Discouraged? Welcome to Leadership 101.

Leading is hard work. And at times, discouraging. In fact, if you’ve never felt discouraged you probably haven’t worked on anything worthwhile. Feeling discouraged is inevitable. Staying discouraged is avoidable. 

The story of Nehemiah, a Jewish icon of leadership and courage, is a lesson in feeling discouraged but refusing to stay discouraged.

4 Primary Causes of Ministry Discouragement  

1. Fatigue: Just plain tired and so far to go.  

"The strength of the labourers is giving out" (Nehemiah 4:10). The faithful had worked a long time and were only halfway finished. They were physically exhausted and emotionally drained. When are you apt to get discouraged the most? When you're halfway through a project.

2. Frustration: Too much rubbish.

"There is so much rubble that we cannot build the wall" (Nehemiah 4:10). They were trying to build a new wall, but all around were broken rocks, debris, dirt, and dried-out mortar. All rubbish isn’t physical. Emotional baggage, fear of risk, or being surrounded by small thinking, is like rubble. 

3. Failure: The voices of de-motivators.

"We cannot rebuild the wall" (Nehemiah 4:10). Because they couldn’t finish their task as quickly as they had originally planned, they lost heart. You can hear it in their words. It only takes one gifted de-motivator to destroy the morale of a team. Get a bunch of them together and cynicism and despair are inevitable.

4. Fear: Paralyzed by critics.

"Our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work’" (Nehemiah 4:11). Take note of who was speaking. The enemies? No. The people of God did. They discouraged others by saying, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us."

3 Ways to Fight Discouragement

When you feel discouraged and want to give up you can do three things to fight back.

1. Reorganize: Find a better way.

When you get discouraged, don't give up on your goals. Instead, devise a new approach. You may be doing the right thing but in the wrong way. There’s a better way. Nehemiah said, "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears, and bows" (Nehemiah 4:13). Nehemiah made strategic decisions. He prioritized those parts of the walls where they were all most vulnerable. He re-organized the workers by families to compensate for the weakest links. Nehemiah reorganized by posting the people according to family. Why? Because he knew that the discouraged need support. We need people to lift us up when we’re down.

2. Remember: Fight fear.

"After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, ‘Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome'"

Nehemiah 4:14

Fight fear by reminding yourself of three things about God:  

i) God’s goodness to you in the past.
When you start thinking about all the good things that God has already done in your life your spirit will be lifted. 

ii) God’s closeness to you in the present.
Whether you feel God or not, He is with you. Jesus promised: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

iii) God’s power for you in the future.
If you feel discouraged its probably because you're thinking discouraging thoughts. To feel encouraged focus on uplifting facts.

“Nothing can separate me from the love of God." (Romans 8:39)
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)
"Everything is possible for him who believes." (Mark 9:23)

3. Resist: Fight the good fight.

“Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your people, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes” (Nehemiah 4:14).

Nehemiah urged the people not to give up or give in but place their faith in God, and resist those who opposed them. And then get back to work.

“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work” (Nehemiah 4:15).

“So the wall was completed…in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:15-16).

Discouraged? Refuse to stay discouraged. Let Nehemiah help you imagine ‘what can God do’ through you in the next fifty-two days. 

Work on.

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