This week, we’re continuing our message series entitled, “Spiritual Roadblocks.” It’s construction season once again in the great state of Pennsylvania. Although none of us like road construction, we all like cruising down a smooth, freshly paved and painted highway at full speed. It gives us a sense of freedom and adventure like anything is possible. We may not like construction, but we sure do love the benefits of when the job is complete!

This is much like our spiritual lives. We love to quote about the full and abundant life that Jesus promises us. We love the freedom that He grants us. We love the invincible feeling of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We love cooperating with God as He blesses us and does the miraculous in and through our lives.

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When God decides that it’s time to do some construction in our lives, we’re not so thrilled about cooperating with Him. We don’t want to slow down or even worse, stop altogether. We’d rather be over in that other lane that is flying right on by us.

Together, we’re going to learn about some dangers that commonly exist in our lives that require God to do a little construction work in us. God desires to take care of them before these small roadblocks grow into destructive hazards. We’ll trust that just like road construction, the end result will be well worth a short season of waiting and working.

So far, we’ve learned about the spiritual roadblocks of the love of the world and cravings. This week, we’re going to tackle the spiritual roadblock that we all deal with from time-to-time of discouragement. When we think of the ways and the tools of the devil, we usually think of cunningness and deceit. Rarely do we think of discouragement as a weapon formed against us. However, if our enemy can discourage us, he can stop us from moving forward into all that God has planned, purposed, and promised to us! It can cause us to simply give up in bitterness.

Most all of us are aware of the story of Jonah. Although he was given many chances to cooperate with God bringing an entire nation to repentance and launching a wave of revival to Nineveh, his heart was hard. God still used him to do just that, but in the end, Jonah thought more highly of himself and of his comfort than he did for an entire nation of people who had just been radically transformed by the power of God.

Jonah’s story ended with him wanting to die, angry with God’s compassion toward others, and overwhelmed with discouragement.

I don’t believe that this was how God wanted His prophet’s story to end by any means! Don’t be like Jonah! Don’t give up and end God’s ability to write miraculous testimonies in and through your life all because we experienced discouragement!

After all, discouraging situations are the some of the most fertile atmospheres for God’s miraculous provision to come our way!

Unfortunately, discouragement often causes us to stop believing God’s promises. It causes us to stop in our tracks and question God. It causes God’s good news to sound like old news. God informed Moses:

Exodus 6:6-9

6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

God just shared the best news that the Israelites had hea