There are many believers that are struggling with fear, doubt and anxiety, there are many that struggle with their circumstances and situations, some struggle with low self-esteem and they need an encouraging word or someone who will just listen and comfort them. When is the last time you visited a believer in the hospital, nursing home or in a jail cell? Sometimes it seems like we get so busy with our own lives that we don’t seem to have time for anyone else.
There are also non-believers that need our help and prayers. Just something as simple as a smile, a phone call or a card can make a big difference in someone’s life. There are so many ways we can be a help or an encouragement in someone’s life. This is part of the second commandment Jesus spoke about, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
This reminds me of a man called Barnabas in the New Testament, from what I understand his real name was Joseph but because he was such an encourager he earned the nickname son of encouragement, or Barnabas, from the Jerusalem Christians. It is so important to have Christian encouragers in the church. Every believer will need encouragement sometime in their lives. Barnabas is the one who brought Paul to the apostles in Jerusalem because they were afraid of him knowing that he was the one who persecuted the church. Barnabas testified for Paul and was true to his name by encouraging the apostles to trust Paul.
There is another way we can encourage people and it is by our witness and our testimony. To non-Christians our witness may mean the difference between life and death. The Bible says, “That faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” What an encouragement it would be if the person you were witnessing to received your witness by faith and committed their life to the Lord by repenting and confessing their sins to the Lord and finding forgiveness and reconciliation, it would make a world of difference in the person’s life.
Plus if you live your life being a consistent testimony, that should be an encouragement to all the believers. Sometimes telling a person about what the Lord has done in your life will be very encouraging although some people may get jealous. Let me share something from the Old Testament that was very encouraging to a man named Jethro, Moses’ father in law. It is in Exodus 18:5–12, “Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. He sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.’ Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the LORD had delivered them. Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. So Jethro said, ‘Blessed be the LORD who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.’ Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.” Jethro was very excited about the news Moses told him about.
So you go and do likewise, encourage someone with what the Lord has done in your life. If you have a hard time encouraging people ask the Lord to help you. We all can learn to be encouragers and it is very much needed in and out of the church. God bless and have a great day.
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