Whether we admit it or not we all need encouragement, we need people to offer us a sense of hope and support at times. So, are we willing to give it? I have been thinking about encouragment ALOT over the last 6-8 weeks. I have been finding that it is so hard to encourage others at times. I don't mean that I can't think of anything to say, in fact the opposite would be true. I think of millions of words and ways to encourage people all the time but sometimes it feels like a real fight to get those things off the tip of my tongue.
I have had a couple of experiences over the past 2 months where I have been encouraged as we have been rehearsing and I was intrigued by how much my whole countenance changed. I suddenly felt part of what was happening and found the confidence to put forward my ideas again. It was soo satisfying to see my natural response to encouragement and it really challenged me to just say whatever is on my heart. Most of the time we never get told how much of an impact something we have said has had on someone else but it's eternal stuff; we get to make divine deposits in people's lives that could change the course they are taking or give them the faith, confidence or hope they need to move ahead.
"Therefore, let us encourage one another daily..." Hebrews 3:13
Encourage the people you work with, encourage your worship team, encourage whoever it is you spend time with in whatever capacity. I had a great opportunity to spend some time chatting with one of my best friends tonight who was willing to put their heart on the line and just say what they felt about who I am and the gifting God has given me regarding worship. I was hugely encouraged and I now feel a fresh wind of energy and excitement about another day along with fresh perspective in dealing with my own struggles.
We can't just assume that people know and are confident in their gifting; everyone needs encouragement.
3 comments:
Thanks Andrew. Some of the people I know seem like they don't really need encouragement because they are confident in the gifting and calling they have been given (it's such a godly trait) but I have seen in thier response that they need it just as much.
Encouragment really is the oxygen of the soul and so we can't afford to starve people of it.
Thanks for being someone who has been willing to give encouragement faithfully for so long.
i find that very few encouragements 'hit the spot'. The often up as token gestures or as putting me on a pedalstall which totally misses the point.
good article
love
dg
Would echo your comments on this one David. Too often as 'Christians' we feel the need to fire off glib praise that is borne out of a need to feel religeously good or something. Too often encouragment is only surface deep and needs instead to come from the heart to the heart as well as from the head to the head (if that makes sense) - Contructive and loving. Loving cos we want to, not cos we feel we have to.
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