Hello again and welcome to the program. We're here with a little strength for today. We're going to talk about discouragement, dealing with discouragement before it deals with you. The first time we find the word discouraged in the Bible, it is in Numbers 21, verse number 4, where it says the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. In Psalm 77, we read the psalmist said, I am so troubled that I cannot speak. In Job 5, verse number 7, he said, I was saved when I was 12 years old, and the next summer I went to a Bible camp, and the final evening of the camp, They built a big bonfire, and the man preached, and he preached this message from Job 5 and 7, said, man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. Well, they had a huge bonfire there, and every once in a while, he'd grab a log and throw it into the fire, and millions and millions of sparks would go up into the dark sky. I never forgot that message. Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upwards. Well, that was when I was 13 years old. I'm now 83. And I have found out that that man was absolutely right when he preached that message from the Word of God. Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. So we're not going to get away from the problems, but the thing is, how do we deal with them? In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8 and 9, Paul the apostle said, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. How did he handle the situation? Well, in verse 16 we read, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, Yet the inward man is renewed day by day. There's the secret. And so we're talking about dealing with a discouragement. Dealing is a specific way in which we behave toward our circumstances. The hymn writer has said day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here. trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I have no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure gives unto each day what he deems best, Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest. Help me, then, in every tribulation, So to trust your promises, O Lord, That I lose not faith's sweet consolation Offered me within your holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble Meeting e'er to take is from a father's hand, One by one, the days, the moments fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. As a result of Paul the Apostle's daily communion with the Lord, he could say in Philippians 4 and 11, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. He said, I have learned, I know how, I am instructed.