11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. Ephesians 3:11-13 (NASB)
Let us look at an important word from v13 which many Bible translations render as ‘faint,’ ‘discouraged, ‘ or ‘lose heart.’ Here is v13 from the NA28 Greek text.
13 διὸ αἰτοῦμαι μὴ ἐγκακεῖν ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσίν μου ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν δόξα ὑμῶν. Ephesians 3:13 (NA28)
The words “not to lose heart” above translate μὴ ἐγκακεῖν. Μη or mēexpresses absolute denial. Paul is expressing his desire to the Ephesians that they DO NOT do something. That something is ἐγκακεῖν that is the Present tense, Infinitive mood, Active voice form of ἐκκακέω or ekkakeō, which literally means, “to turn out to be a coward, to lose one’s courage, to faint or despond in view of trial or to be utterly spiritless.” So perhaps the NASB’s translation of “not to lose heart” seems insufficient in light of this, but what we must see is that the verb structure Paul used here is speaking of a way of life not a one-time action.
This sort of encouragement would make no sense in the theology of most of those who preach Your Best Life Now or Name It and Claim It or Health, Wealth, and Prosperity as the focus of Christianity. However, anyone with any depth to their Biblical knowledge knows that those are heresies and not Biblically sound at all. Instead, what we learn is that the true Christian will be persecuted in this world because he or she will not be of the World. He or she will be in the World, but not be of the World. The World loves it own and hates the real Gospel because it condemns all that are of the World and not of Christ. You see, no one can be of both. Therefore, Paul is telling us that we can be persecuted. He wrote this letter to the Ephesians from prison. Paul is challenging all of us to not faint, not to sink into despondency not to become so dispirited and cowardly that we just quit.