You’ve had a hard day, or maybe a hard season. Maybe I can’t change any of your circumstances, but one thing I can do is encourage you in them.
To encourage—parakaleo in the Greek—literally means “to call near, invite, comfort.” So to encourage you, I deliberately come beside you as an invitation to God. Maybe directly with a prayer of blessing or through a Bible verse. Or indirectly through actions (clean your kitchen, give you a hug), through words (a phone call, a text), or through gifts (a book, a candy bar—it works for me!).
Encouraging others is a true gift of the Spirit. While some are more naturally gifted at it than others, encouraging is one gift we all have opportunity and ability to exercise.
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is . . . to encourage, then give encouragement.”
Romans 12:6,8 (NIV)
But why should I encourage you? The short answer is because I want you to feel better.
But deeper reasons are because I want what’s best for you, what’s best for God, and even what’s best for me.
HERE ARE 5 REASONS TO GIVE GODLY ENCOURAGEMENT.
I encourage you . . .
1. To make you stronger in faith
The best gift I can give you is another reason to trust God and His grace (Colossians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:12). So when I see specific ways He’s working in your life, I should tell you, especially if it will help you stay strong in a difficult situation or make a course correction if needed. The goal of encouragement isn’t to build your self-esteem in what you can do, but to increase your faith in what God can do through you.
I encourage you . . .
2. To make me stronger in faith
The gift of encouragement has a rebounding effect—when we give it to another, we receive it back ourselves (Romans 1:12). When I look for God in you, I see Him clearer myself. That strengthens my own beliefs in His power.
I encourage you . . .
3. To help you rejoice
When you’re discouraged, it’s hard to find reasons to celebrate. But someone else might see things you can’t. While I don’t want to offer empty clichés to simply placate your pain, (those often make us more discouraged!) I do want to offer genuine hope and reasons to be joyful. True encouragement should result in more joy than you started with (Acts 15:31-32).
I encourage you . . .
4. In obedience to God
God wants me to encourage those worthy of praise and exercise my gift of encouragement (Proverbs 31:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:11). If I see godly character in you, but I’m too stingy or proud to commend it, I’m failing to do the good I know to do (James 4:17).
I encourage you . . .
5. For God’s glory
The highest purpose in using any of our gifts is to glorify the Father through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10-11). I give Him honor when I point out the work He is doing or intends to do in you (1 Corinthians 14:25).
More verses on encouragement
Acts 13:15; Acts 14:22; Acts 18:27; Romans 15:4-5; Ephesians 6:22; Philippians 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 1 Timothy 5:1; Hebrews 10:25
Ultimately, I can’t rely on my own words or wisdom to properly encourage you, but I can trust the Holy Spirit to activate the gift I want to give you.
Through Him, you can receive hope, be reminded of God’s goodness, and trust His grace to cover every situation.
For an excellent book on encouraging others, read Sam Crabtree’s [amazon_link id=”1433522438″ target=”_blank” ]Practicing Affirmation[/amazon_link]: God-Centered Praise of Those Who Are Not God. Read a short excerpt here.
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Who can you encourage today? (Hint: Who will you be near?) Who has encouraged you this week? Please share here.
Oh, this is good, good, Lisa. You have encouraged me, yes, by taking me here this morning. Thanks for refilling my tank …
You definitely are an encourager, Linda! I praise our Lord for godly women like you go around strengthening other people’s faith.
I’d add this – I encourage because it’s my refutation of a secular world that seeks to discourage and destroy.
It’s kind of like why I take in every stray dog that crosses my path. I’ve seen what the world does to them, and at one point something inside me snapped, and I said, “Enough. I’m going to do what I can to fight this.”
Yes there has been a cost in giving up personal dreams to buy dig food…and sometimes the encouragement we give to others will cut into our own desires, and sometimes into our own needs.
God’s called us to the battle, and He knows that the cost may be high. But it’s our job.
Great addition, Andrew. Yes, encouraging is a direct attack against the forces that try to drag us down. Taking care of dogs is a tangible way you testify to the importance of all of God’s creation. It’s beautiful. Thanks for sharing that with us; it helps us see we can always find purpose even in the hard things around us.
Great post Lisa! #1 really made an impact on me. Sometimes we can’t see our own growth or we feel it’s taking too long but God is working. When we see people growing we should tell- encourage them because they may not see what we can.
Awesome job.
Thanks, TC. Yes, it’s always helpful to have another set of spiritual eyes who can see what we may be blinded to. I know I need that in my life.
I love having friends that give me Godly encouragement and I love encouraging others just as you do!
Isn’t it nice when it can go both ways like that? I’m thankful for all my friends, but I’m particularly grateful for the ones who can speak the love language of encouraging words. :) That gift goes a long way for my soul’s nourishment.
Great reasons. The words of Christ came to my mind while reading, “Tis better to give than to receive.” I think that works with encouragement as well as anything else we do that has the heart for others. Being about other people’s lives is the mark of God in our lives I think. The selfish actions show the opposite. Nice job, Lisa. Thanks for the reminders and bringing me to ponder.
I always appreciate your words of wisdom, Floyd. I’m sure many would agree with me that you’re one of those bloggers who goes around encouraging so many of us. I like seeing your comments ahead of mine because I know they’ll be life-giving and God-honoring. Keep doing what you’re doing, friend.
I think this is one of your gifts, Lisa. I need to remember to share encouragement verbally rather than just think it.
Thanks, Barbara. I have to remind myself to actually speak those thoughts too, even if it’s something as simple as, “I love your hair” to a cashier at Target :) Sometimes those small things can be just the boost someone needs, plus it then gives me courage to pass on more important words down the road. I’m still growing in this.
I agree that encouragement is one of Lisa’s gifts!
Great reasons to encourage others. I will try and do that this week, starting with encouraging myself. It has been hard lately.
Ooh, great point, Katie. We definitely need to include ourselves in the category of people we need to encourage. I know you have favorite scriptures that help you; we’d all benefit by keeping a list handy of verses and prayers that lift us up with God’s love when we need reminding of it.
And since you’ve had a hard week, I’ll give your verse to you now. :)
“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:11-12
Thank you… I actually left this post and comment and went and got out Psalm 139! We were thinking alike. :)
Sometimes encouraging someone is so much more simple than we think. Just a smile, a hug, or a attentive ear can encourage someone that they matter!
Cooking Up Faith
http://www.cookingupfaith.org
I totally agree with you. “Small” things like that have encouraged me many times when I needed it and felt wonderfully big. And those are things we can give away so easily if we just will. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve noticed how your second point tends to work in myself. There’s something about giving encouragement that really strengthens my own spirit as I’m doing it. Whenever I speak in a new church, which is almost ever Sunday, I try to look around and find something that I can encourage them with before I begin. It puts a smile on their faces and mine too!
That’s such a personal way to let people know you care, Caleb. I’m sure those in the church are encouraged and God is glorified by your efforts to know them and communicate that to them. And that blesses you! Great example.
Continuing to pray for those in Ukraine; I appreciate you still keeping us posted.
To points 1 and 2… I find that one of the things that greatly encourages me in my faith is hearing stories of God’s goodness and power in others’ lives. I literally draw courage from them… courage to be more bold in my faith, courage to believe when the world makes it all look so unbelievable, courage to do what is right in God’s eyes even though it goes against culture.
Yes, those personal testimonies are of immense value to me, too, Patti! Of course we draw courage from the ones in the Bible, but ones of people we know here and now can also make a big difference in keeping our faith strong. Thanks for sharing this.
I missed this one and wanted to go back through the series! Sorry, I’m late. I am encouraged by many great ladies in my life both in the blog world and community. I have been working on encouraging others. One young lady in our church in particular. It takes actually thinking about her when I normally wouldn’t. Sending her a text or giving her a call. It is pretty hard so I appreciate those who encourage me!
Thank you for backtracking for this post. It encourages ME to hear how you have deliberately chosen to encourage the young lady in your church. What a blessing she’s receiving. And I’m sure you’re receiving one back. Keep it up because you could be making an eternal impact on her life right now! Sometimes all it takes is one person to consistently lift us up; you could be making all the difference in the world to her.