Defeating Discouragement With Focus

(1) Victory Over Discouragement Through Focus - Introduction

2009-10-07T14:05:00.000-04:00

(Note: This post is the first in a series on defeating discouragement with focus)

Is the glass half empty of half full? Of course some say it’s half full and some will say it’s half empty and former detective Adrian Monk would measure it and adjust the volume to make sure it is exactly half. Many would just ask, “Who cares?”

The truth is it is a pretty silly question and a pretty frivolous discussion. But, it does help illustrate something for us. As you look at the glass, your answer to the question is all a matter of viewpoint or focus. And it helps us understand a little bit more about why we become discouraged and how to get victory over discouragement.

Discouragement is always focused on something and most of the time it is focused on the wrong things. Discouragement comes and grows when we focus our attention on a challenge, problem, or event that we don’t like. Our viewpoint is that we are facing, or are going to face something that makes us uncomfortable . . .it means hard work is ahead . . . it’s gonna cost us something. Discouragement is inseparably linked to our perspective . . what we focus on.

When we look at the viewpoint of discouragement, we find that discouragement always involves a distorted, unbiblical view or perspective. When we are discouraged, we are not seeing things as God sees them.

We think, we evaluate, and we make judgements about the best solution for our problems, but the truth is we look at things from the wrong perspective. God’s Word ALONE gives us the basis of truth and through the truth of God’s Word we can put everything else in proper perspective.

There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way to death.

(Proverbs 14:12 ESV)

The teaching of your word gives light,

so even the simple can understand.

(Psalm 119:130 NLT)

So, we need to evaluate and view our life circumstances through the lens of scripture. Our thinking and ideas don’t give us the right perspective on the challenges we face unless our thinking and ideas come from God’s Word. In all our challenges, we must ask, “What does God’s Word have to say about this?” “What is God’s perspective on this?” When we fail to see our life circumstances with a biblical view, we have no foundation for seeing life correctly. Whether we will be discouraged or become victorious over discouragement is a matter of what we choose to think about and focus on.

In his book Seeing With New Eyes, David Poslison explains,

God teaches us to see everything else the world contains. This seeing, this gaze, means to wake us up from our fantasies, fictions, and nightmares to see things as they are in fact. God has the real take on things. And God teaches us His gaze. Our Father enlightens the eyes of our hearts. We become able to pry apart true from false, instead of living in a murk of half-truths and flat lies. All sorts of things start to look and to mean different when the lights come on.

Next: (2) Looking from a Different Viewpoint

(2) Looking from a Different Viewpoint

2009-10-07T13:50:00.000-04:00

(Note: This post is part of a series on defeating discouragement with focus)

Discouragement tends to have a narrow and short-sighted perspective. And so, the remedy for discouragement is to see the big picture and to look at the long view and the end results, not just the present difficulties.

The Apostle Paul faced some pretty incredible challenges in his life . . . many times! If we look carefully at what he went through, we could easily understand why he would become discouraged. We could even become discouraged just reading about his challenges! But Paul is the champion of victory over discouragement and the big picture, long view perspective that empowers this victory.

Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

In order to really appreciate what Paul is saying here, let’s look at this in the Message paraphrase, the Contemporary English Version, and the Amplified Bible. Read slowly and carefully to capture the true impact of where our focus needs to be when we face challenges in life.

These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever. (2 Cor. 4:17-18 MSG)

These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing. Things that are seen don't last forever, BUT things that are not seen are eternal. That's why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen. (2 Cor. 4:17-18 CEV)

Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!] (2 Cor. 4:16-17 AMP)

Here’s the big Picture. Our “light” suffering has a positive purpose and involves spiritual realities. The challenges we face are designed by God for the purpose of making us better, making us more like Christ. There is a purpose, the eternal weight of glory. The long view is that our challenges that produce suffering are temporary and in fact, are just a blip in comparison to eternity. So, we need to look beyond the here and now and get a clear view of eternity.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10 ESV)

Next: (4) Looking at Our Challenges from God’s Perspective

(3) Looking at Our Challenges from God’s Perspective - Pt. 1

2009-10-07T12:41:00.000-04:00

(Note: This post is part of a series on defeating discouragement with focus)

Many times our perspective on our life circumstances leads to discouragement. When we begin to become discouraged, it is critical that we focus our thinking on God’s perspective found in His Word. Let’s consider five important principles we need to focus on to get victory over discouragement.

FIRST, we need to recognize and focus on the truth that God is in control of all our life circumstances, the good and bad, desirable and undesirable.

You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:16 NLT)

The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:19)

Most of us say we believe God is in control of everything. The problem is that when our life becomes painful and things aren’t going as we want, we quickly forget. So, when life gets hard, we need to choose to focus on the truth that absolutely nothing can touch our lives without our Father’s permission. And then, it is only for a purpose.

You remember all that Job went through. He lost all his possessions and his children in one day. Now that’s a really horrible, excruciatingly painful day. I doubt you’ve faced a day like that! And what do we know about that day? It could only happen because God allowed it. And God used it for Job’s good, the good of millions of people who would learn for Job’s story. And God used it for His glory.

SECOND, we need to recognize and focus on the truth that God has a purpose and a plan for everything.

[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will. (Ephesians 1:11 ESV)

In the story of Job we can get a little glimpse of the purpose of God in allowing the pain in his life. In the life of Joseph, we get an even clearer view. Remember, Joseph faced some pretty horrific circumstances in his life. Hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused and imprisoned, forgotten by a man he helped in prison. But in the end, he shared his perspective on all this that empowered him to rise above all these circumstances and continue to honor God.

As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose. (Genesis 50:20 NET)

Here’s Joseph’s discouragement busting perspective. His brothers did wrong and only had harm in mind for Joseph. But all along, God was orchestrating the events in Joseph’s life to accomplish His plan for Joseph, his family, and the nation of Israel.

Next: (4) Looking at Our Challenges from God’s Perspective - Pt. 2

(4) Looking at Our Challenges from God’s Perspective - Pt. 2

2009-10-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

THIRD, we need to look at our personal circumstances as a small part in God’s grand design to mature us in Christ and bring glory to His name.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)

We really love that verse don’t we? Sadly, it may be one of the most quoted yet least believed verses in the Bible. Or, at least we forget about it way to quickly.

Look at it with fresh eyes. No matter what happens in your life, you can be absolutely certain that God is orchestrating it to accomplish His purpose in your life. So what is His purpose? The next verse tells us.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. (Romans 8:29 ESV)

God uses the painful circumstances in our lives to mature us in Christ. That’s His purpose for your life. So you can be confident, that no matter how bad it may seem, God will use it in your life to make you more like Christ.

FORTH, we need to recognize that our challenges and hard times are a necessary part of my growth process.

My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. (James 1:2-4 NET)

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. (Romans 5:3 ESV)

We all know what happens when everything is going as we like. We loose our passion for God, we get distracted, we become complacent. We need hard times to shake us from our comfort and complacency. We need our character flaws to be chiseled out of our lives and this hurts. But it is necessary and good.

FIFTH, we need to look for the spiritual benefits that can come to us and others when we respond properly to our challenges.

[God] comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:4 NET)

As God matures us and teaches us about Himself through the hard times, we are equipped to minister to others when they face hard times. Everything in your life is part of God’s plan to give you “on the job training” so that you will be ready to be a tool in His hands to transform the lives of others.

There it is. God’s perspective on our most painful life circumstances. Five important principles we need to focus on. If we can get these truths ingrained into our heads, we will be well on our way to looking at our challenges with a perspective that empowers us to walk in victory over discouragement.

Next: (5) God’s Purposes in Our Challenges

(5) God’s Purposes in Our Challenges

2009-10-07T09:31:00.000-04:00

Someone once gave me a nugget of wisdom for facing hard times that I have never forgotten, “Don’t focus so much on how to get out of the situation, focus on what you can learn through the situation.” This statement was rooted in the conviction that God has a purpose in whatever He orchestrates in our lives. In every situation, we should expect to learn and grow. So, let’s think about God’s purposes for our painful life circumstances.

We have seen that challenges and painful circumstances are necessary for our growth toward Christlikeness. But, it isn’t just that growth is a nice, positive byproduct that can come from hard times. The truth is that God intentionally causes painful circumstances in our lives. The Bible calls this discipline.

Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11 NET)

Now, don’t think of discipline only as something that is done to punish or correct wrong behavior. In this verse, the word discipline refers to all that is involved in nurturing a child from infancy to maturity. We face challenges under the loving, purposeful discipline of God to make us more like Christ. Our painful circumstances are specifically designed and sent by God to mature us in Christ. Actually all other purposes fit under this one purpose of maturing us to be people who will be matured in character to demonstrate God’s glory to those around us.

Another important purpose God has in our challenges is to strengthen our faith.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. (1 Peter 1:7 NLT)

God intends to show us His strength, His faithfulness, and His goodness through our tough times. As we see God bring us through on the other side, we grow in our faith and are stronger the next time troubles come.

God’s next purpose in our problems is closely connected to building our faith, we face challenges to move us toward 100% reliance on God.

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. 9In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT)

You are probably just like me. When the good times roll, our dependence on God rolls out. We need challenges in life where we become desperate and don’t know what to do because these things drive us to our knees to seek God. We spend way too much time on our feet compared to how much time we spend on our knees. Our problems are designed by God to get us back on our knees. And this process must continue until we learn the lesson that we are truly helpless without God and determine to rely on Him for everything.

Finally, we face challenges to demonstrate the glory of God.

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18 NET)

You remember the man born blind? Jesus said the reason or purpose for this was that the glory of God would be displayed. God reveals His glory in a variety of ways. When it comes to our challenges in life, sometimes He changes the circumstances, sometimes He simply enables us by His grace to honor Him through the circumstances by displaying His character. Either way, God’s purpose is the display of His glory.

So, what will be your purpose the next time you face painful circumstances in life? Put all your energy into getting rid of the problem, or focus on becoming better through it? Make it you determination to find and fulfill God’s purpose!

Whenever you face discouragement, you must ask myself,

“Where is God in all this?”

“How does God see this?”

“How does this fit in with the big picture of life and eternity?”

“How can I become a better person because of this?”