TOOLS OF DISCOURAGEMENT
by Kathy Pegram

 

In I Kings chapter 19, Elijah, says, "I've had enough Lord!" Imagine this, Elijah has just had two of his greatest spiritual victories: the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the answered prayer for rain. But, now he's tired and discouragement has set in. How many of us can empathize with Elijah? How many of you can look back and see that you've become discouraged after great spiritual experiences in your life? It's like we use up everything we have and then we just have nothing left to give.

I went through the fed up syndrome myself several years ago. We were packing for revival, and I was in my “what's the use mode” ( I call it Evangelist Wife Burnout.) Steve knows when I'm packing and threatening not to go the whole time, that EWB has hit. Ladies if you think PMS is bad, try getting hit by EWB a few times. Now I've made my mind up I don't really care how this revival is going, I'm packing for x amount of days and when they're up, I'm going home. I've had enough. I'm tired of attitudes. I'm tired of egos. I'm tired of people playing church. I'm tired of hearing everyone compare their church to Brownsville. I've had enough! I'll find me a broom tree like Elijah and I'll hide there for a while.

When I look back now, I realize that I almost let Satan use discouragement on me to keep me from a divine appointment with God. I almost missed a closer walk with God than I've ever had before because I wanted to go throw myself a pity party. Yes, I was tired, but more than tired – I was fed up, I had literally had enough. You can rest and get over being tired, but discouragement is something you have to fight off and you need God's help to do that, you can't do it alone.

I read a story one time about discouragement it was something like this: Satan was having a going out of business sale. All of his tools were up for sale. They were displayed attractively in a case. There was hatred, envy, jealousy, deceit, etc. One harmless- looking one, that was more worn than the rest was priced much higher than the others. "What is that tool?" someone asked. "Discouragement," was the reply. "Why is it so expensive?" Satan answered, "Because it is more useful to me than any of the others." Satan can use anything to bring discouragement to you. For me it was plain frustration, I was fed up with all the complaining and criticism that I saw going in the church world. People complain if the music is too fast, too slow, too loud, too soft. They complain if services run too late or the preacher preaches too loud. They complain because they aren't having a revival like they had planned on having.

 

I've come to realize that a lot of churches don't want the revival God wants them to have, they want a revival Brownsville had several years ago, or Rodney Howard Brown has, or Rod Parsley has. They don't give a flip what word God wants to send, to them personally, they just want to get their name on the map so people will talk about them. To me that can get to be discouraging, but then I steal away and spend some time with God and in that gentle whisper He reminds me, your doing this for me. I'll send you where I want you to go, and I'll give you the strength to keep on going. God loves us and just as we comfort our children when they are hurting God comforts us, if we will just let Him.

So now as Paul Harvey would say here is the rest of the story.... The revival I packed 6 days for went for 8 weeks. I didn't get to stay hid under my broom tree because God had a divine appointment for me. He had things to show me and things he needed for me to do. He let me know that it doesn't matter where you go or what you do you will always face opposition. We just have to keep our eyes on Him and off of men, we have a destiny with God, He is calling us to a higher place with Him. There are peoples' lives that you and you alone can impact. Don't get discouraged by the things that go on around you. Look up, God has a destiny for you. Don't let Satan use discouragement to steal that destiny from you.

Love and Prayers,
Kathy