Hello again and welcome to the program. We're here with a little strength for today, looking at how we can overcome discouragement. We looked at the source of discouragement. Today we want to look at the severity of discouragement. We need to deal with discouragement before it deals with us. Discouragement can be mild, it can be strong, or it can even be disabling. If it's mild, it's not severe, it's not extreme. It affects our emotions. It's kind of like a wind. A mild wind is affecting the leaves on the tree, but then if we have a strong wind, it's gonna affect the tree. It can blow it over. The difference between mild discouragement is that it may affect our emotions, but strong discouragement can affect our emotions as well as our spirit. And then we have disabling discouragement. That's not like some mild wind that's gonna affect the leaves. or a strong wind that's going to affect the tree. This is like a tornado that will affect everything in its path. Major pressures affect our mental, emotional, spiritual, and even our physical being. We need to deal with discouragement before it deals with us. So we're dealing with emotions. Emotions. We can be excited, we can be troubled, we can be fearful, we can be angry, we can be sad, we can be happy. All of these are emotions. The word sad is in the Bible 11 times. The word fear is in the Bible 400 times. Anger is there 234 times. And troubled is there 68 times. Troubled. Being troubled can certainly lead to us being discouraged. Recently, we looked at seven men who faced discouragement, and a couple of them prayed that God would kill them. They were so discouraged. One of the men we looked at was David, where in Samuel 30, verse 4, we read, Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. Now they were certainly discouraged, but David got the victory. In 1 Samuel chapter 30 and verse 1 we read, And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire. So David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captive. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. For David, it got even worse. We read in verse 6, David was greatly distressed, for the people spake astoning him. What did David do? We read in verse 8, David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue. In verse 18, we read, And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. And so, verse 8 said, David inquired of the Lord. Moses also talked to the Lord. He said, kill me, I pray. Elijah said, I've had enough. Kill me, please. Paul the Apostle also faced discouragement, but he got the victory. We read in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 8, 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. At the end of his life, he said, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4 verse 7. So, when we're tempted to be discouraged, we need to look at 1 Corinthians 10, 13, where we read, There is no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above, that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.