But I Feel Discouraged
Some days you just wake up and wish you could go back to sleep. The day ahead of you seems too daunting; too much to do, too much to face, too much. You’ve been waiting for God to answer that prayer, send that money you need, or come through for you in a significant way but, God seems to not be listening.
I know I’ve felt that way for a hot minute. But I realize I’m not alone in this. Daniel had a vision in Daniel 10 and knew it concerned future events. He set himself to fast and pray for understanding of this vision. In verse 4, an angel appeared to him, in verse 12 it says; “Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince (demonic spirit) of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.”
What was happening? Daniel prayed and his prayer was most certainly heard. So why did it take 21 days to arrive? Spiritual warfare. The angel left heaven with his answer, but a demonic spirit fought with that angel to keep his answer from arriving. When the angel broke through the resistance, he got to Daniel.
I think a whole battalion of demons is holding up some of my answers how about you? Or so it would seem. Many times, we forget about this warfare in the heavenlies and assume God did not hear us, or is too busy to answer or worse yet has answered no. It’s rather easy to get discouraged and give up.
We have a part to play in prayer, not just to pray, but to continue to believe and stand when answers don’t come and to practice the spiritual principles in God’s word that we know. Our words are a powerful weapon against our enemy. Our voice carries great authority. Jesus said, “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy…” in Luke 10:19a. Jesus won back the authority that Adam had given Satan through sin. Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness by SAYING OR SPEAKING back to his temptations.
While I was praying the other day and listening to worship music, this song came on. The anointing of God filled the room so powerfully. I was energized and felt empowered. So, I did what any good Christian would do, I googled the lyrics! They were so powerful and reminded me of this principle of speaking to the enemy and declaring a decree of victory.
I come out of agreement
With the lie that You have left me on my own
I am not alone
I come out of agreement
With the worry and the fear I've come to know
No, they won't have a hold on me
Protector
You never, never, never let me go
You said You wouldn't leave me, and You won't
You're right by my side, Protector
I come into agreement
With the truth that You are who You say You are
I can trust Your heart
I come into agreement
With what Heaven has declared over my life
'Cause I know that You fight for me
Protector
You never, never, never let me go
You said You wouldn't leave me, and You won't
You're right by my side
Protector
You hide me in the shadow of Your wings
Your presence is my peace, my covering
My song in the night
(You can listen to this song “here”)
These lyrics are an example of how to speak to the enemy and to ourselves. Talking back to wrong thoughts is how we fight! So many times, when we get discouraged, our thoughts will derail us, sending us into discouragement and even sin. Every thought that comes into our minds is not our thought. So, I began to say these lyrics out loud to the enemy of my soul. In doing so I was coming out of agreement with what he was telling me and coming into agreement with truth and what God says over my life.
We can trust that, as the song goes on to say, You fight for me, You never let me go, You won’t leave me, You hide me in the shadow of your wings, Your presence is my peace! We never fight alone! I know we get weary, and this is the last thing we feel like doing. Our soul gets weighed down with so many things and it seems hard to fight. But fight we must.
After a while, my whole mindset had changed, and I felt new hope filling me. New strength consumed my heart as I worshiped and spoke these lyrics out loud proclaiming the victory I WILL see. You can do this; you can defeat any enemy thought that comes against you. Start today to speak to doubt, to sickness, to lies you have believed, to anything that doesn’t line up with Scripture. I believe in you! We can win this fight!
Father I hold up each person who is struggling, who feels defeated. I pray that you would give them supernatural strength to fight, to stand up and SAY words in agreement with you and not the enemy. Holy Spirit in the moments they feel weak, make them strong. When they don’t want to fight help them. I hold up their arms in prayer as Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses in the battle. I stand with them in this fight….in Jesus name amen.