Dark Times – How to Overcome Discouragement audio video notes. Discover how to become a more effective witness by embracing the principles of thriving spiritually during the “Dark Times” that test your faith. We all go through them in life. Why is that? When understood, dark times are a blessing, not a curse. Our good times are a result of our dark times. Dark times germinate our seed dreams, goals, talents, objectives, and potential.
SMILE STAYING POSITIVE WHEN…
By Pastor Delbert Young
Dark Times – How to Overcome Discouragement
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Dark Times – How to Overcome Discouragement
Scriptures: James 1:2-3, 1 Peter 1:6-7, John 12:23-24, Psalms 105:17, Psalms 4:1, 1 Samuel 17:34-37, Psalms 23:1-6
We all go through dark times in life. Why is that? Why does every person go through difficult, dark times? Doesn’t it seem some of God’s favorites would make it through life without going through dark times? No. Even those who seem to be God’s favorites go through dark times.
Your spouse betrayed you. It’s a dark time. Maybe the company made cutbacks, and they laid you off. Someone becomes severely ill – a dark time. These things numb us. Divorce? A child broke your heart. We lose a loved one. A mother has a miscarriage – dark time. Your spouse has mental issues such as Alzheimer’s. After years, someone walked out of a relationship and left you. It’s a dark time. We all go through dark times, and the list is endless.
It’s easy to become discouraged and give up on God, your dreams, and life in dark times. It’s easy to become depressed. Also, we allow the dark times to use us if we don’t use the dark times.
In our series titled “It’s Not Right!” we saw some interesting scriptures.
James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT…
1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. THESE HAVE COME SO THAT…
There is a reason and purpose to every trial, trouble, suffering, grief, and dark time we experience. We all experience them, even Jesus did. Here is what he said.
John 12:23-24 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
(KJV) John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, IT BRINGETH FORTH MUCH FRUIT.
Jesus was speaking about his darkest of times – his crucifixion. He pictured his life as the kernel of wheat, a seed. The seed cannot germinate as long as the seed is in the light. It’s unproductive – it remains only a single seed. It must go into the ground – a dark time – to germinate. Only after it’s planted and goes through the process of germination and transformation – the dark time – is the potential inside unlocked to produce the life and much fruit locked within.
There are seeds in you – seed dreams, seed goals, seed talents, seed objectives, seed potential, etc. These seeds will only germinate, potentially unlocked in dark times. Your dark times “glorify you.” You germinate and transform in dark times, and your character is developed.
Also, your priorities are adjusted. Dark times make you strong. Your vision realigns. Because of dark times, you become who you and God want you to become. Dark times are necessary if your dreams germinate and become fruitful. You don’t realize it, but dark times are a blessing.
God uses the dark times.
He will not waste one. The dark times may have caught us off guard, but they didn’t catch God off guard. God wouldn’t have allowed them to happen if they weren’t for our good.
Given enough information, we see every person in the Bible, all the mighty in faith (Hebrews chapter 11), who went through dark times. Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Job, etc. God will allow Satan to bring dark times, but God will use the dark times to bring germination, unlocking the potential within us. When handled correctly, I want you to see that there is always fruit and blessing at the end of every dark time. Always!
How about Joseph? Joseph’s brothers betrayed him, threw him into a pit, and sold him as a slave; Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, and Potiphar put Joseph into prison for thirteen years.
Psalms 105:17 and he sent a man before them – Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, TILL THE WORD OF THE LORD PROVED HIM TRUE. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed
Joseph had to go through his dark times. God used Joseph’s dark times to direct Joseph’s life to Joseph’s destiny. You may not realize it, but your dark times direct your life far more than your good times. Your good times are a result of your dark times.
Dark times are uncomfortable. I prefer the good times when everything goes my way, but I’ve become who I am because of the dark times. Dark times taught me to pray, and I don’t pray the same way in good times. Dark times were when I developed an unshakable trust and faith in God. Without dark times, my and your growth would be stunted.
David, the man after God’s own heart, went through a thousand (endless) dark times just like you and me, but David understood dark times. We don’t.
(KJV) Psalms 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: THOU HAST ENLARGED ME WHEN I WAS IN DISTRESS; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
God used dark times – distress – to enlarge and prepare David. Good times didn’t enlarge David. David constantly talked about his “distress.” He used “distress” around twenty times in the Book of Psalms alone. You will have many stressful dark times even if you’re a person after God’s own heart. Why? They enlarge you. They make you bigger and better. David understood the dark times, but he never liked them. He always asked the Lord to deliver him from them, yet he understood the Lord used them to enlarge him.
David, as a young boy, shepherded sheep. He probably didn’t want to keep sheep. He’d rather hang out with his friends, but God was doing something inside David. He had no one to talk to but God… and the sheep. David developed a deep relationship with and unshakable trust in God at this young age. God will allow dark times when there’s no one to talk to but him—those years keeping sheep prepared David to become a champion.
1 Samuel 17:34-37 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”
People thought David was an overnight Phenom when David killed Goliath. David wasn’t an overnight wonder. His dark times, when attacked by the lion and the bear, prepared David for Goliath. Your dark times prepare you for the Goliaths in our life. David understood that the Lord was enlarging him in every distressful dark time, and he knew incredible blessings were on the other side of his dark times. David wrote,
Psalms 23:1-6 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a TABLE before me in the presence of my enemies. You ANOINT MY HEAD with oil; my CUP OVERFLOWS. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
David said the same God who led him to still waters and green pastures was the same God who led him through the valley of the shadow of death. Green pastures and still waters are easy and good times. It’s easy to trust God there, but can we trust him in the dark valleys? It’s lonely, stressful, and frightening in the dark valleys. However, we can talk to God in the dark valleys.
After David passed through the valley of the shadow of death, God prepared a table, and all his enemies watched as he partook of God’s blessings.
Dark times didn’t destroy David. They blessed him. It was after the valley he was anointed with oil. After the valley, his life was refreshed with a new anointing, energy, and purpose. It’s after the dark valley the cup overflows with incredible blessings. It’s after the betrayals, layoffs, illness, numbness, divorce, broken heart, miscarriage, mental problems – distress and dark times we get to the table, the anointing, and the overflowing cup of blessings.
You’ve got to go through it and continue to do the right thing when the wrong thing happens. We want the overflowing cup. God says okay, but you must go through more dark valleys.
I’ve learned that something else is birthing when something seems to be dying. You lost your job, and it’s dark. You’ve got to trust God in the valley. God must have something better planned. A friend betrayed you. It hurts, but God must know something. There’s a better friend already lined up to come into your life.
Maybe someone left the church. It broke my heart, and it always hurts. It’s discouraging, but God sent you. I’ve learned that if I go through the valley, trusting God and doing what’s right when wrong things happen, there is a table, an anointing, and the overflowing cup of blessings waiting.
Your divorce did not end your life.
Your layoff did not end your life. It did not bury you. It planted you. Your sickness was not the end of you. In the dark, you discover great faith inside of you. Dark times germinate and release the potential hidden on the inside.
Randy has been faithful to God, our church, and my friend for thirty years.
Several years ago, the company he worked for cut back and terminated Randy. I think the first place Randy came was to my office. He was worried, embarrassed, limited, depressed, hurt, and bitter. It was a dark time. I told Randy I didn’t know how, but I did know it would work out for his good. I helped Randy make a good résumé, and we sent it out.
Several companies offered Randy jobs, but none would pay what he needed. I’d talk to Randy, and he would be depressed and bitter. I told him to go on vacation and relax. He looked at me as if I were crazy. Randy could not find a job that would work for three months, but he never gave up on God. He kept giving, being faithful in his distress, and we kept praying.
Finally, Randy decided to take a job he didn’t want. Just before Randy was to report for work, his old company, the company that terminated him three months earlier, called Randy. They not only wanted Randy to come back to work, but they wanted him to oversee the entire plant. It was a huge promotion and a tremendous pay increase.
Randy had to go through the dark valley, but on the other side, a table was prepared, and his enemies watched Randy eat the blessings. A fresh new anointing came into his life, and the cup has overflowed with blessings for 15 years. There’s always fruit at the end of the dark valley.
Don’t get stuck in your dark valley.
The Lord is with you. The dark valley is not your home. It’s only planting season. Don’t become stuck asking questions and doubting God. Asking, “Why me?” and saying, “It’s not right!” Getting angry and saying and doing mean things will only bog you down in the valley.
I didn’t remember it, but Randy reminded me how bitter he was this week. He said I got him to write a letter to each of his old superiors, not blasting them for how badly they treated him but telling them how he appreciated the years they employed him. It was tough for Randy to do, but Randy said their offer came soon after he had mailed the letters. It would help if you did the right thing when the wrong thing is happening. Don’t get stuck in the dark valley.
One more story, and we’ll end today.
Our church went through a dark time nearly twenty years ago. Saying I was distressed doesn’t seem close to how badly I felt. I experienced the most humiliating time of my life. People left us, and we had a large mortgage without money to pay it or our staff. I was so bitter and filled with anger my wife told me I’d shake when sleeping. As difficult as it was, I kept doing what was right when the wrong things were happening. We trusted the Lord. It looked bad.
It looked like we would be buried, and our enemies would win. One day, Judy, my wife, called me on the phone, telling me she believed the Lord had spoken to her. It would happen if we made a board, drew squares, explained how we wanted to pay off our facility, and got people to take a square and contribute. We’d pay off the mortgage. All the leadership decided to try. It couldn’t hurt.
I heard Joel Osteen say an exclamation point is only a question mark straightened out.
We had many questions. Question mark – Would we survive? Yes! Here we are twenty years later! – Exclamation point. Question mark – Would we pay our mortgage? Yes! We paid off the mortgage! – Exclamation point. Question mark – Would we be able to pay our bills? Yes! Today, we are a debt-free ministry! We also paved our parking lot and carpeted the entire facility! – Exclamation point. All that happened using that one board with squares on it.
God will turn your question marks into exclamation points if you trust him in the dark times.
God set the table for us before our enemies. We were on the newspaper’s front page and on the radio as our enemies witnessed us burning the mortgage, and our enemies realized they did not control our destiny. God does! Our enemies had to watch us being blessed. Like Joseph, our brothers (and sisters) threw us into a pit. Potiphar’s wife lied about us. We had a stay in prison, but what they meant to harm us, God meant for good! We had a new anointing and a better church internally and externally. God overflowed our cup.
Dark times are meant to bless us, not destroy us.
If dark times were not good for us, God would not allow them. Dark times germinate the seeds of your dreams, goals, talents, objectives, and potential. Dark times direct your life to your destiny, and dark times enlarge and prepare you for your Goliaths. Keep doing the right things when the wrong things are happening. A table is prepared for you at the end of the dark valley. Your enemies will watch you partake of God’s blessings. You will have a new anointing, and your cup of blessings will overflow if you refuse to get stuck in your dark valley.
Dark Times – How to Overcome Discouragement
Dark Times – How to Overcome Discouragement
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