Encourage!

Today I read a timely little reminder of one of the traits we should embody and share with others.  Nancy Leigh Demoss from the True Woman Movement posted this, "Be a sweet spirited, habitual encourager of God's people."  It struck a chord with me because I'd just received a text from an influencer in my life who was checking in to see how I was doing.  He shared that he was praying for me.  He knows that I have a big ministry opportunity just around the corner and I've been waging the battles that proceed those types of things. Wow.  How stinkin' awesome is that??!!

I got to thinking about the word encourage.  I like that word...a lot.  I want to be that kind of person.   I took it a bit further and decided to find out exactly what the biblical definition is for encourage.  I learned something new today!

According to the Strong's concordance, the word encourage means, "to make strong, to prevail upon, to press, to make firm, to support, to have or take or keep hold of, retain, hold up, sustain". Hmmmm...kind of different than I was defining it.  I usually always think of encourage as making someone feel good or better about things but if you look at the word itself, it sounds like what it means...to put courage in.  When I see the contextual verses where it's used, almost all of them have to do with battle and the need for someone to finish the battle well.

This puts a whole other light on this concept and I am even more determined to be an encourager.  I want to see my brothers and sisters finish the battles in their lives well.  God gave me a chance to put this into practice today.  A friend was feeling hurt by some situations going on in her church.  As she laid out the issue, it was clear to me that she needed to deal with this biblically.  The easy thing would have been to take her side, tell her what she was feeling was okay, and allow her to wallow in those feelings.  That's not encouragement.  That's not making her strong or making her firm. That's certainly not helping her to win a battle and restore unity.  I counseled her with  what God's word says about dealing with other believers and pointed her in that direction. Honestly, it wasn't easy to say some of the things I did because I wasn't sure if she really wanted my counsel or just someone to validate the hurt she was feeling.  Again, that's not truly biblical encouragement.  That's just making someone feel momentarily better, but actually hurts them in the long run. It doesn't help them win the battle, and actually weakens them for the war.

I believe a big part of encouraging is what Nancy pointed out at the beginning of her post...sweet spirited.  Am I delivering those truthful words in a spirit of love?  Do I really have their best interest at heart?  Am I investing in their circumstances by taking them to God's counsel instead of mine?

Consider being a sweet spirited, habitual encourager...we need you!