The spirit of discouragement is Satan’s most potent weapon against God’s elect. Most often, he uses it to convince us we have brought God’s wrath upon ourselves by not measuring up to his holy standards. But the apostle Paul urges us not to fall prey to the devil’s snare: “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Paul is saying, “You must see your discouragement for what it really is — a demonic weapon — an arrow that Satan shoots at you to get you to doubt yourself. He knows he cannot tempt you to turn away from Jesus, so he swamps you with vicious lies to make you think you will never be good enough to serve Christ.”
King David’s spirit was brought low by feebleness, brokenness, mourning, a sense of disquietude. He felt dry and empty, without direction: “My heart pants, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me” (Psalm 38:10). David is saying, “My vision and revelation of the Lord have left me and I cannot reach God as I once did.”
I personally know how David felt. I have received many rich blessings through my ministry but many times, within days of great events, I have become overwhelmed with discouragement. We are targets for the powers of hell within moments of our greatest spiritual victory.
There are many biographies of devout men and women whom the Lord used mightily, and every one of them struggled through crippling discouragement. For instance, the great British preacher C. H. Spurgeon led multitudes to Christ through his powerful sermons but he suffered awful bouts of melancholy.
The first thing the Holy Spirit does in such times is to bring to your remembrance all the precious promises of Jesus. He will flood your soul with those promises and your spirit will soar within you. The work of the Holy Spirit is to undo the lies of the enemy and bring encouragement from on high! Be assured that all who wait on the Lord will receive his glorious promises!
Be the first to react on this!
David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.