3 Ways we allow the Spirit of Discouragement to work in our lives, Ep 2-36
Welcome Back! I am your host Dawn Simmons and in this episode of Conquering Our Unseen Enemies we are going to be discussing the Spirit of Discouragement. Specifically how Discouragement works and how we not only allow it, but nurture it in the way we respond. We will also have some real-life examples of managing discouragement.
Let’s get to know the Spirit of Discouragement a bit before we talk about how we allow it and nurture it. The Spirit of Discouragement is extremely powerful. There are three main reasons why Discouragement is so powerful.
First, the Spirit of Discouragement enters our life slowly, quietly, and in ways we don’t readily recognize. Of course, there are times when it comes in with a bang, usually by someone with little understanding and discernment of our situation. Those people tend to be negative and discouraging everywhere they go and that is what we are not wanting to become. What we are talking about here is little seeds of discouragement, weeds actually, are planted and we don’t recognize them as weeds, so we allow them to grow. We don’t rebuke it or turn to the Lord in trust and faith, or even ask for an increase in trust and faith in our circumstances. Instead, we let that weed grow. Some weeds can even look pretty, convincingly like they belong in our cultivated garden. When we don’t exercise discernment and work with the Holy Spirit, we don’t recognize it for what it is. In the natural, google makes it easy for us to see a plant growing and we can take a picture and google will identify it for us and let us know if it is friend or foe to our garden. I say garden, I don’t have a garden. I have tried. I can grow tomatoes, but I tried to grow strawberries, onions, and I was diligently caring for the soil only to later realize, my dogs ate up all of my precious seedlings, except for the tomatoes. If my garden had been in the spirit realm, I could have used discernment to see the enemy to my garden, my dogs, had eaten everything up before I was even able to cultivate a single strawberry. Jesus dealt with this same issue and showed us how to deal with it. Matthew 21, gives us the story starting with verse 18,
“Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Most people look at that story for the ask part, for prayer, but I want to talk about the tree. This fig tree was on the side of the road on the way into Jerusalem. This is not a road new to Jesus, he spent much of his time in this area. This tree gave the appearance to Jesus from some distance that it was mature enough to bear fruit so we can infer from that it was not a little seedling, or a newly planted sapling. The tree had been there for a while. Fig trees are very good-looking trees. My neighbor behind me has one so I look at it everyday and watch their figs ripen. I saw them in Israel, they provide good shade in the heat because they are very full, the leaves are pretty huge compared to many other trees. Genesis 3:7 tells us Adam and Eve sewed together fig leaves for covering once they realized they were naked. Back to my point. Jesus and his disciples, not to mention everyone else in that area, undoubtedly walked past this tree on more than one occasion, but it wasn’t until Jesus decided to harvest the fruit of this tree did He see that there was nothing to harvest. The tree was in the midst of everyone, it grew, it was recognized for what it appeared to be, but it was not what it appeared to be. As a result, Jesus did not hesitate to dispense of that tree. Likewise, we need to see the people around us, the words used over us and with us, the activities that we are doing and not doing for what they are to us in our walk with the Lord. When someone or something is a discouragement, call it for what it is and do not let it hinder your relationship with the Lord. Where discernment is needed here is to not let your own desires trump what the Lord is doing in your life. If someone is offering you godly wisdom, listen to them and ask the Lord about it. Discernment reveals the difference between godly wisdom to give you guidance and discouragement meant to send you down a path of doubt and loss.
The second reason Discouragement is so powerful is because it can work with any demon grouping. If you have listened to any of my previous podcasts where we discuss specific demons and groupings, we talk about how and why they work well together. Some demons are just a more natural fit with others in their attempts to lead us to destruction. The thing with discouragement is that it is a bit like vanilla. Vanilla pairs well with nearly everything. You can use vanilla in drinks of all kinds, hot, cold, alcoholic, it blends well and enhances other flavors. It works well with fruits, both citrus and berries. I don’t know of any herb or spice that can’t combine with vanilla. Vanilla can be sweet or savory. It works in meat sauces, marinades. We use it for soap, perfume, air freshner. Vanilla is everywhere. Real vanilla is very expensive. Real vanilla costs almost as much as silver per ounce. Now let’s compare that to discouragement. Is there any area in your life you can think of that is completely immune to discouragement? I can’t think of any. Our careers, our family life, our marriage, our prayer life, our friendships, our finances, our businesses, all of it and more are all prone to have some aspect that we will feel discouraged by. Like vanilla, discouragement comes with a cost and it is expensive. If we allow discouragement to flavor any area of our lives, it can be hard to get it out. I love vanilla, but if it were causing problems in my life, it would be down the drain in my house. We cannot afford to allow our minds or our hearts to be flavored with discouragement. If you already have challenges in your life, look to root out the discouragement and even find out where it entered your life. Seek out that source so you can block it the next time. If you have someone in your life who continually brings you discouragement, have a conversation with that person about it, explain how it is affecting you and let them know you cannot allow that to continue in your life. They either need to change how they are speaking into your life or you need to change what you are allowing in your life through them. If you are watching the news and find that you are reacting in a way that is causing you to behave negatively, then you need to reevaluate what news you are watching. We need to be mindful of where we have allowed discouragement to grow because it can be a connector between other issues. If you have financial challenges right now, discouragement can attach to that challenge and pull together other aspects in your life. Before you know it, you are not only challenged with finances, but other areas as well because you sowed into the discouragement in your finances and allowed it to grow into other areas that weren’t even a challenge for you.
The third reason discouragement is so powerful if we allow it is that it can and will keep you from moving forward with the Lord. The whole point, the whole objective of Discouragement is to keep you from victory. We have victory in every area of our life with the Lord, but if discouragement can keep you from taking ahold of that victory then it is fulfilling it’s role in satan’s kingdom. I guarantee you other demons see Discouragement and welcome him in because they know they will increase their score with an assist from Discouragement. We can’t have victory if we keep losing over and over to discouragement.
Let me tell you a story about fighting discouragement.
This story began in August of 2022. My husband and I had just returned from exploring ancient ruins in Turkey and he had to go to Japan for 2 or 3 weeks for work. He’s in the military and there were several of the men from my husband’s unit on this trip. On one of the Sundays, August 7th, to be exact, about 10 guys set out from the base, drove the hour and a half to Mt Fuji with the intent of spending the day climbing Mt Fuji. For the average fit person it should take about 6 hours to ascend and then roughly the same to descend. Mt Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, at 12,388 feet and 3 inches. Mt Everest is a bit over 29,000 feet to give you some perspective on size. Mt Fuji is a pretty good size mountain.
Having just come back from Turkey, my husband and I had been doing some hiking, about 10 miles a day, but he wasn’t fully prepared for Fuji. A lot of times in our lives we are not fully prepared for what is ahead of us and it’s how we manage and navigate our circumstances that builds us or tears us down.
As the men arrived, they all knew they needed to meet back by 6pm. The gates to the mountain close at 6. The group of ten divides into smaller groups. My husband and 2 other men stay together. My husband is in his fifties, one of the men with him is in his twenties, one early thirties. Periodically I would get updates, my husband is like a cheer leader and the amount of pictures he was taking was pretty amazing. He is both the videographer and the photographer on all of our trips for our YouTube Channel so he is in his element. He is with his men, doing something he was so excited to do. I’m sure he never imagined himself climbing Mt Fuji. For him it was a once in a lifetime event. As he progressed up the mountain I watched using the GPS in our phones. The service was occasionally spotty but I was able to keep pretty good track of him. His spirits were high, he was in his element. I shared pictures of his movement with one of my sons. My second son, Bryce, he is an avid outdoorsman. He is one of those extreme sportsmen. He was so excited getting the updates and he admitted how jealous he was that he wasn’t with him. As the day progressed, I could sense changes in his spirit.
He is joining us now to share a bit from his perspective and give you a better understanding of the discouragement he was facing that day.
Welcome Don, you know I was sharing about your climb on Mt Fuji, a lot happened on that day. You faced a lot of discouragement. Talk to me about that day, you started out so happy, but I know circumstances changed and it was a challenging day.
I’m at Mt Fuji, I never expected to be there. The view was amazing. I am with some guys from work that I really like. I am outside, I love being outside. As a kid, I loved hiking. To be able to go up on the mountain, I was excited.
We didn’t eat before we left and there was no place to buy breakfast before our early start. So we already started out not fully prepared. We were able to rent the climbing gear so we did have that and I had a few snacks packed away in my bag. We had water and oxygen bottles. We were excited, committed, motivated to climb Mt Fuji. We started the climb, others went on ahead of us. The view of Mt Fuji and the surrounding area was breathtaking. After a couple of hours into our climb, I started feeling sharp pain in my knees. I tried to hide the pain and push through, but after a while I knew I had to let the guys know I was experiencing pain in my knees and needed to slow down. I realized that taking shorter steps was less painful. So, to remind myself to take shorter steps I used a two word phrase to shorten my steps, I don’t remember that the phrase was, it was like slow and steady. I started feeling discouraged because now I was slowing the 2 other guys down and we still had a ways to go. I felt like I was interfering in their progress and opportunity to reach the summit. They committed to staying with me and we continued to climb. About an hour later, one of the guys with me, injured his knee. At this point, we are about halfway up. So we decided we are going to make it to the top whether we have to crawl, low crawl, whatever we had to do we were going to make it to the top. Even though we were both in pain, we pushed on. The terrain was different at times, sometimes steps, boulders, flat surfaces, steep angle, loose soil but we kept pushing forward. Before you climb, you can chose to buy a staff or a short stick. I bought a staff and as you climb, at each station you can stop and pay to have a woodburn mark in your staff. We would stop and get our marks. About ¾’s of the way up and I walked past the station and turned right to look at the next section up to get to the next station and the terrain was really rough and rocky and I almost cried because it didn’t look enjoyable because of the pain in my knees. So we regrouped in front of th e station, we talked about our options, the time, and we knew we were not going to make it to the top with the time we had left. So we had to make a decision and we decided to hit the escape trail for the descent. It was crushing to know we had to do that, we wanted to make it to the top. As we began the descent path, about 20 minutes in, 2 other guys in our group heard about my buddy’s injury and they administered first aid to his knee. The one guy was a former navy corpsman, so he was a trained medic. While the corpsman was administering first aid, the other guy went down and let the mountain staff know we needed attention and arranged for us to get a ride down the mountain. We had to be down to the starting point at 6 pm in order to catch the bus and the mountain staff assured us we would make it. At first, only two of us were able to be given a ride. So the group, which was now 4 of us, were separated. Eventually we all made it back down together. Once we got to the bottom we were so happy we were at the bottom, but we still had to walk ½ mile to get to the busses. We walked but did not arrive until 6:07 and the gate was closed and park staff would not allow us to leave the park. We did all we could to try to get them to let us out and it was not happening. We were now locked into the Mt Fuji visitor center until the next morning. There was no restaurant, nowhere to eat, they had a lodge but it closed at 6:30. We made our way to the lodge. There are 4 of us, my two buddies and the medic. So we get a room, it was one room for the 4 of us, it was $300, and it consisted of 4 walls, a carpeted floor, 4 cot mattresses, no bathroom, no shower and a mural of Mt Fuji that was about 7 ft by 14 feet. All we had was what we had been carrying with us all day which between the 4 of us consisted of an apple, a couple of protein bars, a granola bar and water. It was hot and muggy and we opened the window for a draft only to be met with the scent of sewer so we had to close the window. The level of discouragement was pretty high. We were all pretty discouraged. We were supposed to be at work the next day and we were stuck on Mt Fuji and feeling defeated, trapped, like a prisoner of the mountain.
The next morning we woke up, spirits were a little lifted, the sun was shining, we decided to enjoy the views. We were told we would get a free breakfast and we were excited about getting a free breakfast, we were all packed up and set and ready to go for breakfast and found out that, no, our free breakfast was a vending machine that we had to pick our food from and pay for, there was no way it was free. We were so looking forward to sitting down having a meal, we didn’t know what it was going to be but we were looking forward to it. Once we found out about the vending machines, we were so deflated. We were not going to pay for breakfast. That was not going to happen. So we gathered our stuff up, went outside, in front of the lodge and we were talking, voicing our disgruntledness. There were a few small vendors out front and one Japanese lady gestured to us and gave us a puffy dough with meat in it. A steamed meat bun. I was so joyful, we hadn’t eaten, we were so happy.
As we ate and got something in our belly, we then were able to take a moment and reflect on what we had been through. We were thankful that it was daytime and we could enjoy the scenery and the drive back to base. We were still sore, we knew we needed to go the doctor for our injuries and weren’t sure what they were going to say, but we were thankful for the opportunity to climb Mt Fuji and experience something most people aren’t able to do.
Thank you Don for sharing that with us, I remember that being a difficult day for you and it felt like every time we communicated which wasn’t much as the day progressed because you didn’t have a charger, but I know that was a hard day. It was how you managed the challenges and accepted that your desire, your expectation, your hope to reach the summit was not going to happen that speaks of who you are as a man. You didn’t mention it, but I know you were praying through that situation and praying with them and none of them were Christian.
Now the story doesn’t end there. The story ended exactly a week ago actually. My son,
Bryce, the extreme sportsman, is also in the military. In November of last year, he was sent to Japan. About a month ago he was invited by some guys to go climb Mt Fuji. Bryce and the guys took a 3-hour train ride from the base to Mt Fuji. Bryce didn’t think he was going to get the opportunity to get to Mt Fuji, so he was excited. He didn’t really even know the guys who invited him, but they knew he would enjoy it so they asked him. Bryce didn’t prepare for it either, since he was asked last minute. He actually did the climb in vans, street shoes, a pair of shorts and a tshirt. He too bought a stick to have the woodburn stamp at the stations. He saw my husband’s a few months earlier and thought it was pretty cool, I think he said “sick” actually, to have as a keepsake. Bryce is a pretty friendly guy, he is extremely fit and had a plan for how quickly he wanted to make the ascent. He was ahead of the group he traveled with and met people along the way. He stopped at the stations and got his woodburn stamps as my husband did. At one point, he met two Americans, also military guys and was chatting with them. They asked him something about his climb since he was alone and he explained he was with a group but he was trying to make the ascent within a certain timeframe. Once they realized what he was doing, they quickly realized that talking to them was slowing him down. They encouraged him to get on and not let them interfere. At one station he was having trouble communicating with a vendor and a Japanese woman helped him out. Then they chatted a bit as she explained some things to him about the culture and tradition of Mt Fuji. Bryce then continued on his way and reached the summit, he reached it in 2 hours and 45 minutes. On his way down, the terrain was rough and because he was in vans, he slipped and cut open his hand pretty badly. Along the way he ran into the same Japanese woman and she gave him first aid. She insisted, which was incredibly kind. Bryce was very excited that this one thing that he was so happy my husband did, and that he wanted to do, that he was actually able to do it just weeks before he was to leave Japan. We picked Bryce up from the airport in San Diego last Saturday, a week ago today. He apologized that he did not buy gifts for us. He said actually I did by one gift but wanted to make sure I knew he wasn’t playing favorites. While at Fuji he bought an additional short walking stick and had it stamped with the 4 additional stops don could not achieve when he was at Fuji.
Even though Don could not complete the ascent, the Lord still gave him the gift of the stick through Bryce. Don was so touched that Bryce would think to do that for him.
When you are having your Fuji day, what kind of person are you going to be. Are you going to stand by someone else when they are struggling even when you are struggling? Are you going to encourage someone to keep going and move ahead so they can achieve a goal like those men did for Bryce? Instead of being jealous or petty when he explained he was trying to achieve the ascent in an incredibly fast pace, they supported him and they didn’t even know him. Are you going to be like the Japanese woman and help someone out when they are in need? How are you going to react when you are in pain and you realize you are not leaving the mountain tonight? When you have had a hard day and you have very limited resources, what will you turn to God with? Anger? Frustration? All of the things we encounter in our lives provide an opportunity for discouragement. It is how we allow that opportunity to grow in our lives that determines how deep our relationship with the Lord will become.
James tells us this, 1: 2-8 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”
Think of discouragement like your Mt Fuji. Some days your discouragement may be like Don’s climb, long, difficult, painful and nothing like you were expecting. Some days it may be like Bryce’s and you may be having a great day, but on your way down you get cut up when you slip on some jagged rocks. They were on the same path, completely different days. Neither let discouragement take them out. Decide how you will handle your Mt Fuji. Stay committed to overcoming discouragement and let it draw you closer to the Lord with every step.
I hope you have enjoyed our time discussing the Spirit of Discouragement and how we allow and even nurture it in our lives. I do hope it has helped to build your understanding and encouraged you to conquer your own unseen enemies. If you know anyone who might benefit from this, please share.
As always let’s discuss our Top Show Points:
· We discussed the Spirit of Discouragement
· Discouragement is powerful. There are three main reasons why Discouragement is so powerful.
· First, the Spirit of Discouragement enters our life slowly, quietly, and in ways we don’t readily recognize. Matthew 21, Jesus and the fig tree.
· The tree was in the midst of everyone, it grew, it was recognized for what it appeared to be, but it was not what it appeared to be. As a result, Jesus did not hesitate to dispense of that tree. Likewise, we need to see the people around us, the words used over us and with us, the activities that we are doing and not doing for what they are to us in our walk with the Lord. When someone or something is a discouragement, call it for what it is and do not let it hinder your relationship with the Lord.
· The second reason Discouragement is so powerful is because it can work with any demon grouping. If you have listened to any of my previous podcasts where we discuss specific demons and groupings, we talk about how and why they work well together. Some demons are just a more natural fit with others in their attempts to lead us to destruction. The thing with discouragement is that it is a bit like vanilla. Vanilla pairs well with nearly everything.
· Is there any area in your life you can think of that is completely immune to discouragement? I can’t think of any. Our careers, our family life, our marriage, our prayer life, our friendships, our finances, our businesses, all of it and more are all prone to have some aspect that we will feel discouraged by. Like vanilla, discouragement comes with a cost and it is expensive. If we allow discouragement to flavor any area of our lives, it can be hard to get it out.
· The third reason discouragement is so powerful if we allow it is that it can and will keep you from moving forward with the Lord. The whole point, the whole objective of Discouragement is to keep you from victory. We have victory in every area of our life with the Lord, but if discouragement can keep you from taking ahold of that victory then it is fulfilling it’s role in satan’s kingdom.
· We can’t have victory if we keep losing over and over to discouragement.
· I gave you the beginnings of the story of my husband at Mt Fuji.
· My husband gave you his story of his climb on Mt Fuji
· I shared with you the story of my son climbing Mt Fuji
· All of the things we encounter in our lives provide an opportunity for discouragement. It is how we allow that opportunity to grow in our lives that determines how deep our relationship with the Lord will become.
· Discussed James 1:2-8, talking about trials and how we need to respond in time of trial.
· Think of discouragement like your Mt Fuji. Decide how you will handle your Mt Fuji. Stay committed to overcoming discouragement and let it draw you closer to the Lord with every step.
We encourage you:
· To have an active Bible reading plan, it will be helpful in gaining wisdom and understanding and it is required for the gift of spiritual discernment
· If you want to learn more about how to Hear God's Voice, take a look at my book, Loving Conversations: How to Pray and Hear God's Voice. There is also a Study Guide available and two devotionals out based on the Loving Conversations Book. One devotional is for women and one is for men. Those are available on the website www.lovingconversationssalo.com.
· Come to my live event on 9/23 if you are in the Los Angeles area and experience the Holy Spirit, 80 Wood Rd, Journey the Church Office, for more details listen to the Invite I posted on 8/24.
· Follow us in Instagram
I have enjoyed our time this week and look forward to spending time with you again next week!
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