Be An Encourager

ThePreachersWord “What would you do differently, if you had your life to live over again?” a young lady supposedly asked the Duke of Wellington in his old age. The Duke, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and later served as Prime Minister of the UK, was known as a brilliant man, yet very demanding. He was not known to “shower his subordinates with compliments.”

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Divine Encouragement

You have forgotten the divine word of encouragement which is addressed to you. Hebrews 12:5 What’s encouragement? Dr. Joel Wong at Indiana University Bloomington defines encouragement as “the affirmations people communicate to others, typically through the use of language, to enhance motivation within the context of realizing a potential or addressing a challenging situation.”[1]

That’s what our Lord does for us! He gives the affirmations we need by using the words of Scripture to keep us motivated and helps us fulfill our potential and address challenging situations. A day without Scripture is a day when we’re in danger of forgetting the divine Word of encouragement addressed to us. The Lord has certain verses from the Bible to impart afresh into our minds every hour of every day. The Bible is the most encouraging book ever penned. It hums with encouragement like an electrical factory. His Word encourages us to continue to follow Him. Make sure you keep your Bible open. Keep your heart open to constant doses of divine encouragement. And spread it to others! We owe everything to encouragement—nothing to bitter cynicism. Joseph Parker David Jeremiah

Strength to Comfort

by Don Merritt

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

These two little verses actually come from the greeting Paul is bringing to the Corinthian church at the beginning of the letter he is sending them. Back in those days, this kind of a flattering and, if I may say so, flowery greeting was customary. Today we might say that it checks a box in the stylebook of that day for a proper letter, and as readers we might just tear through the greeting to get to the meat of the letter. Yet, if we were to simply zip through these verses to get to the good part, we would be doing ourselves a great disservice.

Please, take a minute and read through them again, more slowly this time.

Wow!

Paul is giving praise to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Don’t we all need compassion and comfort at times? I think we all do, even if we don’t like to talk about such things. He continues with this little gem: who comforts us in all our troubles. Do you have any troubles that God cannot bring comfort to help you through? Do you have anything troubling you right now as you read this? If so, the God of all comfort is there with you… pretty amazing if you think about it.

 

Read more: https://lifeprojectblog.com/2022/05/02/strength-to-comfort-2/

How Not To Be A Discouragement To Others

Pastor Kelly M. Williams

 

Sometimes I get discouraged. How about you?

When I get discouraged, sometimes, I become a discouragement to others around me.

It is one thing to be discouraged. It is an entirely different thing to be a discouragement to others. But I find that my discouragement often times spills over into the lives of others and my discouragement becomes their discouragement. I lose sight of what matters, and I become a detriment to what God is doing in the lives of others. My circumstances cause me to want to project my discouragement on to other’s lives.

The Apostle Paul got discouraged from time to time. That gives me hope to know someone as spiritual as the Apostle Paul was discouraged from time to time. It is human to get discouraged. It is normal and expected. He told the Philippians in 2:19 that the best way to deal with discouragement is to hope in the Lord Jesus.

All of our aspirations come down to God’s sovereign grace over our lives. We hope in Jesus and thus we are encouraged because He cares about the details of our lives, all of them. He wants to hear about them. He wants you to share them with him. He wants you to acknowledge to others and remind them that your hope is in Christ and thus theirs should be too.

It doesn’t matter how small a detail you are dealing with. He wants you to hope in Him and encourage others to do the same.

The Philippians were very discouraged. Paul couldn’t come and see them because He himself was in prison. However, he writes this letter to remind them of his hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to them so they and He can be encouraged by mutual relationships and news they share with one another.

Don’t give up on relationships.

They may be your greatest source of discouragement from time to time, but they will also be the greatest source of encouragement for you.

Paul reminds the Philippians in 2:20 that he is sending Timothy who has relationship with them and there is no one like him who genuinely cares about their welfare. It is good to be reminded that others care, and we are not in this alone.

Recently I got a text message from someone in our church, it said, “I understand that you receive a FedEx load of prayer requests. A gentleman that I know was recently killed. He was not a believer and actually identified himself as a Satanist. His young son has been having a very hard time with his death. Would you be willing to join my prayers for him?”

I responded back and said I would be honored to pray for him to find hope and encouragement in Jesus. The world needs Jesus! We need to stay focused on being faithful prayer warriors and faithful servants for Christ.

When I get discouraged or burdened by the sorrow of this world, I think about the people of my life who are faithful servants of Christ and I think about the sacrifices they are making for him. I ask the Lord to remove my focus from those who have made it fully about them and are absorbed in their selfishness.

Who in your life do you think of when you need to remember to be a faithful servant of Christ?

Who in your life gives you encouragement when you think of them? Let them know, but also, keep thinking about them.

While Paul was being an encouragement to the Philippians, he didn’t know how his trial in Rome was going to go. He was uncertain and that uncertainty produced an anxiety in him like it would in you and me. He says in Philippians 2:24, “I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also,”

He is uncertain, but He is trusting in the Lord.

What in your life are you uncertain about that is causing you anxiety right now?

The Book of Acts doesn’t record Paul’s release from his Roman imprisonment, nor does it record his execution at the end of it. But evidence furnished by the pastoral epistles supports the hypothesis of a release during which Paul did additional traveling in Crete, Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Achaia. There is good reason, therefore, to believe that Paul’s hope was realized.

You don’t have to solve all the tension of other people’s lives by trying to convince them you don’t have any in yours. Nor do you need to wallow in it, in order for people to be able to relate to you.

In order for people to be encouraged by you, people need to know you understand real life, yet you trust in the Lord for your future despite the uncertainties.

Who in your life shows care to you and seeks to encourage you in the Lord? Paul reminded the Philippians in 2:26 that Epaphroditus was that kind of friend to them. He had a love and a care for the Philippians that gave them renewed peace and encouragement. Are you that kind of person in other’s lives?

We all need people like this in our lives and we all need to be people like this in other people’s lives.

Whether it is a godly dad or mom, or pastor, or Sunday school teacher, or youth worker, friend, accountability partner, ministry director, mentor, care giver, or so forth and so on. Sometimes it is easy to fixate on what people have done wrong and feel sorry for ourselves and lose sight of what others have done for us because of what other have done to us.

When I come across people who have lost sight of what others have done for them, I remind them. I want to encourage them to honor those who have served them faithfully. It will bring huge encouragement into a person’s life when they turn and honor, bless, and remember the sacrificial things others have done for them.

It is easy to bog down in what people aren’t or haven’t done for you, but what about focusing on what others have done for you. It will bring a spirit of hope and encouragement back to your life and then you in turn can give that same hope and encouragement to others.

When each of us do this, it changes the world one relationship at a time from a world of unrest and discouragement to a world of peace and encouragement. We all have a part to play in this through the relationships of our lives.

 

It is so very important to be encouraged in life and to be an encouragement in life to others. As I near the age of fifty, I realize more each day how much I need encouragement and how much I need to be a reminder of encouragement to others. It is easy to lose hope. It is easy to give up. It is easy to see what isn’t. It takes courage to see what it is and can be. And when we declare these reminders to others, it not only gives others a chance to be encouraged but reminds us to be encouraged as well.

May the peace of Christ rule in your heart today as you seek to be an encouragement to others that brings peace to the storms of their lives.

Blessings,

Pastor Kelly

Refreshing Christians

Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus.

Do you know who they are? In what book of the Bible are they mentioned?  Old or New Testament?  You won’t find them in Hebrews 11–The Spiritual “Hall of Fame.”

More than likely they are reserved for the answer to a Bible Trivia game.  They are filed under Miscellaneous.  Unidentified. Or unknown.

Give up?  

They were three members of the Corinthian church that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 16:15-19.  So who were they?  And what did they do?  Well, Paul knew and so did the Corinthian church.

I urge you, brethren — you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints —  that you also submit to such, and to everyone who works and labors with us.  

I am glad about the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for what was lacking on your part they supplied. For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men. 

These three men, unheard of, unheralded and unknown, find their place in sacred scripture, not because of some great deed.  World shaking exploit. Or miraculous work.  These men are honored because of their devotion. Their ministry.  Their encouragement.

Paul pays them a great compliment.  He calls them “refreshing Christians.”  To refresh means to provide rest. To renew strength. To rejuvenate.   How?  We don’t exactly know.  It is believed that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus during his third missionary journey.    So these three men came to Ephesus and supplied something for Paul that was lacking.  Something he needed.  Something that lifted and encouraged him.

Today we need more folks like Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus.

Continue at: https://thepreachersword.com/2013/06/06/refreshing-christians/

Encouraging Others

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

We must encourage one another. Encouragement is very important. There are many persons in the families of our church and community who have known very little encouragement in their lives. They have been raised in families where discouragement was the focus – with very little – if any – encouragement. Families where more fuss was made over a grade of B in one class rather than the grades of A in all of the other classes. Families where the small mistake was made to be larger than the overall good job done. Encouragement is so important to the development of a child and also for the rest of us too.

Discouragement in the church is also a tool that the devil uses. Someone does a tremendous job with a program and the first thing someone says is something that didn’t go right. Worship was awesome and a person points out the one thing that didn’t go well – first. I’ve been part of very dynamic worship and the first thing some negative people will say is – We went too long or I didn’t like the music choices.

It isn’t that we shouldn’t try to improve one another – we’re actually called to do that in Scripture. What I’m questioning is the attitude and timing of things. Read Revelation where Christ instructs John to write to the seven churches. In those passages Christ always affirms where He can affirm – encourages – before He gives corrective instruction.

In today’s section of Scripture – Paul is trying to give good advice to the church – some departing words of encouragement. It is worth reading again my friends – and we should take these words to heart. Here is today’s passage in partial context.

1 Thessalonians 5:4-24 – ⁴ But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. ⁵ You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶ So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. ¹² Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. ¹⁶ Be joyful always; ¹⁷ pray continually; ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; ²⁰ do not treat prophecies with contempt. ²¹ Test everything. Hold on to the good. ²² Avoid every kind of evil. ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

We are to have a positive – forward looking faith – building one another up in the faith rather than tearing one another down. We are to have the same attitude that Christ had – and I can’t imagine Christ being discouraging to a believer – someone striving to follow His teachings.

Philippians 2:5 – Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who do you know that needs encouragement today? How about giving them some! Tell them you love them. Give them a heart or thumbs up on social media. Try to help others have a good day! Be an encourager today and every day and see how God is blessed.

Trinity is in a season when our members need to be encouraged. We all have much to change and repent of – but – we also do so much well and we need to spend some time building one another up. Join me as we enter a season of encouragement.

Just something for us to think about today as we go on our way.

Comment at: https://raymcdonald.wordpress.com/2021/07/13/encouraging-others/

Pure Encouragement

by Don Merritt

 

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Philippians 2:12-13

“Fear and trembling”?

Thank you for asking!

Over the centuries, there have been some preachers and some commentators who have a field day with these verses. What they often do is to quote them something like this: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, lest…”

Do you see a problem? When you read the verses and compare them with the “quote” is something missing? Was something added? By the way, don’t forget you must deal with the “therefore” that is the first word in verse 12.  What does it refer to?  It refers to 2:1-11; are these verses about going to hell?  No way! They are about humility, godliness and the example of Christ which results in salvation… but don’t forget that section also begins with “therefore” so we need to go all the way back to chapter 1, where Paul set the context, which is rejoicing in suffering because God’s purpose is being advanced. Dear reader, these verses are not a threat that God is waiting for an excuse to smite somebody and ship them off to hell, they are about His purpose.  As you will see shortly, this view is confirmed in the verses that follow, so fear not.

Let’s start over: verse 12…

Finish at: https://lifereference.wordpress.com/2021/05/26/pure-encouragement/

Trust God in Troubling Times

Psalm 46 God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.

⁴ There is a river whose waters make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High lives. ⁵ God is in the center of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when the morning comes. ⁶ The people made noise. The nations fell. He raised His voice and the earth melted. ⁷ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

⁸ Come and see the works of the Lord. He has destroyed parts of the earth. ⁹ He stops wars to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the war-wagons with fire. ¹⁰ Be quiet and know that I am God. I will be honored among the nations. I will be honored in the earth. ¹¹ The Lord of All is with us. The God of Jacob is our strong place.

If you listen to the news, no doubt you’ve heard scary stories of political upheaval, global threats, and natural or man-made catastrophes. Although people around you may be fearful and stressed, there is no reason a child of God should feel this way. For Christians, the Lord is a refuge and very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

While today’s passage describes a variety of disasters, the writer’s intention was certainly not to cause fear. Rather, these words are a reminder of our Father’s supremacy over everything that happens, His protection of His people, and the ultimate victory that results in His kingdom’s rule on earth. In light of this, we are told to let go of worry and efforts to protect ourselves—and instead trust Him. Our comfort and security are found not in frantically running around, trying to make sure we are safe, but in knowing God. Whatever trouble we experience, He is sufficient to help us through it.

The key to courageously facing the future is confidence in the Lord. He’s your shelter, strength, and help in trouble. To increase your trust in Him, read through the psalms, looking for words and phrases that affirm His protection, steadfastness, and care.

Comfort One Another

https://thepreachersword.com/2020/09/18/comfort-one-another/

We Must Encourage One Another!

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Read the blog: https://raymcdonald.wordpress.com/2020/08/17/we-must-encourage-one-another/