So many Christians have become discouraged and given up and it seems harder and harder to reach the lost. There are several reason for this:

Persecution
Mark 4:[17] And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

Our roots must be in the right place and deep enough to sustain us.

Ephesians 3:[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Not just our love for each other and the lost but the love of God which He has shed abroad in our hearts.

1Thessalonians .3:[12] And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

Colossians 2:[7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

We must be taught our faith. Means listening, reading, learning and APPLYING the Word
We must be thankful for everything. Nothing worse than a spoiled brat who expects everything by right and never learning to earn. Never being grateful for the work Christ has done for you.

Iniquity abounds
Matthew 24:[12] And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

The wickedness of the lost drives us away. We must remember the greater the sin the greater the grace that gets rid of it.

We must remember just how sinful we were and how much God forgave for us.

We must remember how rotten we are apart from Christ.

11 Corinthians 5:[17] Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
[18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
[19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We need not look at their sin but at their need for a Savior.

Involved with life and forgetting Who we serve

2Timothy 2:[1] Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
[2] And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
[3] Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
[4] No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Life becomes more real to us than Heaven. We yield too much to the flesh and the flesh becomes too strong.
We become so entangled with this life we forget we should be laboring for the one to come.

2Timothy 4:[10] For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

2 Corinthians 4:15] For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
[16] For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
[17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Everything we see and touch in this world, even our body, is temporary. It is transient. Here obne day and gone tomorrow. We are not striving for an earthly reward but rather the heavenly.
We are not striving for the praise of men but rather Jesus’.

We allow others negativity to impact us
2Timothy 4:[16] At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

The Apostle Paul had everyone leave him for a time. Rather than throwing in his hand he continued preaching the gospel. Never giving up.

Discouraged because of lack of results
Gal.6:[9] And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

1Corinthians 3:[6] I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
[7] So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

We must keep in mind when people reject our message they are rejecting the love of God and not us. Our job is not to save someone but to present the gospel. God has promised reward for service. God is faithful and we indeed shall reap our rewards.

1Corinthians 15:[58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Lose sight of the cross
2 Corinthians 4:[8] We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
[9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
[10] Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

We must never lose sight of the great price our salvation exacted. Knwoing that the souls of men are at stake.

A Christians downfall begins with neglecting of God’s Word, then goes to neglecting God’s house and eventually neglecting God’s people. Before you know it you find yourself far out of the will of God.