One of the devil's most potent weapons

In Middle Tenn. and N. Alabama the church is strong and over 30 % of people are Christians. In this kind of area the devil is still at work, telling us that: 1) Nobody cares about the Gospel anymore, or 2) He causes to become self-righteous. In contrast in an area where the churches and Christians are few and scattered out, the devil works on us from a different direction--discouragement.

Being one of only two English speaking churches (and the other is liberal) we have several member who travel an hour each way to meet on Sunday. All of us come at least 20 minutes, even though traffic on Sunday morning is nothing. Then when we get there if we're all there, there are 14. Add to this, that several of them are single, so have no wife/husband to encourage them and you see why they get weak.

Even Elijah the prophet got weak when he felt he was all alone--he asked God to take his life because "I'm the only one left". Imagine the great man that faced up to Ahab (and Jezebel) but later is ready to throw in the towel. Is it any wonder that we get discouraged at times?

Such situations can be discouraging but we cannot let them overcome us. We must remember what God told Elijah, "I have 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal, nor kissed him." Even if we don't see them, or know about them, we have brothers and sisters throughout the world. Dan. 2 prophesied that the kingdom of God would endure forever and it's sovereignty would not be passed to another. If God be for us, who can be against us?

Rom. 10:17 tells us that, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." When we see that we are getting weak or discouraged we must turn back to the Word. Seeing other Christians is good, but it is only temporary. Faith built on His Word will continue no matter what.

To those of us who live among many Christians it would be very good for you to visit a place where that is not so. You can: 1) Encourage the brethren there, 2) learn to appreciate what you have more, 3) realize the power of God's Word and prayer.

Tol