We are all in need of someone to bring us encouragement. We have so many areas of our life in which we can feel down and out and need someone to lift us up. You are most blessed if you have someone in your life who is an encourager to you. Be thankful for all that they do for you.
A life well lived encourages others to do the same. “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours” (Romans 1:12 NLT).
To be an encourager, you must have a selfless spirit and a heart of compassion for others. You will see past the façade most people live behind and see deep into their souls where they are hurting. You will ask deeper questions and spend time with others to know how you can encourage them.
If you want to make a difference, then be different. Do good to others. If not you, then who? Be giving. Give willingly. Give generously. Give smiles. Give hugs. Give encouragement. Give compliments. Give laughter. Give comfort. Give attention. Give respect. Give admiration. Give selflessly. Give abundantly. Give sacrificially. Give yourself. The Lord Jesus said, “…Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8 NKJV). If others have to earn it for you to give it, then it is not a gift but a commodity. Let giving be your gift.
The encourager is someone who does not stand in judgment of the failures in others but who kneels down next to them and helps them get back up onto their feet. You won’t dwell on the sin of the sinner but the grace of Christ who is calling them. You will believe in all that Christ can do in them.
Stop criticizing people for what they are not, and started encouraging people for what they could be. Don’t put down, but lift up. People are hungry for someone to simply believe in them. To believe that they could overcome. So do it. Be the blessing. Be the encourager. Be uplifting. Be to others what you pray others would be to you. Seek to “…comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14 NKJV).
To be an encourager, you don’t need an education in knowledge but a lesson in pain. You would have been someone who knows what it is like to be at a low spot and appreciated those who came to help you. It is the hurt that can help heal the hurting. It is those who had fallen who can help others to get back up.
Tell others what God has done for you to encourage them on what He can do for them. After Jesus freed a man from demons, He told him, “…Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you” (Mark 5:19 NKJV).
An encourager seeks no glory and expects nothing in return. They only want to pour out into others, and yet they will always be full. The encourager does not limit all they can do based on the limitations of people but in knowing that with God, all things are possible.
Can you imagine if others looked past your faults, assumed the best in you, respected you, loved you, encouraged you, and accepted you just as you are? Let your life display how you desire to be treated. Jesus said, “…whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them…” (Matthew 7:12 NKJV). Do good first and freely. It is in the giving where we receive the blessing.
You are not impossible to change because nothing is impossible for God. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 NKJV).
The encourager does not criticize others where they may be wrong but commends them in all that they are doing right. They don’t need to exert themselves over others because their interest is in bowing low enough that they can help others to rise up to what they can be.
Our faith can be so full that it spills over onto those around us. “May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope” (Romans 15:13 AMPC).
Everyone can be an encourager, and nobody is excused from encouraging others. If you want to be blessed, you must be a blessing to others. So long as you refuse to pour out until someone pours in, you’ll be empty and ever wanting and never filled.
Spend more time with people who encourage you to be more and don’t always remind you of who you were. “So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT).
In however you justify your criticisms and your harsh words, you’re wrong. You may justify yourself, but your only condemning yourself by the way you treat others. Bite your tongue and swallow your pride and pray that God would help you. Stop crushing other people and thinking yourself right. You’re wrong.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cut even deeper. “A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, But a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit.” (Proverbs 15:4 AMP).
Make it your goal each day to give someone an encouraging word. Choose to limit your words to what is uplifting. Determine to shut your mouth in conversations and learn how you can encourage those around you. Have a Pastor’s heart in how you treat those around you.
Speak to others such that you wouldn’t regret it if it was the last thing you ever told them. “And never let ugly or hateful words come from your mouth, but instead let your words become beautiful gifts that encourage others; do this by speaking words of grace to help them” (Ephesians 4:29 TPT).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius
Be an encourager! Thank you for the encouragement.
You are welcome and apologies for the late reply!