There are times in life when discouragement raises its ugly head.  Sometimes we cause our own discouragement: perhaps through a failure of our own; perhaps we spoke in haste or caused some one dear to us pain; perhaps we had a relapse with a personal issue in our lives.  Sometimes we may have said the right thing but said it in an insensitive way.  Sometimes we just wake up discouraged looking at yet another day of work (or, lack of it).    
     Perhaps a medical problem has lifted its head on an otherwise sunny day.  Maybe a relationship of ours is in shambles - broken, mutilated, hopeless and we're completely and totally despondent, down in the dumps and discouraged.
     Other times we can be discouraged because of what another person or group has done to us.  Sometimes others treat us poorly or we're the subject of false rumors.  Sometimes we are completely broke: no money and big bills.
     I know I've messed up at times and that can be a lonely feeling if I have no one to share it with; if I have no one wise in council and close to God to help show me the way to begin to deal with the issue.  Rarely does running away from a problem resolve it but this is the path so many of us choose.
     The Bible says "Each day has enough trouble of its own."  That sure is true.  In fact, some days that can be a huge understatement!
     There are some troubles we carry around with us every day.  If we continue to do that, as Pastor Jack Hayford has said, they will wear us down with their weight.
     Jesus was no stranger to troubles and suffering.  The prophet Isaiah wrote about him about 800 years before Jesus was born: 

    He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
    Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  Isaiah 53:2-5
     Jesus understands sorrow, suffering and trouble.  He dealt with them personally.  But he overcame death by his resurrection from the dead.
     In John 16:33 Jesus promises this "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
     To overcome the world; to overcome trouble . . . believe in Jesus Christ because if God's one and only Son sets you free, you will truly be free indeed.  Not just for today but for all eternity.
     Do you want Jesus?  Cry out to God and pray a prayer like this with all your heart:


God, I am a sinner.  Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me and paying the price in full for my sin.  Have mercy on me God, for Jesus sake.
I want you to be the Lord of my life from now on.  I believe in my heart that you rose from the dead.  Please help me to become the person you created me to be.  In Jesus name.  Amen.
  

   Let me know if you've just prayed to receive Christ at the email address below my name.  I'd like to send you some literature to help you in your new walk with Christ.

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