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SPIRITUAL DISCOURAGEMENT: HOW TO GET OUT OF IT

Do you know what spiritual discouragement is? If you are going through this, know there is a way out; it is up to you.

Many are facing spiritual discouragement, but what is it? It’s when you can no longer pray as before; you don’t read the Bible, and you decrease your attendance to the church, so you live based on the strength of your arm rather than by faith. Naturally, you get more involved with work, studies, and leisure, and there is no shortage of voices to make you give up the faith once and for all.

This has already happened, an example is Elijah, who asked for his death (1 Kings 19:4) when what he expected did not happen. So he went into a kind of spiritual depression and asked to die. This is one of the great causes of spiritual discouragement: the person invested strongly in faith and prayers, did everything that was guided, and the answer did not come when or how they wanted. Here comes the frustration and the fall. But sometimes, you may have let your flesh prevail by sloppiness or tiredness. In time, they get discouraged from being obedient to God.

But the consequences do not appear on the same day; at first, everything seems fine. But in the spiritual world, you are withering, your spiritual immunity is low, you hear the voice of God less and get closer to the devil, you get more and more blind, spiritually, and when you least expect it, you will wake up in hell.

The Word of God warns us:

“Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:14

How to get out of this situation?

There is no secret: simply go back to doing what you did before, as the Lord Jesus told the church who had lost their first love:

“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…”
Revelation 2:5

And you should practice them, even when you don’t feel like it, because that’s how we keep our faith, doing the right thing, whether you feel like it or not. As I said earlier, it is awful to do certain things because they contradict our will and comfort, but after you do, you are happy. And the last tip is: good cheer.

“… be of good cheer…”
John 16:33

Give this order to yourself, cheer up and break the chains of this spiritual discouragement. Watch the entire message in the video above.

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Bishop Renato Cardoso