Why Do Christians Become Discouraged?
1) Direct Answer
Christians become discouraged when they take their eyes off the Lord’s promises, listen to the accuser, walk by sight instead of faith, grow weary under trial, or misunderstand God’s loving chastening. Discouragement is a real battle, but it is not the believer’s portion—God provides strength, comfort, and renewal.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Looking at circumstances instead of the Word: Peter sank when he saw the wind, but was safe while looking at Jesus (Matthew 14:29-31).
- Isolation and fear: Elijah ran, sat under a juniper tree, and asked to die; God fed him, spoke gently, and sent him back with a word (1 Kings 19:1-18).
- Delay and dashed expectations: “We trusted…” said the Emmaus disciples, sad and confused, until the Scriptures were opened and Christ was made known (Luke 24:17-32).
- Weariness under chastening: We “be wearied and faint” unless we consider Him who endured; God’s chastening yields fruit (Hebrews 12:3-11).
- Hope deferred: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).
- Satan’s accusations and attacks: The adversary seeks to devour; he is the accuser of the brethren (1 Peter 5:8-9; Revelation 12:10).
- Honest testimony of saints: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? hope thou in God” (Psalm 42:5). “We are troubled… yet not distressed… cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Discouragement rises when sight takes the throne and the promise is pushed aside. Faith looks away to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).
- If God’s people never faced discouragement, why would He say, “Be not weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9), “Fear not… be strong” (Joshua 1:9), and give us “the comfort of the Scriptures” (Romans 15:4)?
- The remedy is not to deny the storm, but to lift higher than it:
- Return to the Word: “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me” (Psalm 119:50).
- Pray and cast away your cares: “Be careful for nothing… the peace of God shall keep your hearts” (Philippians 4:6-7); “Casting all your care upon him” (1 Peter 5:7).
- Resist the devil and take the shield of faith (James 4:7; Ephesians 6:16).
- Wait on the Lord for renewed strength (Isaiah 40:28-31).
- Keep fellowship and encouragement (Hebrews 10:24-25).
- Rejoice and give thanks—“the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
- Remember past deliverances (Psalm 77:11-12).
Short reinforcing statement
You see, discouragement is a sign of battle, not of abandonment. Lift your eyes to Christ, speak what God has spoken, and keep walking. “We faint not… while we look not at the things which are seen…but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
He was to pass this way
64-0321B §45
Heavenly Father, we are grateful for the Lord Jesus, his presence. We are aware that there's something here that made men and women---some of them's even professed to be Christians for years... But there was ... there's something present that calls them even though they be professed, even as Zacchaeus was. But once the touch from Christ... They've lifted their hand as a testimony that something inside of them told them to do it. Let them know just now that that's Jesus. He was to pass this way this morning, and He...
A deceived Church by the world
59-0628M §8
Remember, we are not on a picnic, but we're in a battlefield. Many people just think that when they become a Christian that that's all they need to do, that that settles it forever, and if they are a Christian then everything's going to come easy. Don't never get that in your head. For I become a Christian to fight, fight the good fight of faith. I become a Christian to get in the battle lines. We are Christian soldiers, and we got to be trained and brought up, and know all the techniques of the enemy, to know how...
Presuming
62-0408 §14
...out of each tribe, and sent twelve men across to spy out the land. And when they got there, oh, what a turmoil there was among them! Oh, my! Here they come back and said, "Why, there's... Why, we couldn't take them. Why, the Amalekites, and the Canaanites, and Perizzites, and what all kinds ... their great walled cities, and some of them are so large---these people---until we look like grasshoppers to them." Oh, they were discouraged. Now isn't that just a type of the church today? "We just can't do it. We ... why...
Why many Christians struggle to live the Christian life
57-0303A §14
...in preaching these things, even to the Pentecostal people, and we have very little to brag about. For in where we have tried to have a Pentecostal free move of God, we have become to a place a bunch of colonized cults almost, just a place of confusion and discord. What ought to happen here this afternoon? There should be every Pentecostal church in the city jammed into some big stadium out here somewhere. And if it wasn't for little petty indifferences among the ministers and the people, it would be that way. "A ne...
Why many Christians struggle to live the Christian life
57-0303A §29
Then you go back home and say, "Hallelujah, I got it." No you haven't. Then you go down to church and you say, "Oh, I believe that something's happened. I don't look at things the way I use to. Hallelujah!" And in a few days you find yourself right down the same old rut you was: doubting, reasoning, everything else. "Well now, if Pastor So-and-so said that wasn't right, I don't believe it's right. I will just take his word for it. And I tell you I'm going to do this, and do that." And you find yourself up-and-down,...