Let’s Encourage Each Other

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So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NLT).

A difficult time in the ministry, people leaving, many upset, accusations against me, and then I received this handwritten note from an encouraging sister…

Pastor Grant, you have a larger heart than many. Thank you for your endurance in ministry.

Just a few words, and I felt better. The Greek word for “encouragement” is “parakaleo” from the same family of words as the word the Gospel of John uses (paraclete) to describe the Holy Spirit.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper [paraclete], to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17a, ESV).

Sometimes with just a few words, the ministry of encouragement brings supernatural joy. Often — too often — when I get too focused on the particulars of negative events, my wife says, “You know, Grant, in all of our years together in ministry, it always gets better, God always proves He’s faithful, and it will be the same this time.”

God bless Barbara not only for her encouragement but also for not getting dragged into my frustration by keeping the larger picture of God’s goodness in her perspective. I believe my wife represents the following verse, as she believes in Jesus’s soon return, so why get troubled today?

But encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25b, ESV).

The word “encouragement” is used 109 times in the New Testament (prayer is mentioned 86 times), and as we all pray, we should encourage one another.

But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13, NASB).

In Acts 11, upon hearing of a great revival in Antioch, the Apostles asked Barnabas to visit this young church. And what did Barnabas do upon entering the city?

When he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord (Acts 11:23).

Who else to send but Barnabas, known as the “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36)? When the believers faltered in the early church, Barnabas had the supernatural ability to see that God works for the good in all things and spoke encouragement. In Acts 9, during Paul’s first trip to Jerusalem after his conversion, when the believers shied away from him (remember, Paul had just left Jerusalem to persecute the church in Damascus), who greeted Paul and brought him to the Apostles?

Yes, Barnabas the Son of Encouragement.

How can we encourage one another? First, see God’s supernatural workings in all trials. Second, look for opportunities to encourage one another. And third, ask God to give you the right words.

Years ago, a pastor I knew was called to another country to start a church. Sitting in a train station waiting for a connection to that city, straddled with self-doubt and just a few dollars in his pocket, someone sat down next to him and said, “You will be okay, God will work through you.”  

Then this person/man/angel disappeared. God so enjoys the ministry of encouragement that He gets His angels involved. Let’s join with the Spirit and the angels in the ministry of encouragement to one another.