Encouragement

1 Thessalonians 5:11

¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

How many of us have felt the power of a simple word of encouragement at some point in our lives?  There are very few things in life that can lift a person’s spirit as quickly and effectively as a simple and genuine word of love.  How many of us have not only been on the receiving end of encouragement, but have also been on the giving end?  All of us know the incredible power of encouraging words, yet why is it that we so often hold back from speaking them?

Over the past several months I have very seriously begun to look at myself in light of the biblical call to encourage the brethren.  I have had to examine myself and ask myself these very important questions, “Am I an encouragement to those around me?  Do I speak words of encouragement freely and readily?”  There is no question that the biblical call to encourage one another is laced throughout the New Testament.  We see it in the writings of Paul, Peter and especially in the writings of John.  Even in epistles such as 1 Corinthians where Paul is writing a letter of rebuke he starts off his correspondence with a heartfelt word of encouragement.

Are we a church that excels in the area of encouragement?  Do we make a point to speak words of heartfelt love with the goal of building each other up on a regular basis?  I am not talking about speaking words of flattery or of a patronizing quality, what I mean is real, joyful and heartfelt expressions of our appreciation and love for one another.  When you examine yourself, do you see yourself lacking in this area?  Words are very powerful and a simple word of encouragement goes a long way to give strength, comfort, peace and love to our fellow brethren.

I see an opportunity for much growth in the body of LWBC in this area.  Will you make it a point to speak a word of encouragement to someone this week?  But not just this week, we need to make it our goal to continually be an encouragement to one another.  Even as you read this I know each of us can think of at least one person that the Lord has placed on our heart to speak to with the goal of building them up in Christian love.  However, for whatever reason, we far too often hold back encouraging words.

I want to challenge us to let encouraging words flow freely and flow often from our lips.  No matter how strong we may think we are or we may think another is, we all need to hear kind words from our Christian family.  On our darkest of days, during our most troubling time, a simple word of encouragement from another can strengthen our hearts and our resolve.  Even during our best day and our most carefree of times, a word of encouragement never goes unappreciated and is never ineffective.  We all need to be encouraged!  Let’s be a church that is known for our love for one another and let’s be a church that openly, freely and without prejudice builds one another up in our walk with Christ!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John