So be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.  For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you.  He will neither fail you nor abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
If you are feeling discouraged, you are not alone. And even though God makes many resources available to us, Christians are not immune from discouragement.
Discouragement is defined as the opposite of, or the absence of courage.  It makes us less confident and less hopeful; and our obstacles can seem even bigger than they truly are. When a person is discouraged they are easily saddened by failure or criticism.  Fears grow and hope for the future seems to fade.  We can lose our interest in things we love and even become doubtful of our future- wondering if we’ve gotten it all wrong up to this point, or if our goals and dreams will ever be reached.
Is that where you find yourself now?  Take heart friend!  God's Word can help you cope with, and even conquer discouragement.  But before we look at His Word, let's look at some potential reasons you may be feeling discouraged.

A very common cause of discouragement is delay of desires.  For example, if a loved one promises to help you with a project that is very important to you and delays for a day, there may be disappointment, but not likely discouragement.   Discouragement only comes as day after day passes and the thing you expected never happens.  Delay of a promise or an expected situation is at the root of discouraging feelings.  Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when desire comes it is a tree of life." Has your hope been deferred due to certain things that never seem to happen in your life that you thought would? Does it seem your desires keep getting delayed?

Other causes of discouragement may include fatigue, relational or work related difficulties, frustrations, loneliness or past failures- just to name a few. We all face these feelings at one time or another, so what does God’s Word teach us we should do in these times?  I have three words for you today: Faith, Hope and Love!  

Faith lifts you up when life lets you down. "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1)  Faith keeps us strong when things get rough, when life lets us down, when people disappoint us, and when dreams go unfulfilled.  Faith sees past what we feel and how we see ourselves. Jeremiah 29:11 says "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."  Yes, He said hope!  We must continue to have hope no matter what does or does not happen in our lives.  Keep connected to the Lord even through your discouragement, knowing that he has a plan that is greater than your own. In addition, ask God to keep your heart filled with love.  Always love the Lord, even in suffering through difficult seasons.  Never forget his love for you, and his willingness to die on the cross and suffer a brutally painful death for you. If God allowed his own son to suffer, why, then, would he keep us from suffering?  There is a purpose for your pain as well. He loves you more than you can ever imagine and he didn’t bring you as far as he has, just to let you down permanently.  Trust him today, friend.  Hold onto faith, don’t lose hope, and always remember and trust in His love!