“Through regeneration, the Son of God is formed in us, and in our physical life…Satan does not tempt us just to make us do wrong things-he tempts us to make us lose what God has put into us through regeneration, namely, the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come to us on the premise of tempting us to sin, but on the premise of shifting our point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.”

~Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

DEALING WITH DISCOURAGEMENT

I read this passage by Oswald Chambers on a day when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed and discouraged. I was working very hard on a project, but it seemed that no matter what I did, nothing worked. Projects were failing. Sales were collapsing. My savings were dwindling. I’d reached a point where I felt that if things didn’t improve, I’d have to re-think my career plans and my dream.

However, after I read this quote by Oswald Chambers, I realized that discouragement, while being a natural reaction to disappointment, can also be a tool of dark forces to distract us from our goal and pull us off our path, away from the dream that God has put into our heart.

Which is exactly the moment when we need to embrace the spiritual armor that God provides. Don’t let yourself become distracted when setbacks occur, which they will with any heart-held dream that God has given you. Failure is temporary as long as you keep going and let it become a stepping stone on the way to success. Learn from it, then keep going, and your dream will be one step closer.

When you feel overwhelmed by disappointment, recall the real source of your strength. God is with you every step of the way. As the passage from the Psalms promises, God will not only strengthen us in times of setback, He will lift us higher than we were before.

Today, recall times in the past when you have faced disappointment and then found that God was with you, or restored the situation, or took you to a higher place. What God has done before, He will do again.

This essay was originally published in God Loves Your Dream, a book of inspirational essays. Get your copy on Amazon.com.