Failed to Connect to the Server Connection Refused: Connect

I am very annoyed, confused and need help... I have been playing minecraft for a while and I had been playing mineplank hunger games, and a few other servers. I woke up this morning only to notice i can not connect to any one of the servers, I know it is on my end because my friends are playing on the servers while for me it says this error..."Failed to Connect to the Server Connection Refused: Connect" whenever i try to connect it tells me that. I have tried many things and don't know what to do.