pouring out our hearts before Him, allowing the Saviour to touch us through His Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that discouragement can be overcome by allowing these var ious developments to be realized day by day. It can be very beneficial now and again to take a spiritual in ventory of our lives, seeing how they measure up to the standards established in the Word of Cod. The Word of Cod must be our constant standard and rule of prac tice. Paul lists for us some very practical goals and guideposts which we would do well to em- mulate (Philippians 3:10-15). Dr. Oswald Sanders observed, "There is no need for anyone to remain out of touch with God. He delights to restore and recommis sion anyone who is willing to con fess his sin and his failure, placing his life under the control of the Holy Spirit." Do we really know this important third Person of the Trinity? Remember, there is a great difference between knowing a per son and knowing about a person. Jesus speaks in this regard of the Holy Spirit "whom the world can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." The Holy Spirit is not an influ ence or a force. He is a real, living person and personality whom we can know in the same way that we know Jesus Christ the Son and God our heavenly Father. We can know Him as Comforter, Fortifier, Sanc tifier, and many other aspects of our daily needs. Such is absolutely essential to a satisfying Christian experience as well as to real fruit ful service. The Apostle Paul exhorts us to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephes- Page 47
yet will I trust in Him." Such ob viously is not easy. Only when we rely wholly upon the Lord for de liverance will we be able to start moving again in the direction of God's perfect will for our lives. The third reaction to discourage ment is that there ought to be meaningful activity. We should re sist the temptation to sit around in despair and self-pity. There is plen ty which needs to be done on every hand if we would just look around us. This helps us to overcome the problem. Fourthly, to overcome discour agement, we need to keep a prop er perspective in life. When we experience an emotion like dis couragement it is often easy to look for the bad in the situation and never see the good. There is a tendency to conclude that every thing is hopeless so that we do nothing to improve the circum stances. A Christian does not need to be a pessimist. If you see some one who is like this, encourage him in the things of the Lord, real izing that some day you might need similar help. Closely related to this is a fifth suggestion in an effort to uncover the reasons for discouragement. Many psychologists believe that insight into the causes of our prob lems is the first step in solving the difficulty. The Holy Spirit can give the needed wisdom for such intro spection which can be healthy when He is in control. Finally, we need to be alert to our own physical conditions. Plen ty of sleep, periodic exercise and balanced diets will be great assets in helping us meet existing dis couragements. Above all, of course, we need to come to the Lord,
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