We all will become discouraged at some point in our lives simply because certain things will not turn out for us as we had hoped or planned. So the question is what are we to do when we find ourselves dealing with shattered dreams, deferred hope or over-whelming fears? Life is filled with many uncertainties, but children of the Most High God have many guarantees, and one of them is that no matter what our problem, the Word of God is guaranteed to contain your answer. Romans 15:4 says “for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

Discouragement is a spirit that comes from Satan. Christians don’t bring it upon themselves; nor does the Lord send it. Such attacks usually have nothing to do with any specific sin or failure on the believer’s part. In other words, the spirit of discouragement is one of Satan’s most powerful weapon against God’s children. Satan will try to convince us that we have brought God’s wrath upon ourselves because we don’t measure up in some way or another but that is just another lie that we must cast down. We must see discouragement for what it really is. It is a fiery dart that Satan shoots at us to get us to doubt ourselves. Satan will bombard you with lies to make you think that you will never be good enough. We should always talk to God about our feelings of failure; about our foolish mistakes or about our sins. God is a loving Father and He will be tender and compassionate with us, but we are never to allow Satan’s lies to settle in our hearts!  It’s important that we are patient with ourselves, with others and with God. It takes time for us to overcome obstacles; don’t get discouraged from the struggle. You have not failed until you stop trying.

Following are the modern day Ten Commandments which you should adopt as a way of life for the rest of your life:

1. You shall not worry for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.
2. You shall not be fearful because most of the time what we fear never comes to pass.
3. You shall not cross bridges before you come to them for no one has yet succeeded in accomplishing this.
4. You should face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at a time anyway.
5. You shall not take problems to bed with you for they will make poor bedfellows.
6. You shall not borrow other people’s problems. They can better care for them than you.
7. You shall not try to relive yesterday for good or evil. It is forever gone. Concentrate on what has happened in your life and be happy now.
8. You shall be a good listener for only when you listen do you hear ideas that are different from your own. It’s hard to learn something new when you are talking.
9. You shall not become bogged down from frustrations for 90% of it is rooted in self pity and will only interfere with positive actions.
10. You should count your blessings. Never overlook the small ones for a lot of small ones add up to a big one.