T he world seems highly negative today and many are critical of others, so how can we encourage others while helping us share Christ?
Encouragement
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The world seems highly negative today and many are critical of others, so how can we encourage others in helping us share Christ? Why is encouragement so important these days, not just for believers, but for the lost too? The word encourage is very interesting. It comes from the Old French word, encoragier, which means “to make strong, hearten,” and from en for “make, put in,” so basically to encourage someone is to give strength or strengthen someone by putting something into them, like a good word from you. Encouragement builds up…discouragement tears done. The definition of encourage fits perfectly with Gods Word which says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess 5:11). Regardless of whether the person is saved or lost, try to encourage someone today…that might just give you an opportunity to share Christ. By the way, how do you feel when someone encourages you?
A Good Word
It’s amazing how saying the right thing at the right time can really encourage someone. King Solomon had the wisdom to know that, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Prov 25:7). A setting like that is beautiful to look at and pleasing to the eye, so our words can be beautiful, and be pleasing to the ear, and more so, when we build up others (encourage…fortify) by our words. The Apostle Paul put it beautifully, writing, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy” (Phil 2:1), so pour these out on others. We don’t encourage others just to flatter them or make ourselves look better or win their favor, so encouraging others is doing “nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil 2:3). It is about building others up in Christ and encouraging those you come into contact with…sinners and saints. And encouragement can open a wide door for conversations about Jesus Christ.
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Encouragement in Scripture
The Bible actually says that you’ll find encouragement in the Scriptures, so if you yourself need encouragement, remember that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom 15:4). Not only can we find encouragement in the Bible, we can find endurance too. Daily reading of the Word of God strengthen us and that in itself is an encouragement (means “to make strong, hearten,” and to “make, put in”). Put the Word of God in your heard and encouragement follows.
Everyone Needs Encouragement
When Moses neared the end of His life, God told him to “charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see’” (Deut 3:28). Toward the end of Moses’ life, “Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it” (Deut 31:7). And Joshua surely must have been encouraged because of the fact that he knew that “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deut 31:8).
Who is Your Encourager?
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My wife is my greatest encourager…praying for me, supporting me, and always the encourager. Quite often, I was like a cheerleader for my children and grandchildren; cheering on and encouraging them during their childhood. I tried to always be an encouragement to them because I knew this made them feel better about themselves. If that builds them up, then I am more motivated to be encouraging them day by day. I can always find something to encourage someone, regardless of their occupation in life or their status in society. God is no respecter of persons, so I think we should reach out more often in encouraging people; people who are doing their daily job, people who are trying their best, and even for those who are struggling with things.
Summary
How important was encouragement to the Apostle Paul? So much so that he prayed, “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus” (Rom 15:5). He is saying that God is a God of encouragement, so we must be also. Since God does not change, we need to try to be more consistent in building one another up, because we know “that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Heb 6:18). A refuge is a fortress, keeping the occupants safe from harm, and our God protects us, and this should be encouragement to us, remembering the meaning of the word “to make strong, hearten,” and to “make, put in”). Let us strive to “put in” and “make strong” (French, “encoragier”) encouragement that the world desperately needs. People want to be around encouraging people. The world is full of “Negative Neds,” so be that encourager and build others up. Perhaps you’ll have the opportunity to share Jesus Christ, and wouldn’t that be most encouraging?
Conclusion
I pray you have put your trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If that has not happened yet, my friend, you are in real danger of hell fire. And I mean, in immediate danger. You’re one breath, one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity when it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2) since tomorrow is no guarantee. If Jesus Christ came today, here is your fate (Matt 7:21-23). This is why I plead with you as you read this, repent today…and I mean right now. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. If you do not, you will face God’s judgment after death guaranteed (Heb 9:27) or at Jesus Christ’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), which could happen at any moment.
Here is some related reading for you: Bible Verses for Encouragement: 20 Great Scripture Quotes [4]
Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.