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Are you finding yourself weary, unmotivated, uninspired, like a blanket of despair hangs over your head? These are symptoms of losing heart.
Jeremiah 51:46 says: “Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.” When I read that, I thought of the rumors that are flying around. We hear a lot of bad news daily about COVID-19, about when schools will or will not open, about when our church will be back to the way it used to be. Perhaps there are discouraging rumors about your company or your job. It’s so easy to get caught up in these rumors until they get magnified in our minds and we lose heart.
Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about things that are true, lovely, admirable—things that are good reports. Rumors don’t fit any of those definitions, do they? When you allow your mind to dwell on these unfounded rumors, you’re setting yourself up for discouragement and fear and losing heart.
When you find yourself having a mini panic attack because of some rumor or gossip or fear, stop and ask yourself, “Is this a good report?” When the inevitable answer comes back “no,” then you know exactly what you have to do: stop thinking about it. Replace the wrong thought with a right thought. That is the secret to bringing our thoughts under control.
Proverbs 3:25-26 says, “Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.” This is one area where I really have to monitor my own thought life, because I find it easy to start dwelling on rumors or fears of sudden disaster. From the economy falling apart, to the prospect of some war in our own backyard, to hearing a doctor tell us some dreaded bad news about our health, there are certainly many disastrous possibilities that we can dwell on. And we’ve had more than our share. But when we do, we lose heart.
Will you today fix your mind on Jesus and on the unseen things, and not allow rumors or feared disasters to cause you to lose heart? I trust you will.
Click here to download the free Bible Study – Are You Losing Heart?
