Do Not Be Discouraged, Be Encouraged!

By Pastor Walter C. Scott, Let Go and Soar Ministries

October, 2013

Romans 15:1-7

New International Version (NIV)

15 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. ³ For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”^{[a] 4} For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.


Throughout the entire Bible, in the Old Testament and New Testament, we find God telling His appointed leaders (or having them tell others) to not be discouraged. And even more often to encourage or be encouraged. To stand firm and have courage because He was with them.

Refer to Deuteronomy 31:6-8, Moses to Joshua. Joshua 1:6-9, The Lord to Joshua. 1 Chronicles 22:13 & 28:20 David to Solomon.

Ephesians 3:12-13 Paul to the Gentiles

¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.¹³ I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

Did they, and do we, believe and trust? Why was it so important to have courage; and is our faith strong enough to withstand the trials and testing that this life brings? Do we believe His word (The Bible), pray, stay in relationship and stand on His promises as stated in His word?

Let's define discourage and its opposite, encourage, and the root of them both, courage.

Webster's Dictionary: Discourage

To deprive of courage or confidence; to dishearten. To hinder by disfavoring or attempting to dissuade.

Webster's Dictionary: Encourage

To inspire with courage, spirit, or hope; to hearten, to spur on. To give help or patronage.

Webster's Dictionary: Courage

Mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.

Billy Graham states that “There are two ways to respond to adversity; discouragement or trust.”

What or who do you think would benefit by using discouragement as a weapon against Christians today? Discouragement is a potent tool of Satan's and will at the very least foster and promote apathy, procrastination, and complacency. When this happens we are disabled in our Christian walk, and poor examples of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 6:7-9

⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Well, haven't we all been discouraged at one time or another in our life? Is anyone here discouraged right now? Did you get over it, and how did you get over it? What should we meditate on in these situations? This is one of the answers:

Philippians 4:4-9 Final Exhortations

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.

We have all experienced discouragement brought on by our personal experiences or what is happening in the world around us. All we have to do is listen to or read the news. I do believe, contrary to some, that knowing and understanding the circumstances and situations in the world helps us to respond better spiritually to those situations. We cannot play ostrich with our heads in the sand. However, our discouragement or encouragement is manifested in how we react or respond to the situations and circumstances we experience or hear about; either personal, natural or man made. We must realize they are Satan's work and are designed to make us fearful, apprehensive, hopeless, depressed, causing us to withdraw and have low self-esteem and self-worth; even sometimes to the point of suicide. This is how Satan distracts us and brings us under his influence. Do not let your situations and circumstances be dictated or be led by your emotions. Use discretion and discernment, and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance.

Proverbs 2:11

¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you

Proverbs 1:5

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning,
    and let the discerning get guidance—

Philippians 1:9-11

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Fear seems to be one of the biggest detriments to our walk and causes much discouragement. What does God say about fear in His word?

Isaiah 41:10-13

¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you;     I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. ¹¹ “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. ¹² Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. ¹³ For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Hebrews 2:14-15

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Romans 8:11

¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

1 John 4:18

¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Romans 8:37-39

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There are multiple seasons in everyone's life. Good and bad, but all designed for us to move forward, and teaching us along the way. We don't remain in a particular season forever, unless we choose to, or continue to live in the past. We should move on to our ultimate goal. As we have learned, the past is only good to learn what we should or shouldn't do now and in the future. Learn to be patient and content with the present.

Philippians 3:12-14

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 6:6-7

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Philippians 4:12-13

¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

God gives us different seasons in our lives so that we can grow in courage, ability, understanding, wisdom and authority. He has a path and a purpose laid out for every one of us, our destiny. Although we do have to make that free will choice, however, every choice requires us to make a decision. Ask the Holy Spirit's help, be patient and listen for the answer, and once made, persevere.

Acts 27:25

²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.

1 Corinthians 16:13

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

Philippians 1:20-21

²⁰ I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Hebrews 3:6

⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

God has made many promises in the Bible. Some conditional, some not. We can stand on those promises because the Bible states that God has always kept them. We do our part, and He will do His.

Psalm 145:13

¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.

2 Peter 1:3-4

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

We must remember the truth of the word and who we are in Jesus Christ. We must remember our spiritual Father God and Creator. We must remember Jesus Christ, the Author of our salvation, redemption, sanctification and justification.

Acts 4:12

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

1 Corinthians 6:11

¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Romans 3:22-24

²² This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

He is our solid rock upon which we all stand. He is the body of the church, wherein Christians are all functioning members.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Ephesians 1:22-23

²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Romans 12:5

⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We have the Holy Spirit as born again Christians, to lead, guid and council us in our daily lives. We just have to ask and listen patiently and not be distracted. We are all God's children and His love for us is boundless. We have all been forgiven forever for all our sins. We just need to accept this and receive His grace. His word is truth. We will all rejoice in His presence one day. Faith, trust, hope and obedience is the reality of belief in God. Bottom line, we need to build each other up. Supporting and praying with and for and encouraging one another. This has always worked for our benefit and the glory of God. With love on our minds, in our hearts, soul and spirit, we can show the true character of Jesus Christ to the world. And the Holy Spirit will be our instructor, guide and counselor.

Colossians 2:2-3

² My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Hebrews 10:25

²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Romans 15:5-6

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, ⁶ so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John McArthur states, “Being obedient to the fundamental truths in God's word, defined as faith, is identified as walking in love. Truth and love is the necessary condition for unity.

Ephesians 4:1-8,Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”

1 Peter 5:6-7

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:10

¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Amen. Love and peace to all.

Reference only: Philippians 2:1-11