Jehovah Can Help You When You Feeling Discourage

1-2. How the apostle Paul use to feel sometime, and why his example can help us? (Romans 7:​21-24)

WHEN we think about the apostle Paul, we can remember da he wor somebody who use to preach to people in different-different country. He write plenty books in the Bible and wor good teacher. Yes, Paul wor really brave and he wor faithful. But sometime he use to feel bad, discourage or worry. So Paul use to feel the same way we can feel today.

² Read Romans 7:​21-24. In the letter Paul write to the Romans, he talk about some thing dem da use to make him feel bad. Some of us can feel the same way Paul use to be feeling. Paul wor faithful Christian and he really wanted to obey God. But because he wor not perfect, it wor hard for him to always do what God wanted him to do. Paul also use to feel discourage when he think about the bad thing dem he do before and about certain problem in his life da wor not getting better.

3. Wetin we will talk about in this article? (See the footnote)

³ Even though Paul use to feel discourage, but he not use to think too much about thing dem da will discourage him. In this article, we will answer this question dem: Wetin use to make Paul to feel discourage? Wetin help Paul to not think too much about thing dem da wor coming make him feel discourage? And wetin we can do when we feeling discourage?a

WETIN USE TO MAKE PAUL TO FEEL DISCOURAGE?

4. Wetin use to make Paul to feel discourage?

⁴ The bad-bad thing dem he do before. Paul name wor Saul before he become Christian. He do some bad thing dem da he regret later on. For example, Paul wor standing there when the people wor chunking Stephen with rock until they kill him. Paul wor thinking da the people wor doing the right thing. (Acts 7:58; 8:1) He also persecute plenty Christian dem and he use to really treat them bad.—Acts 8:3; 26:​9-11.

5. How Paul use to feel about the thing dem he do before he become Christian?

⁵ After Paul become Christian, he use to feel guilty about the thing dem he do before. The more he stay long serving Jehovah, da the more he wor feeling discourage about the bad-bad thing dem he do before. For example, when he write his first letter to the Corinthians in 55 C.E., he say: “I not anything among the apostle dem, and I not even fit for other people to call me apostle, because I suffer God congregation.” (1 Cor. 15:9) After five years, he write letter to the Ephesians. In da letter he tell the brother and sister dem da they important pass him. (Eph. 3:8) Paul also tell Timothy da he use to talk bad against God and suffer his people dem. And he wor not having respect for anybody. (1 Tim. 1:13) Just imagine how Paul use to feel when he go visit congregation and he see brother and sister dem who he persecute before or their family member dem.

6. Wetin else wor making Paul to suffer? (Also see the footnote.)

⁶ Thorn in his flesh. Paul wor going through certain problem da wor making him to suffer. And he say it wor looking just like ‘thorn in his flesh.’ (2 Cor. 12:7) The apostle Paul not tell us what wor really making him to feel pain. But maybe da wor sickness or some kindna problem da really make him to worry.b

7. Wetin make it hard for Paul to always do the right thing? (Romans 7:​18, 19)

⁷ He wor not perfect. Paul try hard to not do bad thing. (Read Romans 7:​18, 19.) But he say da sometime he not use to do the thing he want do. And sometime he use to do the thing he not suppose to do. He also say da he wor always fighting hard to do the right thing and to not do the wrong thing. (1 Cor. 9:27) But still he use to make mistakes. Just imagine how he use to feel discourage when he say or do some bad thing dem even though he na work hard to change.

WETIN HELP PAUL?

8. What some of the thing dem Paul do da help him to change?

⁸ Paul think good-good about how God spirit can help Christians to stop thinking about bad things and change their ways. We can understand this one from the letter dem he write. (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:​16, 17) Most of the time, Paul talk about what kindna thinking and behavior Christians mon avoid to make Jehovah happy. (Gal. 5:​19-21, 26) This one just show da Paul use to think about what he need to do to improve. He use to study the Bible to look for advice da wor coming help him to make some change dem in his life and how he will do it. So we can be sure da Paul follow the same advice da he give to other people.

9-10. Wetin help Paul when he use to feel discourage? (Ephesians 1:7) (Also see the picture.)

⁹ Even though Paul use to feel discourage sometime, but plenty things help him to continue to be happy. For example, he use to be happy when he hear good-good things about the congregation dem da wor far off. (2 Cor. 7:​6, 7) His friendship with his brother and sister dem also use to make him happy. (2 Tim. 1:4) And Paul wor happy because he wor serving Jehovah with “clean conscience.” (2 Tim. 1:3) Even when he wor in jail in Rome, Paul encourage his brother and sister dem to “rejoice in the Lord.” (Phil. 4:4) This one just show da Paul not use to think about his mistake and problem dem all the time. So it clear da anytime something da will discourage him come in his heart, Paul use to be quick to think on good-good thing dem da will make him happy.

¹⁰ Another thing da help Paul to be happy all the time, da the ransom. He remember da Jehovah love him and give the ransom for him too. (Gal. 2:20; read Ephesians 1:7.) And because of da, he wor sure da Jehovah na forgive him and will continue to forgive him. (Rom. 7:​24, 25) All this one dem help Paul to continue serving Jehovah and be happy.—Heb. 9:​12-14.

11. Why Paul example can encourage us?

¹¹ Like Paul, sometime we can feel da we always need to work hard so da we can’t think on, say or do something da will make Jehovah feel bad. So sometime, it can make us to really feel discourage!’ One sister name Elizac explain how she can feel. She say, “When I think about Paul situation, it can encourage me. I happy to know da I not the only person who need to make some change dem in my life. This one can remind me too da Jehovah know the problem dem his people going through.” So wetin we can do to get clean conscience and be happy even though we can feel discourage sometime?

WETIN WE CAN DO WHEN WE FEELING DISCOURAGE?

12. Wetin we mon continue to do to be more happy?

¹² Continue to do thing dem da will draw you more close to Jehovah. When we continue doing thing dem da can draw us more close to Jehovah, it will help us to focus more on the good-good thing dem da happening to us. Think about this one. Ehn we can feel good when we eat good food, always do exercise and get enough sleep? Da the same way we will be encourage when we read the Bible every day, preach to people, prepare for the meetings, attend the meetings and make comment. If we continue doing this thing dem, it will help us to think about good-good thing dem. Then we will not be thinking about thing da will make us feel discourage, and we will be more happy.—Rom. 12:​11, 12.

13-14. How some brother and sister dem na benefit from doing thing dem da can draw them more close to Jehovah?

¹³ Let look at John example. When he wor 39 years old, the doctor dem tell him say he get cancer. From the beginning, he wor feeling discourage. He say: ‘How young man like me can get this kindna sickness?’ Da time, his son wor just three years old. So wetin help John? He say: “Even though I use to feel tire bad way, but me and my family always do thing dem da help us to draw more close to Jehovah. For example, we always use to go to meetings, field service, and do our family worship every week even when it wor hard.” John also say: “When something like this happen, we can be discourage from the beginning. But I na learn da it can’t stay long for us to know da Jehovah really love us and he can give us the strength we need. Jehovah will help you the same way he help me.”

¹⁴ Eliza who we talk about before say: “Any time I go to meeting and do my personal study, it can remind me da Jehovah can hear me and da he really love me. It can really make me happy.” One circuit overseer name Nolan from Africa explain wetin can help he and his wife Diane. He say: “We can always do the thing dem da can draw us more close to Jehovah even when we feeling discourage. Like da, Jehovah can always help us to be more happy. So when we feeling discourage, we can try to remember da Jehovah will always help us and bless us. Even though we not always know how he will do it, but we know da he will do it.”

15. Wetin else we can do when we feeling discourage? Give example.

¹⁵ If we continue to feel discourage, we get some other thing dem we can do. For example, imagine da you get pain in your back. Sometime it can help you when you walk around. But for da pain to stop, you need to do some other thing dem. First you need to find out wetin causing the pain. So maybe you will do research or you will go to hospital. Da the same way we need to do research in the Bible and our publication dem to know why we can feel discourage and wetin can help us to feel better. And maybe we can talk with one mature brother or sister who able to give us good advice about our situation. Let talk about other thing dem da can also help us.

16. Wetin can help you to know what making you to feel discourage? (Psalm 139:​1-4, 23, 24)

¹⁶ Pray to Jehovah to help you know what really making you sad. King David knew da Jehovah know him good-good. So he ask Jehovah to help him know wetin wor making him to feel discourage. (Read Psalm 139:​1-4, 23, 24.) You too can ask Jehovah to help you to know why you feeling discourage and wetin can help you. And maybe you can ask yourself some question dem like: ‘What the main thing da making me to feel discourage? Da certain thing can make me to start feeling discourage? When my heart go on thing dem da can make me to be discourage, I can be quick to think about thing dem da can make me happy?’

17. What topic dem we can study to help us think about things da can encourage us? (Also see the picture.)

¹⁷ You can study topic dem da can help you with your situation. Sometime it will be good to study about one of Jehovah quality da can encourage us. For example, the apostle Paul benefit from thinking on the ransom and on how Jehovah can forgive. You can do the same thing too. You can make research on article dem in our publications or on jw.org da talking about God mercy, forgiveness, and loyal love. When you find article dem da can help you, write them down. Put it somewhere where it easy for you to see. Then when you start feeling discourage, you can study this article dem da on your list. And try to apply what you learn to your own situation.—Phil. 4:8.

18. What topic dem some Christians na study da help them?

¹⁸ Eliza who we talk about before do research in the Bible about Job. She say: “I wor going through different-different problem at the same time. So I study about Job example. He wor having plenty problem and he wor discourage bad way. Even though he not know why he wor suffering, he continue to trust in Jehovah to help him.” (Job 42:​1-6) Diane who we talk about before say: “Me and my husband using our publication dem to study about Jehovah quality dem. We happy da Jehovah helping us to be like him. So when we feeling discourage because of the mistake dem we make before, we can remember da Jehovah teaching us and helping us to be good people. This one can make our friendship with him thick.”—Isa. 64:8.

WE CAN BE SURE DA JEHOVAH WILL HELP US AND BLESS US

19. How we will feel sometime, but wetin we can be sure about?

¹⁹ Even if we apply all the advice dem in this article, sometime we will still feel sad or be discourage. But Jehovah can help us to not think too much on thing dem da can make us to feel discourage. And this one can make our heart to lay down. We can be sure da most of the time, we will enjoy our life and be happy because we get good friendship with Jehovah and we know da he happy with what we doing for him.

20. Wetin you want try your best to do?

²⁰ Let all of us continue to try our best to not allow our problem, thing dem da happen in our life, or the mistake dem we make before to stop us from enjoying our life. When we start feeling discourage, Jehovah can help us so da our heart can lay down. (Ps. 143:10) We waiting for the new world where we will only think on thing dem da will make us happy. During da time, nothing will make us to feel discourage again. And every morning we will wake up and be happy to serve our loving God, Jehovah!