BE AN ENCOURAGER
BREAD
Stop doing wrong, 17 learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)
28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see. Deuteronomy 3:28 (NIV)
17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, 18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. Psalms 10:17-18 (NIV)
6 He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said. 2 Chronicles 32:6-8 (NIV)
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:12-13 (NIV)
2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. 1 Thessalonians 3:2-3 (NIV)
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. Colossians 4:7-8 (NIV)
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NIV)
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 (NIV)
BUTTER
“In community with other believers, as we humble ourselves and open up to receive from the body of Christ, we will be strengthened to see the full kaleidoscope of His plan and be encouraged in the grace of waiting.” Sylvia Gunter
“Being loving and encouraging catches a person’s soul more than angrily defending ideas. Listening to people without condemning them and seeking to encourage them where they are builds bridges and creates relationships.” Tim Baker
“In order to build effectively, people must be encouraged and equipped.” Donna Evans
“Encouragement is oxygen to the soul”. John Maxwell
“There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don’t care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause.” George M. Adams
“Encouragement costs you nothing to give, but it is priceless to receive.” Anonymous
“On Him then reckon, to Him look, on Him depend: and be assured that if you walk with Him, look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you. An older brother, who has known the Lord for forty-four years, who writes this, says for your encouragement that He has never failed him. In the greatest difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities, He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust in Him, He has always appeared for my help. I delight in speaking well of His Name.” George Mueller
“More people fail for lack of encouragement than for any other reason.” Anonymous
“God wants us to reconnect with the powerful and timeless things He has done in the past, enabling us to build on them rather than always starting over. He not only desires that we be encouraged by remembering His past faithfulness, but also to realize that the promises and anointings released during those seasons are still available today.” Dutch Sheets
“God employs His people to encourage one another. We should delight that God usually works for human beings with other human beings. It forms a bond of friendship, and being mutually dependent on one another, we are fused more completely into one family. Work to help others, and especially strive to encourage them. Talk cheerily to the young and anxious inquirer, lovingly try to remove obstacles out of his way. When you find a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame. Leave the young believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees, but tell him of the strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise, and of the charms of communion with Christ. Aim to comfort the sorrowful, and to animate the hopeless. Speak a word in season to him who is weary, and encourage those who are fearful to go on their way with gladness. God encourages you by His promises; Christ encourages you as He points to the heaven He has won for you, and the Spirit encourages you as He works in you to will and to do of His own will and pleasure. Imitate divine wisdom, and encourage others according to the Word.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Though we now see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, we hold the certainty of the hope of glory in our hearts. And what does that entail? As believers, we are presently objects of Divine approval and blessedness because of the blood of Jesus and His righteousness and we presently possess this glory in spirit by the Holy Spirit. One day – either upon Jesus’ return or our death – we will be transformed outwardly as well into this glorified beautiful condition. It is a state into which one is accorded the fullest enjoyment of the admiration of God as objects of His highest regard and praise and further the enjoyment of fullness, satisfaction, joy, righteousness and ceaseless delight. It encompasses outward splendor, grandeur, pomp, elegance, magnificence, beauty, excellence of appearance, impressiveness, brilliance, illustriousness and eminence (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids). Therefore, encourage one another with these words!” BHY
HEART SAVOR
• If God stoops down to encourage me, how much more should I seek to encourage others.
• Encouragement strengthens while a critical spirit tears down. It is easy to be critical yet it is loving to be encouraging. Our encouragement makes great ripples in a life while our discouraging words paralyzing and stills a soul.
• God desires for His people to be encouragers.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 