To encourage means: “to inspire with courage, spirit or hope”. To do this right, a speaker produces powerful words. Words are not powerful merely because they produce an emotional reaction, the power lies within the intention of the speaker’s heart. Why is this crucial to understand? The answer is simple. God tells us through the Proverbs of Solomon that our words are powerful (Pro. 18:21) and a wise person considers their speech (Pro. 17:27a; 10:19). Jesus himself was recorded to say that our mouths speak what our hearts are full of (Luke 6:45). So, if our Lord and Creator is saying the intention of our words matters because our words have power, then we should be able to find an example of it being lived out in Scripture (the Bible), right? That’s exactly right!
One of the many examples of effective encouragement comes from the book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles is a letter that chronicles the lives of leaders within the Church of Jesus Christ as they went about proclaiming the Gospel (the “good news” of their Lord’s life, death and resurrection) while living under immense persecution for this message.
Acts 14:21-22 says: “And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made a good number of disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘It is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God.’”
These words were spoken by the Apostle Paul immediately after he was stoned and left for dead by a group of unbelieving Jews who rejected his message. He survived their brutal assault and kept going in order to encourage fellow followers of Jesus Christ to stand strong in their faith. I mean, come on….wow!
Clearly words have power. We must all be wise and carefully heed God’s command to guard our tongues. The Apostle Paul understood the importance of his speech. Look where we are now because of God’s greater purpose in Paul’s obedience. The power and purpose of God working through Paul’s ministry and his encouraging speech all those years ago has resulted in you reading this blog and listening to me right now. Think about that! The written record of the encouragement of a man called by God to a group of persecuted people has been preserved since 61-64 A.D. It’s been 1,959 years since it was first recorded. If that doesn’t scream to you the power and importance of words, especially encouraging words, then I don’t know what will.
The same power lies behind our words. The command and commission of God is upon our shoulders. Our act of encouraging someone could literally be the difference between them giving up, going the extra mile and even growing in their faith. In the case of the Apostles of the early Church, their encouragement to the people of God meant that God’s people continued on and kept the faith even when they themselves and their loved ones were being beaten, humiliated or even worse, being used as human candles to light the street at night as a mockery and warning to others. Their encouragement is still having its effect today, so let’s rejoice and be thankful for it. Let’s also imitate that example and be intentional encouragers in our own right. Someone out there needs your encouragement. So, will you answer the call?
