1 Thessalonians 5:11 - BE AN ENCOURAGER.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) Therefore
encourage one another and build each other up, just as
in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT) So encourage each
other and build each other up, just as you are
already doing.
INTRODUCTION
I doubt many people would argue about the
power of the spoken word.
We don't need a master's in psychology to
know that our hearts leap at the sound of
affirming words. It's just how God wired us. Any
co-worker with a new hairdo will agree. Any toddler
who is potty training or husband who just closed
the big deal will nod emphatically as
well. We possess a tremendous ability to very
simply "make someone's day" with heartfelt praise
or to even alter the course of a life with the
power of our words.
Oprah, Bill Gates, and Tiger Woods have
all, at one point, attributed their early success
to the empowering encouragement of someone
else. Perhaps it was just a small phrase or
statement, but one that was instrumental in building up
or perhaps even just holding up hope and belief
for a brief second. That can be all the time it
takes to get someone to look at the mirror
differently.
Conversely, it doesn't take that same
graduate degree to know that the power of words can
be unleashed as perhaps the most primitive of
weapons. Most of us would agree that whoever penned
that little ditty about "sticks and stones may
break my bones, but words will never hurt me" was
obviously never a fifth grader. Words can not only
hurt, but they can leave shrapnel in the soul long
after the explosion hits and the smoke clears.
Next time you need a reminder about the power of
the negative word, dust off the book of James.
It's been said that the tongue is the strongest
muscle in the body. I think the spirit would
agree.
So... having taken a moment to consider
the power and impact of both our life-giving,
affirming words as well as the life-robbing,
destructive power of the tongue... here's one more
thought to chew on, (pardon the pun). What about the
power of words never spoken? For me, I can look
back on my life and count too many times when I'd
wished I'd listened to my gut (and the Holy Spirit)
and just had the courage to open my mouth and
let my heart spill out, regardless of the
awkward moment. You've heard the rather overused
challenge to live each day as it if were your last...
but there is real wisdom there. Why wait to say
"I love you?" Why wait one more day to forgive?
Or to ask for forgiveness? There is a reason
that Paul, in Ephesians 4, encourages us not to
let the sun go down on our anger. Perhaps
because he knew, as a hunted and persecuted man,
that a sunrise the next morning was not something
to be assumed. He understood, better than
anyone, the importance of keeping his accounts
short.
Say it now. Go there. The tongue might be
powerful, but so are clenched teeth and a firmly set
jaw. And silence can speak volumes we never meant
to say. Matthew 12:34 reminds us that what is
in our hearts, will come spilling out of our
mouths. If your heart is full today, or even broken,
consider springing a leak and letting someone know.
The relief and healing that may follow will make
you a believer in the power of words, all over
again. By Nichole Nordeman Dove Award-Winning
Singer/Songwriter
COMMENTARY
One of the most spiritual things you can
do is encourage someone. We are told to
encourage one another every day so that sin's
deceitfulness doesn't harden our hearts. While it's always
meaningful to encourage someone after they've done a
good job, scored a goal, or gotten a really cool
new haircut, it's even more important to
encourage someone spiritually.
Imagine how God might use you to
encourage someone to press on when they feel like
giving up. Or how God might help someone's marriage
as you tell them how you've overcome the same
problem in yours. Think about how much of a
difference you could make to someone who is down by
telling them who they are in Christ.
Sometimes you can literally be a voice of
hope. You can be the difference between someone
quitting or staying in the game. Between someone
giving in or continuing the fight. From someone
continuing to hate or choosing to forgive. Between
someone losing it or finding real peace,
contentment, and joy.
Be watchful. Be prayerful. Be ready. You
may walk by someone at work who seems fine, but
is in real pain. You may talk to someone by
text that puts up a good front, but really needs
someone to listen. You might encounter a total
stranger, and one word of encouragement might make a
big difference.
You have no idea what God might do in
someone else's life through one simple act of
encouragement. Be available to him today.
Use me today, God, to bless those around
me. Direct me to the one person who needs
encouragement the most. [Daily Power by Craig Groeschel]
We may look strong and stable as
believers. But any thinking Christian knows he or she
can't survive apart from relationships with other
believers. When bitter winds of adversity blow; we need
each other's support. When our minds are gripped
by perplexity and we don't know which way to
turn, we need the counsel, the perspective, and
the listening ear of a friend.
God engineered us so we require the
intertwining of genuine give-and-take fellowship. Even
Jesus needed this. On the last night of His life,
when the storms of satanic opposition began
howling around Him, He asked for help: "Stay here
and watch with Me" (Mat. 26:38). If Jesus
sought support from his disciples in the midst of
His trials, how much more do we need our
brothers and sisters? Today's Scripture reads,
"Encourage one another and build each other up." You
need Jesus today. You also need His people. And
they need you.
Father, keep me from living so
independently, so separately from others. Show me how I
might encourage, affirm, or build up the people I
come into contact with today. I need discernment
from Your Holy Spirit to know when to speak and
what to say, and to know when to be silent and
simply be there. [A Spectacle of Glory by Joni
Eareckson Tada and Larry Libby]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Several years ago my family and I were
invited to spend Thanksgiving weekend at a
picturesque ski resort in Colorado with about five
hundred single young adults, most of whom were staff
personnel with Campus Crusade. I spoke all week on the
subject of servanthood, emphasizing the importance
of believers being those who help, encourage,
affirm, and care for others.
By Friday of that week I decided to take
a break and hit the slopes (emphasis on hit,
since it was the first time I had ever attempted
to ski). It had snowed all day Thanksgiving, so
the ski areas were absolutely beautiful and in
perfect condition. I struck out on my virgin voyage
with a positive mental attitude, thinking, "I'm
going to be the first person who learns to ski
without falling down. Guinness Book of World Records
will hear of this and write me up!"
Don't bother to check. I'm not in the
book. Working with me that humiliating day was the
world's most encouraging ski instructor (yes, I had
an instructor!) who set the new world record in
patience. She is the one Guinness needs to interview.
Never once did she lose her cool. Never once did
she laugh at me. Never once did she yell,
scream, threaten, or swear. Never once did she call
me "dummy." Never once did she say, "You are
absolutely impossible. I quit!"
That dear, gracious lady helped me up
more times than I can number. She repeated the
same basics time and again"as though she had
never said them before. Even though I was colder
than an explorer in the Antarctic, irritable,
impatient, and under the snow more than I was on it,
she kept offering words of reassurance.
That day God gave me a living,
never-to-be-forgotten illustration of the value of encouragement.
Had it not been for her spirit and her words,
believe me, I would have been back in the condo,
warming my feet by the fire, in less than an hour.
What is true for a novice on the snow
once a year is all the more true for the people
we meet every day. Harassed by demands and
deadlines; bruised by worry, adversity, and failure;
broken by disillusionment; and defeated by sin,
they live somewhere between dull discouragement
and sheer panic.
All of us, even Christians, need
encouragement. All of us need somebody to believe in us. To
reassure and reinforce us. To help us pick up the
pieces and go on. To provide us with increased
determination in spite of the odds.
We all need encouragement and we all
need to be encouragers.
The beautiful thing about encouragement
is that anybody can do it.
We all need encouragement and to be
encouragers. Were all qualified to do it. [Chuck
Swindoll www.insight.org.]
When Johnny Cash was young, he had a high
tenor voice. Across the street from his hometown
high school lived La Vonda Mae Fielder, a music
teacher who offered private singing lessons at $3 a
pop. Johnnys mother took in laundry to earn
money for her sons first - and, it turned out,
also his last - lesson.
His sister accompanied Johnny and his
mother to Fielders home that day, and vividly
remembers what went down in her living room.
Ms. Fielder said, Well, let me hear
what you can do. So, he sang a song - I
dont remember what it was - and she said, You
can stop now. He hung his head and said,
You mean Im no good? She said, On the
contrary - you have a gift from God that I wouldnt
dare touch! Youre a song stylist. Always do it
your way. And that encouraged him greatly
because he knew he had that calling.
Those words, in contrast to so many
withering ones from his father, impacted Johnny
dramatically.
By the time Johnny turned sixteen, his
voice had become a deep baritone. Johnnys
singing, while cutting firewood one day, brought
tears to his mothers face because it reminded
her so much of her daddys voice.
She looked him square in the eye and
added portentously: God has His hand on you,
son. Dont ever forget the gift. For the
first time since his brothers death, Johnny
Cash felt suffused with Gods grace and imbued
with hope that his life had a purpose after all.
[Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS TOPIC
Romans 14:19 (KJV) Let us therefore follow
after the things which make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another.
Ephesians 4:12 (KJV) For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ:
Ephesians 4:29 (KJV) Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is
good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers.
1 Thessalonians 4:18 (NIV) Therefore
encourage each other with these words.
Hebrews 3:13 (NIV) But encourage one another
daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none
of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV) Let us not give up
meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another--and all the
more as you see the Day approaching.
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
Importance of Choice:
http://creationhealth.com/CREATION-Health/Choice [click on video]
Medical Seminar on Healthful Living by David
DeRose, MD, MPH:
https://www.smartlifestyletv.com/lifestart
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
The Last Day of Prophecy by Pastor Doug
Batchelor:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmGvdtMCf1aJTiC59-lPtuUMEq_uEn0BK
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
