An Unwelcomed Visitor

“An Unwelcomed Visitor” – talk by District Overseer given when visiting the host congregation in Qns

He started off by saying that we are going to talk about Mr. D. He said that Mr. D visits all of Jehovah’s servants at one time or another; sometimes it’s a short visit and other times it’s a lengthy stay. He asked what we thought the D stood for and he said “no, its not Devil”. It is DISCOURAGEMENT.


Discouragement is the most effective tool against Jehovah’s people, even more than immorality and materialism. If we allow Mr. D to hang around, he can cause us to fail to muster up courage in our service to Jehovah.

1 Kings 18: 25‐46
•    Vs. 25, 26 – Elijah sets up the test on Mount Carmel between Jehovah and Ba’al. Tells the 400+ Ba’al priests that they can go first in offering up the sacrifice to their god.
•    Vs. 27 – after they prayed for 6 hours to Ba’al, Elijah begins mocking them saying that maybe Ba’al got stuck in the bathroom or he’s sleeping and needs woken up. The brother said “you could just hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice”.
•    Vs. 32‐35 – Elijah reconstructs the alter of Jehovah, placing his offering upon it. Then to “add insult to injury”, said the brother, he drenched everything with water. He had 12 large jars of water poured upon the alter. The brother asked “Now, how do you light wet wood?”
•    Vs. 38 – in a supernatural display of his power, Jehovah answered Elijah’s prayer and sent a fire from heaven that ate up everything, including the stones. The brother then asked a thought provoking question when he said “How hot does fire have to be to melt stone?!”  Elijah must have on top of the world. And with one command, all 400+ Ba’al priests were put to death.
•    Vs 45, 46 – After a 3 ½ year drought, Jehovah again answers Elijah’s prayer and brings rain. Ahab gets in his chariot to outrun the storm and be the first to tell his wife, Jezebel, that all of her priests have just been put to death. But Jehovah’s hand was upon Elijah, and this prophet who was well into his 70s, OUTRAN THE CHARIOT 19 MILES. This was no sprint! Imagine Ahab on his chariot going as fast as he can looking to one side and seeing this old man running faster than his chariot thru the mud. Elijah must have felt invincible at this point in his life!!
1 Kings 19: 1‐4
•    Vs. 2 – Jezebel threatens Elijah, stating that at this time tomorrow he would be put to death just as he did to all her priests.
•    Vs. 3, 4 a– Elijah get scared and flees. He just faced 400 + men and outran a chariot in the rain, yet one woman caused him to fear for his life. He traveled 115 miles to get away from her.
•    Vs. 4b – Elijah sits down under a broom tree, “and who sits next to him? Mr. D. After everything he had just experienced, he became so discouraged that he wanted to die.”
o  The brother went on to explain that we ALL are on an emotional rollercoaster. We are up one
day and then we get a call, a letter, see something, something happens at work, and then we are
the lowest we’ve ever been.
o  What happened with Elijah? He lost perspective. His fear caused him to doubt. When we lose perspective, we become self‐centered and take our focus away from Jehovah.
o  So how was the God of Encouragement going to encourage this prophet?
1 Kings 19:5‐8
•    Vs. 5, 6 – Jehovah sent an angel to encourage him. Not once did the angel bring up Elijah’s failure or ask him why he ran. Rather he gently touched him and encouraged him to eat. All that Elijah had the energy to do was go back to sleep after he ate the food miraculously provided.
o  The brother said “isn’t that how we feel from time to time? We are just so low that we don’t even have the mental energy to even think about getting out of bed, eating or even picking up the Bible to read.”
•    Vs 7, 8 ‐ The angel awakens Elijah a second time encouraging him to eat and letting him know that Jehovah has another assignment for him. The account mentions that Elijah kept going for 40 days and 40 nights off the power of that meal. “It was no ordinary food.”
o  Jehovah didn’t throw Elijah away just because Mr. D. came to visit. On the contrary, He gave him another assignment.
o  When we get discouraged, we also need to eat – we need to eat spiritual food. Reading the Bible feeds the mind, but prayer and meditation feeds the heart.
o  Discouragement cannot live where the word of Jehovah roams – in our hearts. When we read the Bible, we are close to Jehovah and we know that things are going to work out and we are going to be okay.
o  Experience: One day Brother Sydlik was approached by a sister who had a problem and didn’t know what to do. He told her to read the book of John. The DO said “When a member of the Governing Body tells you to read the book of John, what are you going to do?” She went home and read all 21 chapters in one sitting. She came back to him a second time stating that she still had the problem.  He replied “Read it again”. She did and came back a third time and Brother Sydlik told her to read it “one more time”. After reading it a third time she came to him thanking him and said that she knows that Jehovah is with her and things are going to work out. Another brother asked Brother Sydlik why did he tell her to read the book of John. He replied “I didn’t know what else to tell her. But I knew that if she read God’s Word with her problem in mind, that Jehovah’s holy spirit would help her.”
Matthew 6:25, 26, 33
•    Vs 25, 26 ‐ In his application of these verses the brother brought out that we all get anxious. “But the scripture says to ‘observe intently’. Now what are you doing? You are studying. So when we study the birds we notice that they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses because THEY DON’T HAVE ANY HANDS. They are automatically at a disadvantage. Yet Jehovah takes care of them”
o  The brother went on to ask “When have you ever seen a faithful servant of Jehovah have to beg?
Never and you never will because He won’t have it!”
•    Vs. 33‐ Jehovah doesn’t throw us away when we get discouraged. He has given us an assignment. Seeking first the kingdom involves the preaching work. The brother went on to say that “preaching gives us a good frame of mind, a positive frame of mind, and it gives us energy and possibly even clearer thinking. So after we spend time in the ministry, when we arrive home our problem is not as big as it was when we left, or maybe it is even gone. Jehovah knows we need the preaching work to help us stay focused. How many angels would have willingly and happily done the preaching work and would have done a better job at it? But He didn’t give them the assignment, He gave it to us.”
o  Going out in the ministry, conducting Bible studies, listening to others problems  and helping them with those problems, reading scriptures to them to encourage them also encourages us in the process.
Luke 23:27‐30
•    Even though Jesus was going through a terrible ordeal, truly the darkest hours of his life, he turned his focus to others. In that dark time, as the brother said, “his mind was looking ahead to 70 C.E. when Jerusalem will be surrounded by Roman armies and the women will be so hungry that they turn to eating their own children.” Jesus could not afford self‐pity to set in at this point.
•    The brother then applied Hebrews 12:2,3 where it says that Jesus felt joy. Why did he feel joy despite everything he was going through? Because he was focused on helping others, not on his situation.
Luke 23: 42, 43
•    Jesus tells the man next to him that “you will be with me in Paradise”. What was Jesus doing? “He was conducting a Bible study”, answered the DO. With his last breath in his dying body, Jesus was focused on others.
•    The brother went on to ask, “How was Jesus able to breathe or speak hanging on that torture stake? He had to push up with his legs to inhale, and when he collapsed back down, he exhaled. Think of how many times Jesus had to do that. Can you imagine all of the splinters he had in his back just to take a breath? Yet, his focus was on giving the man next to him hope.”
1 Corinthians 10:13
•    Jehovah will not let us deal with more than we can handle. He knows when we cannot take it anymore and He steps in.
•    The brother said “We all have experienced things in our life that we consider miracles – the timing, the manner, whatever it is – it was exactly what we needed and, while others may not think so, but to us is a tiny miracle. And we know that it was Jehovah stepping in and helping us.”
•    Sometimes Jehovah makes a way out and sometimes He just gives us the strength to endure it. Acts 27:22‐25, 43, 44
•    Vs. 22‐25 – Paul had faith that Jehovah would save him and all those on the boat. He said that he believed it would be “exactly as it had been told” to him – but he didn’t know HOW. So how was Jehovah going to save all 276 onboard?
•    Vs. 43 – All those who could swim, were told to jump in and swim to shore. But what about those who could not swim?
•    Vs. 44 – As the boat broke apart, Jehovah would direct planks of wood to those who could not swim to help them keep their heads above water and get them to shore.
o  Jehovah will always direct a “plank” to us – someone or something – to help us keep our heads above water. We just have to recognize that it is from Jehovah and grab onto it. In the congregation, we are all planks for one another.

The brother then shared two experiences with us:
•    In one territory, an older Italian sister was preaching in an affluent area. She went to the door and a young, intellectual man came out and said “We don’t need that around here [pointing to the Bible]. We live in a push button society –I push a button, I see anything I want; I push another button, I hear anything I want; I push another button, I get anything I want.” The older sister replied in her broken English “And when you die and are 6 feet under, what button are you going to push to get out? I know who can push that button.” The experience went on that they had a very nice discussion and no doubt the sister felt as encouraged as the young man did.
•    A missionary in Africa told the District Overseer an experience about a sister in Kenya. This sister would travel approximately 16 miles to go to her meetings. She would stay over night at the Kingdom Hall and the next morning would set off for her house. Along her path, she had to cross a river, facing crocodiles, hippos and snakes; and 4 times had been swept away by the currents nearly drowning.  Yet she was hardly ever missing from her meetings. The DO went on to say “Oh, and did I mention that she was 72 years old?” As you just gasped, so did most of those in attendance at the meeting.
o  The brother went on to talk about how if that sister didn’t let discouragement stop her from attending her meetings, how he himself was going to do the same. The brother spoke about how the sister valued the meetings and it was worth the effort to get there and that “isn’t it true how we come tired but we leave with energy? We always get more than what we came with.

“We all are going to get a visit from Mr. D so we need to get rid of him. How? Not by picking up the remote, not by picking up the mouse, not by picking up the phone – but by picking up God’s word and reading it. And if Mr. D is still hanging around, then we need to pick up our bag and get out in service. “


I hope you were encouraged as much as I was. Jehovah is such a wonderful and loving heavenly Father that He knows when we need that extra boost. Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.