Defy Discouragement by Remembering Eternity

Dannah Gresh: Are you feeling weary today, like a marathon runner fighting just to put one foot in front of the other? Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants to cheer you on.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: When you think you can’t go on, look to Jesus. When you think you can't go on, when you think you're down for the last time, keep your eyes on the finish line. Look to Jesus, who is at the end of that line, who is at the end of your race. Look to those who have gone before you who have run that race and gone through times of testing and discouragement and temptation, but they made it. 

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Heaven Rules, for September 10, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

I’m sure you could look around and find things to be discouraged about. And, you could also look around and find things to be encouraged about. Nancy’s been helping you focus on the amazing story God is weaving together. She’s in a series called "Defying Discouragement." Let’s listen.

Nancy: When I was a little girl, I used to play the cello. It's this big stringed instrument that you hold and you play this way. It's the big cousin to the violin or the viola. Those instruments have strings that have to be kept tight or taut. They're adjusted so that they make different tones. But if you loosen those strings, you just get noise. You don't get music if the strings are limp or loose. They have to be taut in order to make music.

The same with a bow and arrow. If you want to shoot an arrow, you need for the bowstring to be taut. If the bowstring is loosened, then you find that you can't shoot your arrow. It's not going to work. The musical instrument will not play if the strings are not taut.

I thought of those word pictures when I was doing a study this week on what it means to become discouraged. Some of the words that the New Testament uses for "discouraged" are translated "to become faint, to become weary, to be fainthearted."

The Greek words that are translated "faint or fainthearted" or "to lack courage" are words that mean to relax a string, to loose it. It's a picture of that cello or that violin or that bow and arrow—of the strings being loosened and they don't work anymore. They're just kind of limp. You can't do anything with them. You can't make music. You can't have a sport because a string has been loosened.

That's a picture of what it means. I can kind of feel it in my body when I think of those loose strings. Sometimes our strings become loose—the strings of our hearts. We find ourselves being more feable, lacking courage, losing heart, being faint-hearted.

Well, Scripture has something to say. It has many wonderful promises and insights to give to us in those times of discouragement. We've been talking about how to deal with discouragement. I want today just to make several points from the New Testament about what to do when you find yourself fainthearted, when you find your strength just kind of going limp. The music won't play. The arrows won't shoot because you feel just wrung out, fainthearted. You've lost courage.

Number one, Hebrews 12 tells us when your string is loose, keep your eyes on the finish line. As you're running that race, keep your eyes on the finish line. When you think you can't go on, when you think you're down for the last time, keep your eyes on the finish line.

 

Look to Jesus, who is at the end of that line, who is at the end of your race. Look to those who have gone before you who have run that race and gone through times of testing and discouragement and temptation, but they made it. They finished the race successfully.

So Hebrews 12 tells us:

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [those who have run the race before us], let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him [don't think about yourself and your own weak strength; think about Him] who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged.

There's that word, "fainthearted." When you lose heart, you become a limp string. Look to Him, lest you become weary and limp-stringed in your heart.

You have not yet resisted to bloodshed in your striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation [the encouragement] which speaks to you as sons of God. [And God says,] "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, and do not become discouraged [There's that word again—weak-stringed, your string loosened. Don't become faint or lose heart] when you are rebuked by Him. (vv. 1–5)

So when you are experiencing circumstances of life, whether it is over your own sin or it's just the result of living in a fallen world; he says if you don't want your strings to get loose, consider Jesus as you run this race. Keep your eyes on the finish line. Look to Him. Keep your eyes on Him. Think about those who have gone before.

That's why I love reading biographies of great Christians of the faith. They didn't think of themselves as heroes at the time. They never anticipated these books would be written about them, that we would be reading their stories. They just trusted God in their circumstances.

I read some of those stories and I go, "Wow! I'm not going through what they went through." My heart is encouraged as I keep my eye on that finish line.

Then remember that faithfulness in this race will be rewarded. Galatians 6 tells us, "Don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

So in this battle between the flesh and the Spirit, when you get tired of doing what's right, when you get tired of saying no to your flesh, when you get tired of saying yes to the hard way, the way that is the Spirit-directed way, Galatians 6:9 says, "Don't become weary in doing good." Don't let your string get loose. "For at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

So when you want to give up, remember the end result. If you give up now, you won't reap the reward. You won't reap the harvest. If I give in to my flesh now, I won't reap the result of Christ-like character. But if I keep my strings taut now, if I persevere, if I endure, looking unto Jesus, if I let the Holy Spirit enable me to say no to my flesh and yes to the Spirit of God; then I can be assured there will be a reward. In due season I will reap. There will be a harvest if we don't give up. Don't give up!

And then, get an eternal perspective. Our perspective is so time and earthbound. We can just see what we can see and we can just know what we know, but there is so much we can't see and so much we don't know. That's where we have to trust that God sees and God knows what we don't see and what we don't know. We need to ask God to give us a glimpse of His perspective of eternity.

Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4. In fact, that whole passage is a wonderful passage about dealing with discouragement. He says in the first verse, "Since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy from God, we do not lose heart" (v. 1). We don't lose strength. We don't let our strings get limp. We keep our strings taut. We keep persevering. We keep enduring. We don't lose heart because we've received mercy.

Then he goes on throughout that chapter and he says, "This is not an easy thing for me to say." "I'm not living in a bed of roses here," Paul is saying. "There are circumstances; there are pressures; there are problems." Paul said there were times he even despaired of life. "We're crushed. We're tormented. We're hounded. Everything is pressing in on us." But Paul says, "We don't give in. We don't give up. We don't quit because we have an eternal perspective."

That's where he wraps up this chapter. 2 Corinthians 4:16: "Therefore, we don't lose heart." We don't faint. We don't let our strings get limp. Why? "Because though our outward man is perishing," though this physical ailment or this pressure, this financial pressure, this family issue, though everything externally is pressing in on me, "yet my inward man is being renewed [encouraged, strengthened] day by day."

You know, there is an aspect of inner strength that you'll never experience if you're not willing to have the external pressures and problems. So yes, Paul says, "We are outwardly being overwhelmed, but inwardly we are being renewed, we are being revitalized, we are being revived day by day."

Then he says in verse 17, "For our light affliction." Now if you've read 2 Corinthians 4, you would not describe what Paul wrote as light affliction any more than you would describe your painful, life-threatening circumstances that you've been through as light affliction.

But Paul says, "Wait a minute. I want to step back and I'll look at this from God's point of view. I realize that everything I'm going through is light." Not only that, he says, "It's but for a moment."

You say, "But Paul, it's years that you're going through this." And I say to you, "But you're going through this difficult marriage for years. You've got this physical problem that has tormented you—chronic pain—for years." Paul is saying that it's just a moment. If you look at it in the light of eternity, it's just a moment. It's a light affliction and it's just for a moment.

And Paul says that it's fruitful. It's productive. "It's working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Paul says that there's purpose in this. There is power in this. There's productivity in this. There's value in what you're going through. God is forming and shaping and molding something in your life for eternity that could not be developed in any other way.

So Paul says, "We don't look at the things which are seen—the visible, the temporal, the things that are going on around us, the waves that Peter got on to walk to Jesus. As long as he looked to Jesus, he was fine. But when he looked around at the physical things, the storm and the waves, he was going under. Paul says, "We don't look at those waves."

We know they are there; we are walking in the midst of them. But we don't fix our gaze on the things that are external, the things that are visible, the things you can see. But instead we look at the things that are not seen; the things that are invisible—the Spirit of God, the plan of God, the purposes of God, the heart of God, the ways of God, what God is doing in sanctifying. That's what we look at."

"For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen, they are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18).

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that "Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, so that the things that never can be shaken may remain." God is causing our hearts to become detached from this present world, and He uses pressure and problems to do that, to make us realize that we're pilgrims here. Through those pressures and problems, God causes our hearts to become more attached to eternity, to heaven, to those things that can never be shaken, those things that can never be changed.

So when your string starts to go limp, when you start to feel like that instrument whose strings won't play or like that bow that can't shoot any arrows, put your eyes on the finish line. Look to Jesus. Remember that faithfulness will be rewarded. It's worth it.

 

You may have to endure in that marriage or that chronic or physical ailment or that financial pressure or that situation at work or in your church. It may be years—it may be eternity—before you see what God was doing. But faithfulness will be rewarded.

Then ask God to give you an eternal perspective. As you do, you can say with Paul, "Therefore, we do not lose heart." We don't faint. We don't let our strings come loose because we're being renewed in our inner person and God is fitting and equipping us for eternity.

O Lord, I love Your ways. I love Your truth. Your Word is so life-giving, so liberating. Even as I've said these words, I know that I'm looking into the eyes of women who will leave this place and will go into real-life circumstances that are just overwhelming.

They came into this place today feeling crushed, beleaguered, hopeless, helpless. I just pray that Your Word would speak hope, grace, encouragement, and comfort to every heart in this room as it has spoken peace and grace and encouragement to my own heart.

Lord, tighten our strings so that the music can be played from our lives, music that will bring glory to You. People will see us in the midst of these pressing circumstances, and yet they'll hear the music that is coming out and they'll say, "I want to know the God who has done this for you." In that way we will be able to comfort others with the comfort and the encouragement that we have received from You. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth helping you to get your courage in the Lord for any difficult thing you’re facing.

We’ll hear more on courage in a minute, but first, let me tell you about a resource designed just for you. At Revive Our Hearts, we long to see women flourish—not just survive. Endure: 40 Days of Fortitude is a booklet that will help you press on through hardship in Christ’s strength. Each day will lead you deeper into the freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness He offers. We’d love to send you a copy with your gift of any amount this month. To give and request your booklet, visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959. 

To wrap up this series, we want to take some time to dream about how we can help each other defy discouragement. My two friends, Erin Davis and Trillia Newbell, sat down to talk about Trillia’s book, Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves. During that interview, Trillia presents encouragement as a powerful antidote for fear. Super interesting, right?! Here’s Erin to get that conversation started.

Erin Davis: I think in our world, as writers and speakers, it's very easy to look over the fence at what someone else is writing, or how many books they're selling, or how often they're speaking, or how big their audiences are, and have, what I call, spiritual envy, which is what you're talking about—sort of envious of their gifts.

That doesn't limit it to what you and I do. A woman could be envious of another woman's mothering strategy. Or another woman they know is a great prayer warrior, and it feels like, to her, that when she prays, she doesn't get the response. Or another woman might be a great organizer of people, and another woman looks at that and goes, "I don't have that gift." So we can easily have spiritual envy.

Trillia Newbell: Absolutely.

Erin: You write in your book to fight that kind of fear with encouragement.

Trillia: Yes.

Erin: I would love to know, practically, what does that look like?

Trillia: Practically, I can get real specific. We want to encourage one another. And we know that God has made us with varying gifts and varying abilities. So instead of looking and saying, "Lord, why didn't You make me like that?" We can instead see a woman who's crafty—that's a good example. I am not crafty. I'm glad that my kids get a cake for their birthdays, but our birthday parties aren't going to be elaborate and crazy and have all these fun things because that's not where I'm gifted.

But I can take my kids to a birthday party, and I can look at that woman, and I can say, "The Lord has gifted you this way. Look how administrative you are. Look how creative you are that you could design a cake that looks like the Statue of Liberty. That's amazing! That will never come from me, but praise the Lord that you can do that, and I'm going to delight in it and eat it!"

I think that's what we need to see more of—more women just encouraging one another. "You love fitness. Look at you on Facebook talking about running again." Instead of being, like, "Ugh. There she is, talking about running again." Instead, we can say, "Fitness or training is of some value. Let her enjoy this." Instead of judging her and thinking ill of her or comparing, "I'm so lazy; I don't do that." Maybe it will inspire me; maybe today I'll take a walk. Or maybe I'll just encourage her and think good thoughts."

So I think those are just two real practical ways that I think we can, especially, we've got the Pinterest. I'm not on there, but that's a breeding ground for comparison. We should be able to laugh at ourselves and just enjoy that there are people who can do those things rather than be discouraged or discourage them, which is, I think, our temptation.

Erin: When we were at Revive '15 together, one of the speakers told the story of how she became a Bible study teacher. A woman in our church noticed her natural giftings and said to her, "I think you might be gifted as a Bible teacher, which is interesting to me." But then that woman ended up handing her Sunday school class over.

So I just think that's a beautiful example of the things you're saying, that when we recognize giftings in other women, we really do have two paths we could choose. One: We could take the path of comparison and fear and frustration and feeling like we don't measure up. Or, it's really pretty simple, I think, to look that woman in the eye and say, "Wow! You are gifted in X, Y, Z."

Trillia: Yes!

Erin: I think you're right when you talk in the book about how that has such a profound effect on our fear.

Trillia: It does. The humility that she would give her ministry over to someone else. I think it takes great humility and trust in the Lord. That is a woman who isn't fearful. She's not fearful of the future. She's going to trust the Lord that He has what's best for those other women and for her and for the other Bible teacher. I love that story. There's much that could be illustrated and talked about from that one story.

Erin: I think it's obvious how encouragement helps us in our fear of other women, but I wonder if being encouragers, how does it help us in our other areas of fear—our fear of the future, our fear of not measuring up, our fear that we can't trust God. Are there any other ways that encouragement can act as an antidote to fear?

Trillia: Well, there's a few things. I think being the recipient of encouragement can really help us battle, "Oh, wait, that's right." And point us to the Lord because encouragement isn't about us. Ultimately, really, it's about God. "This is what God is doing in your life. This is how God has graced you. This is how God has gifted you."

It points us to Him. So if we can keep that in mind when we are encouraging someone, what we are actually doing is pointing them to the Lord, the Creator. That can help spur us on to encourage because I know that when someone encourages me, it builds my faith. It builds my faith for ministry. When someone tells me, "Hey, I really enjoyed whatever . . . (your talk or your writing), it helped me through X, Y, Z." I think, Oh Lord, it's so easy to doubt. It is so easy to doubt when you're doing ministry. So it spurs me on to keep doing good works.

Talking to a mother who's laboring day in, day out, because she has a heart for her home, to have it organized, and to encourage her, "Hey, your work here is beautiful." And she can remember her labors aren't in vain. So I think there's such an opportunity to build other people's faith.

And then being an encourager takes our eyes off ourselves. So I think it can help us to fight fear. If I am looking at you, Erin, and I say, "Erin, I loved your Connected book." And I look at you, and I say, "Thank you." I hope that spurs you on to go and write something else. Because we need that.

Erin: Yes.

Trillia: I think it helps guard me against fear. I don't have to compare myself. I can just be encouraged because the Lord is using Erin or Jen Wilkin or whoever it is in a really unique and sweet way. I think it helps us battle and get our eyes off ourselves.

Erin: I think this is a really practical, easy way to fight fear.

Trillia: Yes.

Erin: We can start being encouraging right now.

Dannah: That’s Erin Davis and Trillia Newbell talking about helping one another defy discouragement by being encouragers. To hear more of that interview, visit ReviveOurHearts.com and find a link to it in the transcript. 

Is it possible to face discomfort, fear, and even the possibility of death, and yet flourish? Our guest tomorrow says, yes, and for proof, all you have to do is look at when the Church of Jesus Christ is the healthiest. Dr. Karen Ellis will join us tomorrow to talk about persevering faith, even in the face of persecution.

Dr. Karen Ellis: It’s not our strength that makes us persevere. It’s His. Our obedience is a byproduct of our faith, not the source of it. God is the source.We don’t need to fear any earthly empire. It can never hate us more than we can love its people. And as Vance Havner once said, “Christianity always outlives her pallbearers.”

Dannah: Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, dalling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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