Open Mic
One thing I’ve noticed in my life since I was a teenager was that whenever I encourage someone, 9 times out 10 they say, “I really needed that.” A lot of these people were strong “joyous” Christians yet they found themselves in a place of discouragement. Discouragement isn’t a sin, but what is it? I would define discouragement as the enemy replaying negative thoughts in a person’s head over and over again to get them to a place where they lose focus of what God has called them to do. Whenever I meet someone who would honestly say they’re discouraged, I would simply say they’ve believed lies.
I heard Bishop Jakes say, “Never give your stage to the devil.” He was referring to being very cautious about what outside issues you address in church and which ones you do not. When I think of discouragement, I think of a person’s mind being a stage, it’s open mic there, and the enemy is going to town. “You’re too young, you don’t have enough experience, you don’t enough swag, you’re too radical, you’re not unique and people want unique, you’re good but not great.” And here’s the deal, every single time you read the Bible, it’s like you’re giving God the mic on a stage in your head.
Stop giving your enemy a mic in your head. It’s dumb. He doesn’t belong on that stage.