Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
I was in basic training for the Army at Fort Knox Kentucky. Our drill sergeant marched us down to the baseball field and right up to the fence behind home plate. He told us which team he wanted us to cheer for and that we should cheer “loudly”. It was his friend’s baseball team.
His favorite team was not doing very well. They actually looked like “sad sacks” standing around the dugout. But when they got up to bat we started cheering and something amazing happened. These “sad sacks” began to get motivated, more than that they drew strength from us cheering them on. Every batter that stepped to the plate got a hit and ran for the bases. It turned the whole game around and I learned a valuable lesson about the power of encouragement.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 25:11
Being an encourager is a wonderful thing. Contrast that against the words of those who discourage, criticize, and have nothing good to say about anyone. Our words can change the atmosphere around us for good or ill. Our words are important to God. They can reflect well or badly upon us and our testimony as Christians.
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24
I have never regretted speaking positive, encouraging words to someone, but I seriously wish I could take back some of the stupid and unkind things I’ve said throughout my life. Our words are important.
But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. Matthew 12:36
God’s Word is filled with encouragement for His children. God does not want us to be discouraged. Time and again in the Bible Book of Psalms, God encourages us when we are weak, sick, lonely, exhausted, under attack, and discouraged. We can have courage and be filled with encouragement because God is with us, helping us, healing and strengthening us no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Romans 15:4
It is wonderful to be encouraged by God and by others. It is even more wonderful to be an encourager to others, lifting them up when they are down, giving them words to strengthen them. Just as my army platoon on that ball field cheered on a team that needed lifting up, we can do the same with our words to others.
Believers have an endless source of encouragement in God. Our Lord lifts us up through hope and faith and trust that He is with us, helping us, and wants us to succeed in living good lives upon this earth. Our Heavenly Provider gives us encouragement, let’s share that encouragement with other believers, and especially with a lost world desperately in need of encouragement.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Thessalonians 2:16
Prayer: Dear Lord, how often You have encouraged us and lifted us up when we were down. Fill us with the power of encouragement so we can do the same for those around us. Amen.
