FIGHT DISCOURAGEMENT!    DFO1376          7/2/82
--"The Fruit of the Righteous Is a Tree of Life!"

         1. I'VE GOT A SPECIAL TESTIMONY TODAY, HOW THE LORD WAS REAL GOOD TO ME THIS MORNING TO GIVE ME SOMETHING. I don't know what got me off on that grumbling! Oh, I know what it was!--I was thinking that maybe I drank a little too much last night. I was thinking, "Lord, that's a terrible testimony!" And I was thinking about how much sex I always have to have & the girls work so hard to give it to me! Boy, the Devil really started talking to me: "What a guy you are! You old rascal, lying there drunk & having to have all that sex!" He just was handing me a real line about how terrible I was, how awful I was! And I thought about my Mother, "Oh my, what would my Mother think? Tsk, tsk!"
         2. AND I THOUGHT, "OH BOY, WHAT A MESS I AM! How did I ever get this way? How did I ever manage to do anything for the Lord?" And the Devil was certainly agreeing with me: "You are a mess! You are terrible! You're just practically almost downright wicked!" I think he went a little too far on that one because that sort of woke me up!
         3. I SAID, "NOW LORD, MY MOTHER WAS SUCH A GOOD WOMAN, A REALLY RIGHTEOUS WOMAN! How could she have had such a wicked son?" I mean in church terminology & according to a lot of church people & a lot of our ex-friends & never-friends, I am pretty bad. Sometimes the Devil works on that track, he says: "Well, maybe they're right! Maybe you are bad & maybe what they say is true!" He can really hand you a line sometimes!
         4. SO I SAID, "WELL, HOW COME, LORD, YOU LET ME BE SO AWFUL WHEN MY MOTHER WAS SUCH A GOOD WOMAN & such a righteous woman?" And I was sort of looking up in prayer & saying, "Lord, how could You have made me be such a mess & do so many wrong things & make so many mistakes & in the eyes of some people I'm downright wicked?" I said, "Mother, you were such a good woman, righteous woman, how could you have such a bad son?"
         5. MY MOTHER USED TO SAY THAT'S THE DEVIL'S FAVOURITE TOOL WITH CHRISTIANS--DISCOURAGEMENT! That's his favourite tool to get you looking at yourself & worrying about yourself--introspection. Looking at your own mistakes & sins & weaknesses & failures & looking at yourself & seeing what a mess you are.
         6. THE LORD DOESN'T SAY TO LOOK AT YOURSELF, HE SAYS "LOOKING UNTO JESUS THE AUTHOR & FINISHER OF OUR FAITH!" (He.12:2) He doesn't say to look at the waves either, & all the problems & the troubles; He told Peter to "look at Me!" But Peter got a little worried & started looking down at the water & wondering how in the World he was managing to walk on the water, took his eyes off the Lord & began to sink! And the Lord had to grab him by the hand to save him. (Mt.14:29-31)
         7. THE DEVIL'S FAVOURITE INSTRUMENT, HIS FAVOURITE TOOL OR WEAPON IS TO TRY TO DISCOURAGE YOU, & the way he does it is, first of all he gets you looking at yourself & your mistakes & your shortcomings & your weaknesses & your failures & your sins, everything bad he can say about you & make you think about. And once you start looking at yourself, of course, there's no end to that, because we are a mess, every one of us! "There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned & come short of the glory of God. The heart of man is sinful & wicked, who can know it?" (Ro.3:10,23; Je.17:9)
         8. WELL, THIS MORNING I WAS LOOKING IN INSTEAD OF UP--DISCOURAGEMENT, INTROSPECTION. But at least looking in, there's one thing about it, it will make you look up! I was asking the Lord, "Lord, why am I such a mess? How could I be such a mess when I had such a good mother?" I was thinking about how the Bible says a good tree can't bring forth bad fruit, but I was thinking, "Here I am & I'm such a naughty boy sometimes & so bad."

         9. BUT ANYWAY, ALL OF A SUDDEN IT WAS JUST LIKE I COULD SEE MY MOTHER & SHE WAS SMILING AT ME ALMOST AMUSED, & I could have sworn I heard her say this: "Son, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life!" (Pr.11:30) And the meaning was as clear as it could be! I just said, "Mother, you're a righteous woman, how could I be so bad?" "Son, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life!" In other words, "You're not bad, you're a tree of life! You're doing a lot of good, you're bearing a lot of good fruit!"
         10. "THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE." In other words she was saying to me, "Yes, I'm righteous, son, & the fruit of the righteous, in other words, is not a bad tree--you're not what your enemies say about you--the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life!" And when I came in & asked Maria about it, I asked her, "What's the rest of that verse?" She said, "And he that winneth souls is wise!" And when I was saying a while ago that I got a revelation that this time was just for me, the Lord right away afterwards rebuked me & said: "It's also for them!"--You!
         11. BECAUSE CERTAINLY THE DEVIL HAS LIED TO OUR BACKSLIDERS ABOUT ME UNTIL THEY HAVE BELIEVED IT & they lost confidence in me as their Prophet & as God's man & they went back. Did you ever notice how many wild tales those backsliders cook up? So the Devil can lie & he has lied to others. He's lied to me & I'm sure he's tried to lie to you sometime, so maybe you needed that as much as I did. PTL! I mean, my Mother was almost amused, like, "Son, how could you think such a thing?"--
         12. "MY FRUIT COULDN'T BE BAD! THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE! You're a tree of life! You've brought life to literally millions through you & others who preached the Gospel to them, won them to the Lord & got them saved." And, "He that winneth souls is wise!" What a Scripture!

         13. SO DON'T LET THE DEVIL GET YOU DOWN, DON'T LET HIM GET YOU DISCOURAGED! "Looking unto Jesus, the Author & Finisher of our faith!" What is discouragement?--It means to be un-couraged, not encouraged, discouraged, without courage, or your courage at a low ebb. What is courage?--Some people have said it's bravery. Well, that's one way of putting it. What gives you courage, courage to do & obey & act in a brave & courageous way?--Your faith!--Faith in the Lord, in His Word.
         14. FAITH ENCOURAGES YOU, THE WORD ENCOURAGES YOU! "Faith comes by hearing the Word of God." (Ro.10:l7) So I'll tell you, if you ever get discouraged, the quickest remedy is to start praying & quoting Scriptures & reading the Bible & telling the Devil he's a liar, because how does he get you discouraged?
         15. HE CAN'T MAKE YOU DENY THE LORD. He can't make you deny your salvation. He can't make you disbelieve in God, because you're a saved Christian, you have Jesus in your heart, you have the Holy Spirit, & of course you're not going to deny those things, those fundamental truths of faith. So what kind of lies does he whisper to you? He whispers the lies that are the most easily believed.--Either about yourself, or sometimes other people.
         16. HE WANTS TO GET YOU DISCOURAGED ABOUT YOURSELF & SERVING THE LORD. If he can get you to give up on yourself, you just give up on everything.--You just quit. If you think you can't do it then you won't do it, right? But if he can't do that, he'll lie to you about other people & get you discouraged about them.
         17. AND WHAT DO THESE LIES DO TO YOU? THEY CAUSE YOU TO DO WHAT? WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF FAITH?--DOUBT! Many of our backsliders, defectors, the Devil lied to them about us or our doctrines or the Letters or the life or the Word or whatever, & got them to doubting them.
         18. WELL, "BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM!" (Mt.7:20)--HERE WE ARE! Here's the whole World full of our children winning millions of souls, God blessing, prospering, giving fruit. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life", & it's gotten to be a pretty big tree with a lot of branches & a lot of fruit!

         19. IF YOU KEEP LISTENING TO THE DEVIL & YOU FINALLY BELIEVE THOSE LIES & THOSE DOUBTS, THEN COMES THE LACK OF COURAGE THROUGH THE LACK OF FAITH. Because you cannot have the courage to obey unless you have faith. So that's where the Word is such a blessing. When I got discouraged, look what the Lord did! He showed me a picture of my Mother, that's true, but it was the Word which had the impact, the tremendous effect! He just hit me right between the eyes--or she did--just like, "That couldn't be! The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life! I'm righteous, you're my tree of life!" GBH!
         20. SHE COULD HAVE GONE ON & SAID, "AND HE THAT WINNETH SOULS IS WISE! Look at all the souls you've won! How could you doubt for a minute that you're of the Lord & that you're the right kind of a tree & you're doing the right things?" It doesn't mean I'm always right, I make a few mistakes sometimes. But PTL anyhow! At least the Lord uses me, even my mistakes!
         21. SO WHEN YOU GET DISCOURAGED OR YOU GET FRUSTRATED WITH WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING, STOP & PRAY & ASK THE LORD FOR AN ANSWER & He will surely give it to you, & it will probably be the Word. Stop & read your Bible or even a MO Letter. Stop & pray! PTL! GBY! ILY! TYL!
         23. --Are you discouraged?--stop doubting! Look up! Listen to Jesus!--He'll never let you down! GBY! (Read also "Dumps!", No.33.)

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