Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I read this and from where I copied it. All credit to the original author. If this is yours, please feel free to post a comment with the link to the original.
Jesus, our Master, in Luke 18 tells us to pray and not loose heart.
The Apostle Paul encourages us several times to not loose heart.
2 Corinthians 4:1 [ The Light of the Gospel ] Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Ephesians 3:13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
We should not lose heart–but we have already lost heart–so many Christians [addicts and non addicts] living in the world today have lost heart.
So, how is it that the Apostle Paul asks us to not loose heart when it is so easy for a Christian to loose heart.
Let’s look at the reputation of the man who is calling on us to not lose heart, let’s look at what he endured to get to the point of saying ” we do not lost heart”
II Corinthians 11:23-27 English Standard Version (ESV) 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
If Paul endured what he endured to preach the gospel around the Mediterranean and did not loose heart. Surely I can endure and not loose heart given how little I face by comparison?
I am thankful for the support I have to help me move forward. That support is also critical to pressing on and not loosing heart.