“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Heb. 3:13)
A few weeks ago I began to listen and talk to those around me. It seemed like several were battling with the feeling of being alone, no one to lean on. There was a woman that was having issues at home with no one really to talk to about what was going on. There was someone else that had recently lost a spouse and they felt like they didn't know what to do with life or how to handle the things that were now in their hands to handle. I talked to one gentleman that told me his wife was diagnosed with a terminal disease and even their own children were not willing to help in any way. As I have sat and recounted the stories and conversations I have had it saddens me. What happened to Encouragment?
WHY IS ENCOURAGEMENT ESSENTIAL?
We live in a broken world where everything calls us toward selfishness and despair. Sin steals
joy, our bodies break down, our plans fail, our dreams die, our resolves weaken, our perspective dims.
When encouragement is absent from life people will feel unloved, unimportant, useless, and forgotten. God knows his people are in need of grace-filled reminders, so he calls us to encourage each other every day . (Heb. 3:13).
WHAT IS ENCOURAGEMENT?
Biblical encouragement isn’t focused on complementing someone’s outfit or telling them how great the meal was they prepared. That is encouragement and yes it is important, but the encouragement the Scriptures refer to is explicitly Christian encouragement.
Encouragement is shared with the hopes that it will lift someone’s heart toward the Lord
I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts Colossians 4:8 (ESV)
It points a person to God’s promises letting them know that everything they face is under the control of a merciful, loving God.
HOW DO WE GROW IN BEING AN ENCOURAGER?
There isn’t only one “right way” to encourage each other, but here are a few ideas to help you get started.
Pray, ask God to make you an encourager. Ask him to give you a heart that loves others. Ask him to help you die to self-centeredness and grow in a desire to build others up.
Make encouragement a daily discipline. For some of us encouragement comes naturally, for others, not so much. If you need to set a reminder on your calendar each day to send someone an encouraging note, email, text, or phone call then do it.
Pray for God to show you who to encourage. Ask God to bring someone to mind that you should reach out to.
Use Scripture if you’re able. Nothing encourages us like promises from God’s Word. Make a list of Scriptures that God has used to bless you personally or an excerpt from something you read in your daily devotional and use those to encourage others.
Be specific in what you say. Don't just throw a generic encouragement out there but be specific to the person you are encouraging.
Get started. Who can you encourage right now? Who has blessed you recently that you can thank? What verse can you share with them? How might God use it?
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