Animo: why we remain encouraged in the midst of discouragement

This morning, I was sitting with my oldest daughter, who is 4 years old about to be 5 years old, and as I looked down at a book I am currently reading, on the title page I saw she had written out an actual word, that she may not even know that she wrote a whole word, a dictionary definition word, but she did and it wasn’t even in English, it was in Spanish, SPANISH y’all , yes we are a bilingual family! The word she wrote out was “ANIMO.”

You may not know what the word animo means and here I am to tell you.

ANIMO means: condición humana de sentir y razonar; the human condition to feel and reason.

Just wow right. God has given us the spirit to feel and reason, he has given us the spirit to help others cheer up, to help others understand what their feeling so that they can rise up, and act with courage into all they do knowing that in all things God is present. But that is only if we have put our trust in the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Why can we only have ANIMO when our trust is in Jesus? Have you tried remaining encouraged outside of Him? We see so many of our bible heroes struggle remaining in trust in the Lord. Let’s read a few.

In Matthew 14, we see the disciples seeing one of the many miracles of God, the feeding of the 5,000. After the feeding, we read: “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.” (Matthew 14:22) If the Lord tells you to go ahead of him, will you? The disciples got into the boat and went ahead, Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray, and by then the boat was already far gone, he knew what the boat was going through, it was getting beat up by the winds and the waves. First of all, can you imagine the thoughts of the disciples, ‘he made us get into this boat, while he’s chilling by himself, not scared for his life, are we about to knocked out of this boat and drown?’ So many thoughts and fears unlocked in that very moment for them. Maybe even the thought of discouragement. ‘Are we getting punished for our questioning? Why did we I say yes to following this dude if it was just gonna lead to my death right now?’ Can you imagine? But hey, if we are believers in Christ, we know that all things God sends our way, let me say that again, EVERYTHING GOD sends our way, is meant to strengthen our faith in Him, it’s meant to show us maybe even a weakness that we need to give to the Lord so it can strengthen us, so that we can then strengthen others as we are called to do. If we never experienced discipline or hardships, then why would the Bible be something we read and choose to trust the words of God to us? God tells us we will to through hard times, we will go through fires, we will go through storms, we will go through stuff we’d rather not go through, WHY, so we can point our fingers to the God of the universe, and say, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord ; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13-14) The disciples, walked with Jesus, and despite seeing the impossible they doubted, they got discouraged after just seeing the impossible happen. Jesus knew the winds and waves would beat them up. It was a test of faith. They saw him walk onto the waves, and he spoke to them saying, “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27) ‘And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:28-33)

Today, I want to encourage you to COME. Get out of the boat of fear and discouragement. Get out of the fear of jumping all in with Christ because you don’t know where it will lead, that’s the whole point of walking by faith and not by sight. It shows our dependence on Him that our life is not our own, that our life is for Him because we have tasted and seen His goodness, we know what He has saved us from and saved us for, we know what we’ve been freed from, we know what he has rescued us from so that we can be a light in those dark places we were in and bring people out of that darkness and urge them to walk into the arms of the Father, the one who created them and put purpose into them.

Where would we be without the grace of God?

Where would we be if today was our final day here on earth?

Are you confident that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life?

So, why are we to have ANIMO in Christ?

BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT HE HAS SAVED US FROM AND WHAT HE HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

The disciples after the wind stopped worshipped him and said,

“You truly are the Son of God.”

My desire for my own life is to not wait till the craziness stops to worship God, to know that He indeed is the one that my soul longs for, longs to be with for eternity, but also desires to honor and magnify here on earth. If I only worship him when the crazy ends, do I really trust Him, can I really help others see him, know him, worship him, serve him in all that they do?

‘For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ‘ (Hebrews 12:10-15)

So, big question of the day is, what do people capture after spending time with you? Do they see your love and trust in God? Do they see you go through the discipline and the storms and still remain confident in His love for you and His purposes for you? Are they lifted up by your confidence in Christ?

Do they get ignited by your spark?

Why can we remain animados, encouraged in a world that looks like it’s filled with much discouragement, encouraged even when all around us seems like it’s against us or falling apart? BECAUSE when we are in HIM, nothing really is falling apart, everything is going according to His perfect, pleasing will, IF we He is the one that we are allowing to lead our lives.