Lesson 7 - Dealing With Discouragement

What is Discouragement? Three Stages of Discouragement: 1. Mild - 2. Strong - 3. Disabling - Causes of Discouragement - Lies from Satan. - The Root Cause -- Eph 6:16 The Benefit of Discouragement - It confirms our need for God - It destroys our delight in temporal things - Phil 3:7-11 - It destroys our confidence in the flesh - our own human effort - Romans 7:22-24 - Through our weakness, His strength is made perfect - 2 Cor. 12:9-10 Overcoming Discouragement 1. Remove any guilt 2. Take up the shield of faith 3. Encourage our hearts in the Lord 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. How? By quoting God’s truth: i.e. Discouraged by Quote Failure and sin Psalms 32, 51 Rejection by friends Psalms 35, 55 Slander against us Psalms 38, 59 4. Get alone with God 5. Get away from fearful people 6. Read biographies of great Christians 7. Avoid making major decisions during times of discouragement "Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light." 8. Let go of pride and confess your discouragement to trusted prayer partners 9. Focus on God's reputation 10. Focus on our position in Christ - Consider what Christ endured in order to do God's will. - Know your resources - because we are in Christ, we are able to enter into His victory over Satan. 11. Offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving 12. The principle of the birth, death, and resurrection of a vision - God will give you a vision of what He wants done through us. - He will allow us to experience the death of the vision ( frustration in our efforts) in order to build character - He will then fulfill the vision supernaturally through us. 13. Discern how God can use our problems or pressures for His good. "God will never use any man greatly until He has wounded Him severely." Tozer

Study Guide For "What The Bible Is All About"

by Henrietta Mears

Chapter 7 - Understanding Joshua

1. What is the theme of Joshua? _______________________________ 2. The books relates the settlement of the children of Israel in Canaan, proving _____________________________________________. 3. What does the name Joshua mean? ____________________________ 4. Israel was led __________________ by Moses and ____________ by Joshua. 5. What are the two main divisions of the book of Joshua? ________________________________ and ___________________________. 6. How did God encourage Joshua? ______________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 7. Moses represents ____________ , and Joshua represents ____________ . Explain how._____________________________________ 8. List the 5 principles necessary for going on in the Christian life. 1 _______________________________________ 2 _______________________________________ 3 _______________________________________ 4 _______________________________________ 5 _______________________________________ 9. What attitude do you see in Joshua’s co-workers/leaders in 1:16? ________________________________________________________________ 10. How did Rahab mark her house? ____________________________ Do you see a similiarity between this and the Jews marking of their homes in Exodus 12: 7-13? ___________ What else is noteworthy about Rahab? ____________________________________________________________ 11. What did the Ark of the Covenant represent? _________________ 12. Only two men survived from the generation who left Egypt to enter into the Promised Land. Who were they and why did they alone survive? _____________________________________________________________________ 13. How many times in the Bible was a body of water parted? _____ Give scriptures to prove your answer. ________________________________ 14. At what point did the waters of the Jordan River part? ______________________________________________________________________ 15. The priests took 12 stones out of the river bed and set them up for what purpose?_____________________________________________________ 16. What made the walls of Jericho fall down? ______________________ What 3 things did the people have to do? _____________________, _____________________________, and __________________________. 17. How many times did they march around the city? _________________ 18. Why did Israel fail at the city of Ai? _________________________ 19. Why was it wrong for Achan to take the gold? ___________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 20. What wise quote do we find from D. L. Moody? ____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 21. What went wrong in the matter of the treaty with the Gibeonites? (see v. 9:14)_________________________________________________________ 22. Unless we ____________________________________ we will never win. (p.91) 23. The land was divided among the tribes of Israel. What portion did Levi get? (v. 14:3 & 13:14______________________________________________ 24. Write out the quote from Horace Mann. _____________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ By the way, who was Horace Mann? __________________________________ 25. The promise is not for ________, but for ______________. 26. We grow in ____________. 27. What were the Cities of Refuge? (Num. 35:9-15)______________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 28. What great challenge did Joshua give at the end of his time of leadership? ____________________________________________________________ 29. Do not pray for _______________, but pray ______________________. 30. The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his ____________.