Then we will
recognize that we have a friend in Jesus who lifts us up out of the pit of
despair.
God has the
strength we need to face our challenges. When our resources are limited and
insufficient, He is more than enough. Annie Johnson Flint wrote, “He giveth
more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the
labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth His mercy, To multiplied
trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have
exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is
half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources Our Father’s full
giving is only begun.
Fear not that thy
need shall exceed His provision, Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing; The Father both thee and thy load
will up bear. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no
boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and
giveth, and giveth again.” We must
simply ask of Him in prayer.
The second
key to overcoming discouragement is to consider the big picture. Often when
trials go our way they can make us forget to step back and see things from a
bigger perspective. The trials that we struggle with in the moment tend to seem
so insignificant after a short amount of time. This reveals the struggle of
making mountains out of mole hills. Yet when we take a step back, we are better
able to understand our obstacles, and in so doing, we are better able to see
ways of getting past those discouraging times.
Author Helen Rice
wrote, “And together we stand at life’s crossroads and view what we think is
the end, but God has a much bigger vision and He tells us it’s only a bend. For
the road goes on and is smoother, and the pause in the song is a rest. And the
part that’s unsung and unfinished is the sweetest and richest and best. So rest
and relax and grow stronger. Let go and let God share your load, your work is
not finished or ended, you’ve just come to a bend in the road.”
If you can
maintain that perspective, you can overcome discouragement and move beyond it.
No one need be held captive to it.
Third, if you
want to overcome discouragement spend time with successful people. This can be done through personal interactions, listening
to them on the radio, TV, internet, or through reading their books. It has been
said that you are the person that you will be five years from now with
exception of the books that you read and the people that you associate with.
The more time that you spend with people who are a little further down the road
of life in an area that you would like to be successful in, the more you will
naturally be able to follow in their footsteps.
The book of
Proverbs has a lot to say about the value of associating with wise people and
struggles associated with spending time with those who will not build you up.
Proverbs 13:20 NCV says, “Spend time with the wise and you will
become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer.” Proverbs 27:17 NLT says, “As
iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” So surround yourself
with people who are going to lift you higher. Thus, “The righteous choose
their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Pro.
12:26).
The fourth
key to overcome discouragement is to speak life. The Bible says that the power of life and death are in the tongue
(Pro. 18:21). If your best friend said the things you say to yourself, you
would punch them in the face. The fact of the matter is that we tend to be our
own worst critics.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said,
“Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to
yourself rather than talking to yourself” (Spiritual
Depression: Its Causes and Cure, p. 20). In
other words, by speaking down to ourselves, we naturally drag ourselves down.
Yet when we speak to ourselves and to others things that are meant to build us
up and encourage us, we are better able to discover ways out of our despair.
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk
come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up
according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
And lastly, the
fifth key to overcome discouragement is to refuse to quit. One writer said, “Ninety percent of those who fail are
not actually defeated. They simply quit.” Proverbs 24:16 GW says it
like this, “A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again.
However, in a disaster wicked people fall.” Additionally, the Bible
encourages us to remain on the course God has for us and in the end we will
reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up (Gal. 6:9).
Thus, no doubt,
sometimes it can be very challenging to maintain a positive attitude,
especially in the face of discouragement. Yet discouragement does not need to
weigh us down, as you were made to soar above it!
In His service,
Matt
(Portions from John Maxwell, The Difference Maker)
