Hello again and welcome to the program. We're here with a little strength for today. We're talking about fighting discouragement. Now fight is an action with the goal of gaining a victory over an adversary. We're going to look at it. Stay tuned. We're talking about fighting discouragement, and we better deal with the discouragement before it deals with us. And we won't deal with it if we don't fight. Fight, as we said, is an action with a goal of gaining a victory over your adversary. My adversary, 1 Peter 5 verse 8 says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. We can look in the story of Paul the Apostle and certainly see that he had the victory over Satan. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 26, Paul said, So fight I, not as one that beateth the air. If we're going to fight our adversary, we need to know our enemy. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse number 6, we see where the devil got Eve off track. How did that happen? Well, look at Genesis 3, 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, She took of the fruit thereof, did eat, and gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat." Notice, first, she saw it was good for food. Second, it was pleasant to the eyes. And third, it was desired to make one wise. Good for food, that's for your body. Pleasant to the eyes, that's the window to the soul. And then, to make one wise, that has to do with the spirit. In Matthew chapter 4, beginning at verse number 2, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, we read in verse 2, and when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was after word and hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread, bread. see now in verse two he's hungry the devil says you need some bread what's that for for his body what did jesus do verse four he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Verse 5 says, Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, Cast thyself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Very interesting, Satan quotes scripture. He did too with Eve, but he quoted it wrong. And so we see his first attack had to do with the body, and then he said in verse six, cast thyself down, which was a challenge to the emotional nature of the soul. How did Jesus handle that? He said in verse seven, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Verse eight, we read again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world. and the glory of them, and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Now we have a challenge to the Spirit. Worship me. How did Jesus handle that attack? We read in verse 10, Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Now three times Jesus said, it is written, it is written, it is written. He quoted scripture. We read in verse 11, then the devil leaveth him and behold the angels came and ministered unto him. So the first thing we need to learn from this is if we're going to defeat the devil, we better know some scripture to defeat him, and particular scriptures to deal with what he would tempt us to do. And he'll use the body, soul, and spirit to get us off track if he can. And so if we're going to win this battle over discouragement, what we need to do is fight the fight. And again, a fight is an action with the goal of attaining victory over an adversary. It is the process of doing something to achieve an aim. The first time the word discouraged is found in the Word of God is in Numbers 21-4, where we read, They journeyed, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Well, we're all on a journey, and if the devil has his way, we're going to be discouraged. We're going to talk about how to defeat Satan in different areas where he might discourage us. Be sure to be with us for our next program.