Allow God to infilitrate within you and he will share his heart with you. He will guide you voluntary so. He will give you eyes that will see those that are hopeless, those ones in desperate need of our LORD.

Overcoming the spirit of despondency

• What is despondecy?
  -> “Low spirits” from loss of hope or courage.
  -> Always tired from doing nothing.
  -> Withdrawals from people.
• Many people in the world are searching for something to fill the emptiness within them. For example, consider a father who spends his entire day looking for work or a way to provide for his family. When the day ends and he has found nothing, he may feel ashamed or afraid to return home, knowing his family will be disappointed. In such situations, some may choose to go to a bar and drink with friends, hoping to numb their feelings before facing their loved ones. Others might turn to drugs to escape the pain or fear. These are ways people try to cope with the void and the weight of despondency.
• But the scripture tells us that it is only a season

It is only a Season

• Ecclesiasters 3:11 “-He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does”.
• Consider this tree below, this is the same tree but in different seasons:
  
• Seasons are of God, but the enemy utilizes the seasons as an advantage.
• Season are meant for restoration, Seasons are for preparation of what is coming.
• God put us in certain seasons to build and equip for what he has in store for us.
• Again, this teaches us to be patient with God, trust him, and allow him to work in us.
• Ecclesiastes 3:14 - I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor can anything be taken from it, for God does it so that men will fear and worship Him (with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is God)

Despondency is a weapon of the enemy

The enemy uses this, for us to question God. That if he is a loving God, then why is he allowing something like this to happen to us.

• The enemy would give you phrases like:
  • “You have been poor while for a long time now, why don’t you just loose hope”
  • “Look at your neighbours, they are successful, what about you?”
  • “Look at your children, they could never make you proud”

How to Overcome The Spirit of Despondency

Through the story of Joseph and Gideon

• Joseph
  • Genesis 37:28-“and when some Midianite traders came by, the brothers pulled Joseph out of the well and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt”

  • Context -> Joseph’s brothers sold him to slavery.

  • Genesis 39:16-20-“She kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as i screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house’. When his Master heard the story his wife tolf him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger. Joseph’s Master took him and put him in prison, the place where the King’s prisoners were confined.”

  • Context-> Because Joseph refused to sleep with her(King’s wife), She falsely accused Joseph, and made him to be unjustly imprisoned.

  • Genesis 40:23-“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him”

  • Context -> So Joseph has a gift to interpret dreams, and when the two prisoners who had different dreams, Joseph interpreted them, and the dreams was about them being released from the prison, but Joseph asked the chief cupbearer to remember him, when he is released, that he should let the King know that he was falsey imprisoned, but the cup bearer when he was released, he literally forgot Joseph.

  • Reflection
    -> Joseph speaking to his brothers: Genesis 50:19 - “But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am i in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke to kindly to them”
    -> Even in prolonged hardship, Joseph’s faith, patience, and refusal to give in to self-pity demonstrate how to overcome despondency.
    -> Our pastor talked about, “maximizing the moments we are faced in”,”To operate from the position of hope”, “praising our problems” and for us stop having a “self-pity”, but rather shine in those corners we are in.

• Gideon
  • Judges 6:12-13 - “When the Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, might warrior.’ ‘Pardon me, my LORD,’Gideon replied, ‘but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abondoned and given us into the hand of Midian.’”

  • Context -> The Midianites raided Israel’s crops and livestock, leaving them in poverty and starvation.

  • Judges 6:36-40 - “Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.’ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.’ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.”
  • Reflection -> The oppression had lasted seven years with no relief, making Gideon doubt God’s care. -> But God reassured him, that He still with him, God guided him, on how to defeat the Midian. -> Even in our doubts, God meets us with patience and purpose, transforming our despair into faith.

In conclusion

• Despondency is a real struggle, but it is not the end of our story.
• Both Joseph and Gideon faced extreme trials, yet they emerged victorious because of their faith, perseverance, and trust in God’s sovereignty.
• God understands our pain and meets us in our lowest moments.
• He uses every season both joyful and difficult to shape us and draw us closer to Him.
• When we feel overwhelmed by hopelessness, we can remember that God’s promises endure, and His love never fails. Let us trust Him through every season, knowing that joy will come in the morning, and that He is always working for our good.
• No season of despair is wasted in God’s hands. Whether we are in a place of fear, He is shaping us for a purpose greater than we can see.
• AMEN.