I think one of Satan's greatest tools is discouragement. Other than pride, anger and lust which are one of his main ways of leading Christian's away from God's path, discouragement is also one of the underlooked tools that he uses to break us down. I mean, last night, I was just lying on my bed before I slept with random thoughts running through my head about the day, when suddenly I just had a lot of discouraging thoughts popping into my head. I didn't even realise it at first, until my heart suddenly felt so heavy and discouraged - oh man, what was I thinking, of course I can't do that. Why are we even trying? Is this even gonna amount to anything? I didn't realise that it could have been the work of Satan trying to discourage me, until thank God, He shone the light on it and said, Stop. This isn't what a child of Mine should be thinking.

Casting away every form of the Devil, in Jesus' name, I soon had peace of mind but it just left me thinking how important our thoughts are in our daily life. Like Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..” and whether we know it or not, our thinking mostly shapes who we become. If we allow the Devil to sow seeds of discouragement (or pride, envy, lust, anger, immorality) in our hearts, sooner or later we end up for the worse. So its important for us to guard our thoughts and pray for the ability to discern whether these thoughts that we think are encouraging to ourselves and loving towards others, or discouraging and hurtful.

I'm really big against discouragement and discouraging comments, be it aimed towards others or even towards yourselves. I mean, is there any point telling yourself you're stupid or ugly or..? Discouragement is bad bad bad! Stop discouraging yourselves and tell yourself that maybe you can't, but God can :) Every single lousy situation, every single worry, anxiety, hurt, every single thing the Devil tries to put against you, is always tiny peanuts next to the majesty of God! Look to Him and His strength, seek His face always (1 Chr 16:11) :)

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."
(Psalms 94:19)