Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week (23 page)

There will be opposition on the way to your destiny. It may take longer than you had hoped. It may be more difficult than you’d thought. You can easily feel discouraged and think it will never work out, whatever the challenge might be. But you have to realize, on the other side of that discouragement awaits a new level of your destiny. When you pass the test, there will always be promotion.

If you are to become everything God has created you to be, you must be willing to say, “I have come too far to stop now. It may be tough. It may be taking a long time. I may not understand it, but I do know this: My God is still on the throne, and what He promised, He will bring to pass.”

Have a made-up mind, and resolve that no matter what comes your way, no matter how long it takes or how impossible it looks, you are in it for the long haul. You will not lose your passion. You will pass these discouragement tests. Your victory is already on the way.

Galatians 6:9 puts it like this: “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (
NLT
).

Like the people of Israel, you are right next door to your promised land. Your due season is right around the corner; that breakthrough, that dream coming to pass, meeting the right person, and overcoming that obstacle.

God has already put it on His schedule. He has already set the time and the date to make it happen. So now is not the time to be discouraged. Now more than ever is the time to be a believer. It’s the time to stay in faith.

The Scripture says, “Lift up your heads… and the King of Glory shall come in” (Psalm 24:9
NKJV
). If you want God to come in and show you His favor, you’ve got to lift up your head. That’s where your help comes
from. The psalmist said, “I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from G
OD
, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains” (Psalm 121:1 The Message). We cannot go through life looking down, thinking about our problems, and dwelling on how bad it is, reliving every negative thing that’s happened and expect to have God’s best. Lift your head. Create a fresh new vision for your life. There are greater victories in your future than you have experienced in your past. But as long as you are looking down wondering why it’s not working and why it’s taking so long, you will not rise higher.

David says in Psalm 3:3, “You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head” (
AMP
). Sometimes circumstances may convince you to keep your head down. You may feel you have too many problems, but God is the Glory and the lifter of your head.

The word
glory
means “favor.” The enemy tries to weigh you down with heavy burdens and convince you to stay focused on your difficulties. Before long that discouragement is like a heavy weight you are dragging around. But if you will allow God to be the Glory and the lifter of your head, and work with Him to shake off that discouragement, the only thing that will weigh on you is the favor of God.

Instead of being heavy with discouragement and depression and burdens, you’ll be heavy with joy, heavy with favor, heavy with blessings, heavy with victory. He is the Glory and the lifter of our heads. When you can’t lift your head on your own strength or when circumstances have overwhelmed you, that’s when God will show up as the Glory and the lifter of your head.

David experienced this lifting power. He said in Psalm 40:1–3, “[God] brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock.… He has put a new song in my mouth” (
NKJV
).

There is some lifting going on today in your life. The Creator of the universe is saying, “If you put your trust in Me and shake off the discouragement, I will lift you to places that you could not reach on your own. I will lift you out of trouble into victory. I will lift you out of sickness into health. I will lift you out of lack into abundance.” God will lift you out of unfair situations and give you beauty for ashes.

In those times when you begin to feel discouraged, it’s good to just look
up and say, “Father, I want to thank You that You are the Glory and the lifter of my head.”

Psalm 30:5 reads, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (
NKJV
). Morning starts at 12:01 a.m. What’s interesting is, even though it’s a new morning, at midnight it’s still dark. At 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., it’s still dark. It doesn’t look like anything is happening. But as dark as it remains, the light is coming. You’ve entered a new day.

Usually between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., you will see the sun break forth over the horizon. Things will start to brighten up. In other words, business will increase. Health will be restored. Dreams will come to pass. In these discouraging seasons you’ve got to remind yourself that the One who lifts your head, the Most High God, has promised that joy is coming. Just because it’s dark doesn’t mean joy is not on its way. You’ve entered a new day. It’s just a matter of time before you see the sun break forth.

I see too many people become discouraged along the way. They start out fine, but then they hit a setback. Instead of shaking it off and creating a new vision, they let life wear them down and they lose their passion. They end up settling for less than God’s best.

In the Scripture there is a man who did this. We are never given his name, but he was one of the many sick people at the pool of Bethesda. He’d been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him, he realized he had been ill for a long time and asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

The man said he couldn’t get well because there was no one to put him into the healing waters of the pool and he was too weak to make it on his own. Jesus told him to “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” (John 5:1–15
NLT
).

The man had to make a decision right then and there. Could he do what he had never done before? I’m sure there was a battle going on in his mind. There were strongholds that had been there for years that had convinced him he would never be better. He could have made plenty of excuses, but he did not offer any.

He dared to take a step of faith and he was instantly healed.

Life may have weakened and discouraged you over time, but God is saying to you what He said to this man. If you want to be healed, stand up. Believe you can go places you’ve never been before. Stretch into a new way of thinking. Stretch into a greater vision for the possibilities in your life.

Where you are is not where God wants you to stay. Just because your dream hasn’t happened in the past doesn’t mean that it cannot happen in the future. If you join in agreement with God and stand up, so to speak, God will have new seasons of promotion and increase coming your way.

I was in my backyard talking to Manny, who helps with our landscaping. This was the middle of winter and the grass was very brown. It looked dead. I told Manny that I feared the lawn was dead and he said, “It doesn’t look very good, but the truth is the grass is not really dead. It’s just not in season. In the spring, this same grass will be lush and green.”

That’s the way it is in life. Sometimes our dreams appear to be dead or dying. But you have to realize, they are not really dead. They are just not in season. They are coming back. New seasons of growth are coming. New health. New relationships. New opportunities. Just because something looks dead, don’t write it off.

Our God is a God of new beginnings. When you go through these disappointments and setbacks, instead of being down and discouraged and giving up, have the attitude of
It may not look good, but I know the truth. It’s not really dead. It’s just not in season. I’m in wintertime, but I know springtime is coming. So I’m lifting up my head to get ready for the new things God is about to do.

If you want to overcome discouragement, learn how to transition into the different seasons of life. The Scripture tells us of a lady named Naomi who didn’t do this very well. She failed to realize that just because a season was over, it didn’t mean her life was over.

Often we want a certain season to last forever, but that may not be how
God has it planned. You have to be open and willing to adapt and adjust when changes come. Do not be bitter when something happens that you don’t like or don’t understand.

Of course, no one likes to go through traumatic changes or loss or disappointment, but it’s all a part of life. In those difficult seasons, you have to remind yourself that God is still on the throne, and the fact that the grass looks dead doesn’t mean it will never be green again.

Naomi was going along just great. Life was good. But over time she went through a series of losses. Her husband died. Later, her two sons died. It’s difficult to go through a loss. There is a proper time for grieving. But you have to make sure you don’t let a season of mourning turn into a lifetime of mourning.

Naomi made the mistake of letting the bitterness and the discouragement remain inside her. She despaired and lost all happiness. She didn’t think the grass would ever be green again. She actually changed her name to Mara, which means “sorrow,” because she wanted to be reminded of her pain and misery every time someone called her name.

Naomi’s attitude was, “All my dreams have been shattered. I’ll never be happy again. Just leave me in my trouble and heartache.”

Obviously, I do not recommend you follow the path taken by Naomi. When you suffer a loss, a disappointment, an unfair situation, you have to make sure that you don’t let your circumstances rob you of happiness for the rest of your life.

Remember, God is good. If you refuse to live in discouragement, if you lift your head and rise from your despair, you will discover, as Naomi did, that just because one season is over, it does not mean your entire life is over.

After suffering so much, Naomi moved back to her hometown with her daughter-in-law Ruth. There, Ruth met a man, fell in love, and was married. Eventually, Ruth had a son. By then Naomi was an old woman. But when she saw that little baby boy, something lit up on the inside. She felt a new sense of purpose, a new sense of destiny. As she was holding the baby, something amazing happened. Milk began to be produced in her body. The Scripture says this older woman, way up in her senior years, was able to nurse the little baby. Naomi was just as happy and fulfilled as could be.
She discovered that spring always comes after winter. Bad times do not last forever. (You can read Naomi’s story in the book of Ruth.)

You wouldn’t be alive if God didn’t have a purpose for you. You may have been through a disappointment, a good season may be over, but if you’ll shake it off and keep moving forward, you will come into another good season. God will reveal to you a new purpose, with new friends, with new opportunities. It doesn’t matter if you’re thirty, or fifty, or ninety-five. God still has something for you to do.

A young lady named June lost both her legs in an accident. She was naturally distraught and depressed. For a time, she didn’t think she had any reason to be alive. She didn’t see anything good in her future. But I love what she did. She would refer to Jeremiah 29:11, and say, “God, even though I don’t have any plans and I’m too overwhelmed to see anything good, I know You have plans and they are good to give me a future and a hope.” If you ever find yourself overwhelmed and you don’t see anything good in your future, I would encourage you to do like June and just get in agreement with God and say, “God, I know You’ve got a good plan. You’ve got a purpose for me. You’ve got brighter days in store for me up ahead.”

Sometimes when we’re being tested by discouragement, it seems God is silent. We pray and we don’t hear anything. We read the Scripture and still come away feeling like God is a million miles away. But remember, this is a test. When you’re in school, teachers never talk during tests. They stand up at the front of the room very quietly just watching all of the students taking the exam.

The teachers have been preparing you in the days and weeks prior to the test. Often, they’ve put in extra hours making sure everyone has the opportunity to succeed. On test day, they want to see if you’ve learned the lessons. They know that you have the information you need. They know you’re prepared. You’re ready. Now all you’ve got to do is put into practice what you’ve learned.

God works the same way as your teachers here on earth. When He is silent, don’t assume He has left you. He is right there with you during the
test. The silence means only that God has prepared you, and now He is watching to see if you have learned. He would not give you the test unless He knew you were ready.

God is not mad at you when He is silent. He has not forsaken you. His silence is a sign that He has great confidence in you. He knows you have what it takes. He knows you will come through the test victoriously or He would not have permitted you to be tested.

The key is to remain upbeat and not be discouraged or bitter. Put into practice what you’ve learned. Stay in faith. Hang on to your happiness. Treat others kindly. Be a blessing. If you do that, you will pass the test and flourish in a new season. God will bring things out of you that you didn’t even know were in you. Understand, if you don’t allow the enemy to discourage you, one of his greatest weapons has been lost.

Today is a new day. God is breathing new hope into your heart and new vision into your spirit. He is the Glory and the lifter of our heads. Look up with a fresh vision, and God will do for you what He promised David. He will lift you out of the pit. He will set your feet on a rock. He will put a new song in your heart. You won’t drag through life defeated and depressed. You will soar through life full of joy, full of faith, full of victory.