Discouraged?

 I wonder if there are any of you feeling discouraged. Perhaps you have lost your confidence. Maybe you have been told you are not good enough or what you do is not good enough. It could be that some of you have failed and you are struggling to pick up the pieces of shattered dreams. Your failures have left you with little courage to face tomorrow. 

It could be that you are feeling hopeless. Prayer has not worked. Church has not offered what you sought. It appears God failed you. People may have forsaken you and you are left treading water alone, but sinking fast. No matter how hard you try it feels like you are falling further behind. Hit with one trial after another. 

In your discouraged state, giving up seems like a viable option. Trying to pick yourself up for the umpteenth times feels too hard. Faith feels fragile. God seems distant. Giving up and giving in is the easy road of least resistance. Internal conversations only fuel more discouraging thoughts. 

There is a verse in Galatians 6:9 that fuel a smidgen of hope today. It starts out with the phrase, "Let us not lose heart." That means let us not become weak, weary, or lack courage. In other words, let us not be discouraged. There are so many things that make us lose heart. There are financial struggles, relational struggles, struggles with sin, struggles with work, and sadly even struggles in churches. How could Paul write not to lose heart when so many things around us do make us lose heart. There is more of the verse to be examined to answer that question. 

The next phrase is, "in doing good for in due time." How many of us are patient people? Most of us don't like waiting. Farmers are different. They have learned patience. They know there is a season to plow. A season to plant. A season to wait for crops to grow and be ready to be harvested. There is also a season to harvest crops. As you face discouragement, let me ask you to consider what season you are in. Seasons come and go. The farmer would be foolish to think he could plant one day and harvest the next day. There is an incubation period. Perhaps you are in that period. You are waiting on God to show up. There is great encouragement in John 5:17. That verse states that God is always working. We can't always see what He is doing. When the time is right, God will come through. 

The last phrase of that verse is, "we will reap if we do not grow weary." That means we will see God be faithful if we do not give up. If we do not quit. I've learned that quitting is easier than finishing. Life can be a grind. Prayer can be grind. You can pour your soul out day after day and see no response from God. You can labor until exhaustion and not get any further ahead. Satan will always want us to live discouraged and entertain quitting. God calls us to be finishers. We never know when God is going to show up and do something amazing. We must persevere. I'm not saying that is easy. Like I said earlier, quitting is easier than finishing. Giving up on God. Giving up on church. Giving up on family. Giving up on friends. Giving up on the job. Giving up on yourself. 

If you persist, keep plodding, keep trusting, and keep bringing your discouraged heart to God, He will come through. It may not be when you want Him too or even how you want Him too. I have lived this out too long to give up on God. 

Last week I was eating dinner with a man. I was reminded of having lunch with this same man six months ago. He was discouraged. Lower than a snake's belly. Everything that came out of his mouth was doubt and defeat. God has changed things in this man's life in a significant way. I asked him if he was teachable. He assured me he was. I reminded him about that lunch when he doubted God and was so defeated. He remembered that. I asked him to consider what all God has done for him since that day. He acknowledged that God has come through. What God did for that man He can do for any of us. I urge you to keep Galatians 6:9 close to your heart and mind. Cling to it when you are discouraged. Remind yourself that you are in a season. Seasons come and go. Your season of encouragement could be just around the corner. 

An Open Door

 How many doors have you walked through today? I just did a count and I came up with 20 and counting. We take doors for granted. They can be used for three things. First, they shut things out. One of the last things we do in our family before going to bed is to make sure the front door is locked. I bet many of you do the same thing. We do this to keep intruders out. We also shut doors to keep pets or visitors out of certain areas. We have to do this with our son's dog Buster or he will go in the bathroom and drink from the toilet or destroy things in bedrooms. 

A second reason for doors is to enter a building or a room. Doors transition us from one place to another. Like today, I transitioned from outside the church facilities and into my office. We walk through doors at work, restaurants, doctor offices, schools, businesses, and even churches. We take it for granted when doors are unlocked and accessible. A few times people have shown up early for a meeting or worship service and someone forgot to unlock the door here at the church. People are not happy when that happens. 

A third reason for a door is to exit. When a student concludes the school day, they are excited to exit the door to go home. Workers look forward to when they are off the clock and exit the doors to go home. In case of a fire we look for the nearest exit to escape from danger. Once again the door serves as a transition from one point to another. 

Sometimes God puts open doors in front of His people that are not literal doors. They are opportunities. God can open doors no man can shut and can shut doors no man can open. Revelation 3:7 Has God put an open door before you? An opportunity to pursue? Or maybe you are asking God to open a door like a man I talked to recently who asked for prayer about a new job. God holds the keys to opportunities. He can open whatever doors He wants. He can also shut whatever doors He wants. 

When I was a young preacher in my first pastorate, I received a letter from a church two hours from where I served. They were looking for a new pastor and somehow got my name and address. This was before emails. Truth is things had really gotten bad where I served. I took multiple voluntary cuts in pay because the finances were not good. I still remember the name of that church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church. I wrote them declining. In hindsight, was that an open door God put before me, but I chose to shut it. 

Fast forward two decades. Brenda and I resided in Seminole, TX and had recently come off an extraordinary revival there. For months I kept receiving the same message of, "Follow Me," from the Lord. I did not know what it meant. Through a set of circumstances I became convinced we were supposed to leave Seminole to start a church in Paradise. Just weeks before I was to move, I got contacted by a church in Levelland. I don't know how they got my name. The guy who called me was an elder in the church. He wanted to talk to me about becoming their pastor. I again declined because I thought we were supposed to go to Paradise. Was that an open door God set before me? I will never know. 

We have to be open to God's leadership in our lives. We never know when He might put an open door before us. We also must understand that some doors we try to force open He may keep shut because it is not what He desires for us. Many frustrated people spend a lot of energy trying to force a door open that God is keeping closed for their protection. 

Sometimes open doors don't look appealing. They look challenging. They would require faith to step through and more faith to walk on the other side. Just because it looks challenging does not mean God did not open the door. Elijah's open door to face down 850 false prophets looked risky. God came through in the showdown and the false prophets were defeated. I Kings 18:20-40. God put an open door before Jonah to preach in Nineveh. Jonah refused to go through it and went in the opposite direction. God gave Jonah a second chance and opened the door again. Jonah obeyed and revival came to Nineveh. Paul kept getting doors shut on him to go and preach in Asia. One night he received a vision from the Lord to go into Macedonia. That was the open door God put before him. Acts 16:9-10 

In King David's kingdom, there was one man who had the keys to every door in the palace. Like that man God has the keys to every door in life. He can open any door He chooses for you. He can also shut any door He chooses. I've learned to be thankful for open and shut doors. I've also learned that it takes faith to walk through some open doors, but bountiful blessings await on the other side. May we all keep our eyes open for God's open doors.