Don't become discouraged

With the atmosphere in the world today there are a lot of people who are discouraged, for many different reasons, and I think the least among them is the health. It’s more just a total heaviness - a lack of vision, people not knowing which way to turn or which way to go.

If we look at the Word of God in Hebrews 12:3 (NKJV), the Word says: “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

If we think of what Jesus went through, how He suffered for our sakes - surely, we have nothing really to complain about. Verse 4 says: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.” So we rejoice in the fact that the Lord has done it all for us already. What we need to do is to be patient, very patient and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. 

George Whitefield the great evangelist from the 1700s said: “How sweet is rest after fatigue! How sweet will heaven be when our journey has ended.”

This road that we are walking was never meant to be a bed of roses and we must remember that. Yes, the Lord says I have come to give you life abundantly (John 10:10) and He sure has, but it always comes at a price. Nothing is worth having if you have not worked for it, you don’t appreciate something unless you have been through a fiery trial. As the adage goes “I’ve never met a man yet worth his salt who has never been through fire.” We really need to understand that we are definitely living in the last days and things are not going to get easier, but the Lord’s grace is going to abound.

We need to lean heavily on Him. We need to up our prayer times, we need to up our scripture readings, we need to up our fellowship with those who have the same heart as we have. So we need to be humble, we really need to pray more, we need to be more thankful, we need to maybe not talk quite so much and that really challenges me because I struggle to keep quiet - we really need to rest in the Lord. 

We think of the beautiful scripture in Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV) “But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” We need to implement that scripture now so that we can finish strong for the Lord.

May God bless you as you face this week holding on to Jesus' hand and allowing Him to hold you tightly to Himself.

With much love in Jesus
Angus and Jill Buchan