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THE GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE GREAT ENCOURAGER

By Luke Geraty 1 Comment

Photo Credit: Corpuzzle | Flickr (Creative Commons)

Photo Credit: Corpuzzle | Flickr (Creative Commons)

A couple years ago I was invited to receive some training to become a certified coach for the family of churches I belong to. I was informed that the training would help me coach people who were planting churches, and it would also help me be a much better leader in the local church I was serving. “Sign me up!” I thought.

Before we began the training, we were supposed to read Bob Logan’s Coaching 101. In typical fashion, and in full disclosure, I made sure to semi-read the book on the flight down to the training location in Nashville. As I read the book, however, I found myself constantly thinking that what I was reading was much different than what I envisioned coaching to be. You see, in my experience of playing numerous sports at a competitive level, I assumed coaching simply meant that I could yell at people a lot and tell them what to do and what not to do. Most of my coaches in high school and in college seemed to do those things well, and I knew I could be really good at yelling at people, too.

Yet as I read Logan’s book and spent time going through the coach training, I came to understand that the type of coaching I was being invited into was much different than my expectations. In fact, I was learning that good coaching was really just a lot of good encouragement. Our team of potential coaches were training to help people process their ideas by asking the right questions in order to best encourage people!

The reality is, it took a lot of work for me to become better at encouraging people. I went through training, had numerous discussions, received my own coaching, and practiced coaching others in order to become one. It was very challenging and took a lot of time, but the rewards have been really good.

But guess what? Not everyone has to spend a year being trained on how to be encouraging (though training can always help). There actually seem to be many people who are especially empowered by the Holy Spirit to encourage others. Have you ever come into contact with someone like that? They just seem to really encourage you, support you, and are simply just there for you? Or perhaps you are someone who constantly is encouraging others! What you may or may not realize is that encouragement is a very important focus within Scripture.

There are actually numerous examples of the importance of encouragement in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul’s last words in his second letter to the Corinthians told the church to “Be joyful, grow to maturity” and “encourage each other” (2 Corinthians 13:11 NLT). This emphasis on the importance of encouraging and being encouraged appears to be standard to Paul. He sent a man named Tychicus to encourage the hearts of the Ephesians (Ephesians 6:22), whom he also sent to the Colossians for the same reason (Colossians 4:8). This is the same reason why Paul sent Timothy to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 3:2). Paul commonly challenged the churches he was affiliated with to “encourage each other and build each other up” (1 Thess. 5:11 NLT).

GIFTED TO ENCOURAGE

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans the following concerning this spiritual gift:

“If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.” (Romans 12:8 NLT)

On one hand, there’s not a lot of really deep theoretical reflection behind this verse. On the other hand, it’s deeply practical. If the Holy Spirit helps you to be encouraging… be encouraging! So what is the spiritual gift of encouragement? What does it mean to be encouraging? Is the spiritual gift of encouragement the same thing as the type of encouragement that is listed in all of the previous verses mentioned? What is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and being encouraging?

THE GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE GREAT ENCOURAGER - New Identity Magazine

When Paul writes of the gift of encouragement, he uses the Greek word parakaleō, which can be defined as the act of instilling someone with courage by cheering them on, comforting them, and just being overall encouraging. It’s where someone comes alongside another person and inspires them in a way that gives them peace, courage, and comfort. Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, stated, “The teacher transmits knowledge; the encourager stimulates.” In some way, shape, and fashion, those with the spiritual gift of encouragement are able to stimulate a sense of courage and strength into people. The value of this spiritual gift in the ancient world cannot be appreciated enough, as Leon Morris notes:

“For many people in the early church life was a pretty grim affair; there must have been a continuing need for people who could encourage others, and it is interesting to find that there were people who had a gift for this sort of thing.”

I think many of us in today’s culture would argue that a great need for encouragement exists today and that the Holy Spirit appears to be working through many people to bring this gift into the life of today’s Church.

ENCOURAGED TO LIVE FOR CHRIST & THE KINGDOM

A number of biblical scholars believe that the context of Romans 12:8 indicates that the Apostle Paul was probably thinking the type of encouragement coming from this spiritual gift was toward living out the truth of the gospel. He envisioned people, under the power of the Holy Spirit, sharing encouraging thoughts and words to others in order to stimulate their lives and continue centering on Jesus, his mission (which is our mission), and the overall cause of the kingdom.

When I was a teenager and struggling in my faith, I had a hard time trusting God. While I believed in God and knew that Jesus had died for people’s sins, I had a hard time accepting those truths for myself. God seemed very distant and most of what I heard from Christians seemed to apply to everyone but me. I had a hard time understanding God’s love and desire to have a relationship with me.

THE GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE GREAT ENCOURAGER - New Identity Magazine

Looking back on that season of my life, I can now see that God used a man named Monte to encourage me. Monte was a good friend of my parents and our families tended to spend a lot of time together. Every time I was around Monte, he was encouraging. He had what appeared to be an uncanny ability to always say the things that I needed to hear. Sometimes he would talk to me for thirty minutes and sometimes it was just a few sentences. No matter the length of our conversations, I was always encouraged. His conversations challenged me to keep seeking after God’s presence and kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and to not give up.

PRAYING FOR THE GIFT OF ENCOURAGEMENT

The Apostle Paul writes several times to the Corinthians that they should desire the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:31; 14:1, 39). One of the ways that we can respond and apply this command to desire spiritual gifts is to begin praying for the Holy Spirit to empower us with them! Imagine if every Christian started praying to God and asking for him to bless us with gifts of encouragement for the sake of the world around us. The Church would make an immediate impact on the lives of people.

In my opinion, it makes perfect sense to ask the Holy Spirit for more encouragement because the Holy Spirit himself is referred to by Jesus as the Encourager and Comforter! In John 14:16, Jesus told his disciples that the Father would give them another Encourager (Advocate or Comforter). Therefore, praying to the Great Encourager for the gift of encouragement seems to make good sense.

Perhaps the following prayer would be helpful:

“Holy Spirit, thank you for your presence. Thank you for making the love of God the Father and Jesus’ work on the cross real to me. Thank you for inviting me into your kingdom and allowing me to partner with you in your work. Would you please empower me with gifts of encouragement so that I may stimulate the lives of those around me to live powerfully for the cause of Christ? Would you give me the right words and the right actions to help comfort those around me? Help me to be aware of opportunities to be a blessing. In Jesus name, amen.”

If you prayed those words (or similar words), might I suggest you take a few minutes and think about the following two questions:

• Who around me could use some encouragement?
• How can I be encouraging to them?

You may not think you have the right words to say to encourage people, but you’d be surprised. Often times it’s those little things we say and do that make such a huge impact. In a world where people often feel undervalued and unappreciated, any positive encouragement can go a long way. Especially when our words or actions come from a place intent on sharing God’s heart with people, we can give God all the glory.

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Filed Under: Featured, Foundation, Grow Tagged With: Issue 33

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Comments

  1. Sandra says

    September 18, 2020 at 4:40 am

    Loved reading this, thankyou for publishing it 🙂

    Reply

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📖⁠ And every day he was teaching in the templ 📖⁠
And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.⁠
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Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.⁠
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Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. [Luke 21:37-22:6 ESV]⁠
With our busy get-up-and-go lifestyles, it might s With our busy get-up-and-go lifestyles, it might seem more difficult than ever to find time for God or where we can fully make time for the essential aspects of the Christian life like prayer and Bible reading. Yes, like working out or eating healthy, it comes down to the priority and importance of those things in our lives and whether or not they’re important enough to us. At the end of the day we will make time for the things that are most important to us in our lives. Though God is not a “thing” to be fit into our schedules, I believe it’s more than possible to make a place and priority in our lives for connection with him.⁠
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📖⁠ “Hear another parable. There was a maste 📖⁠
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”⁠
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On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.⁠
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The Bible stresses that despite our differences we The Bible stresses that despite our differences we are called to love each other above our political positions. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14). You may feel like how politics and religion intersect in the public sphere communicate the exact opposite of this, and you’d be right. Media outlets report drama and conflict. Gracious and loving political opponents are not newsworthy.⁠
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