Overcoming discouragement | Pathways to God's presence

<p>With our current series, we hope we can learn to do community together as the body of Christ because we share the same experiences of these pathways we travel on together. So, this series is less of an in-depth approach to Scripture, and more a simple framework for deeper intimacy with God through the pathways He has ordained.</p> <p>Today we are talking about discouragement and how God stewards our times of dryness for His glory, our transformation, and the growth of the fruit of the spirit in our lives.</p> <p>Discouragement can take many forms. Did you know that courage comes from the French for heart? Coeur is the heart of the word courage. So to be encouraged is to have an increase of heart – and discouragement is the opposite. It’s when you lose heart. You lose perspective. Discouragement can feel like darkness, or confusion, or chaos, or loneliness. Or all the above. Or so many more things. Discouragement breeds anxiety, depression, fear, shame, guilt – especially in us Christians.</p> <p>As Christians we should be the most joyful people on earth – so encouraged, in fast, that we are a constant source of encouragement for others. That is true. But it is not our experience every day. So how can we remedy that, but in a way that brings consistent victory over discouragement?</p> <p>When we are in a season of discouragement, and its manifestations of anxiety, depression, fear, shame, guilt – that is when we need to travel the pathways to God’s presence more faithfully and consistently than ever.</p> <p>We cannot learn to walk when there is an earthquake. We cannot learn to swim in the stormy ocean. We need to practice the pathways to God’s presence in peaceful circumstances, so that when the earthquakes and the storms hit, we can recall what has become second nature.</p> <p>Discouragement can come when you feel you have been in this same storm before. It’s not your first trip to the darkness of depression or the pit of anxiety. You are all too familiar with the taste of fear or the burden of guilt. The clo