If you’ve ever gone through a power outage that lasts for days, especially in times of extreme heat or cold, you realize the devastating impact it can have on you and your community. Until power is restored, every hour leads to an increase in negative, even dangerous, conditions.
Something similar happens when we don’t deal with discouragement in our life. When you already feel like you’re never good enough, then someone talks down about you, and then you join in with your own negative, critical thoughts about yourself, it’s as though the power goes out and the lights turn off. You’re wired for God’s power, but the enemy will use lies, wrong thoughts, and difficulties in your circumstances to bring discouragement to keep you from believing what He says about you. The result is a power outage.
When you read the psalms of David, you realize that he was no stranger to discouragement. In Psalm 43, he begins to describe all the problems he was facing—overwhelming feelings of oppression, darkness, and rejection. But suddenly there’s a complete turnaround in his prayer. It’s as though he stops in his tracks, wheels around, and defies the discouragement. He challenges those negative situations by focusing on the God who dwells on His holy mountain, the God who is David’s “joy and delight.” He says, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?” Then he declares, “I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again—my Savior and my God.”
David realized, just as we must realize, that God was His source of power, and the connection needed to be restored. Romans 10:9–10 not only tells us how to get wired for power, but it tells us how to keep the flow of His power. The apostle Paul says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” If you are a believer today, you have the Lord Jesus living inside you. The Spirit of God dwells inside you, so you’re fully wired.
Now switch on the power. When you feel like you’re not good enough, believe with your heart and confess with your words, “No, I’m fearfully and wonderfully made by God.” When you start feeling sick, confess, “No, God is my healer. I’m connected to the source.” When people are talking down about you, confess, “No, I’m only listening to what God says about me. He says I’m His masterpiece.” Use your words to keep walking in power, and you can overcome every discouragement.