Encourage
Habit 11 of the of the Guidebook is Encourage, and it’s probably one you need to hear this week! ( Catch our peek into Habit 10 here )
Have you ever had a day in your life where you felt too encouraged, where you received so much encouragement you had to tell people to stop encouraging you? Nope. Most people encounter a daily dose of bad news, difficulty, critique, negativity, and discouragement instead of encouragement. One of the most powerful and overlooked commands in Scripture is to “encourage one another.” When you encounter an encourager, or a group of people creating a culture of encouragement, great things can happen: wounds can be healed, courage can be stoked, identities can be strengthened, spiritual attack can lessen, new risks for the Kingdom can be taken, breakthroughs can occur, and God can be glorified.
At the time of writing, we are in month 19 of the Covid Pandemic, and while things are largely ‘normalized’, they still aren’t normal, and it’s easy to feel pretty dreary. We’re also going through the Gospel of John; Jesus is giving some of His final instructions and encouragement to His disciples before He departs for the cross, and ultimately to be with the Father. He names them, speaks life to them, and challenges them to live boldly.
From 2 Chronicles 32: What impact did Hezekiah’s encouraging words have on the people of Judah? How would you define encouragement from this text? Check out Fred Mok’s take in his sermon, listed below.
“The average human tongue is only 10 centimeters long, yet what damage can be done with the tongue!...Our words have within them the power to bring absolute death and darkness to others. But our words also have the power to bring life and light. The tongue is powerful. How will we use it?”
- Mark Hallock
Sometimes it’s most powerful to encourage privately, sometimes it’s best to encourage and honor publicly. Use both methods. Most encouragement comes through words (spoken or written), but sometimes the best way you can encourage someone is through deed: through an act of service, through simply showing up and being present, through listening. Use both methods, word and deed, to encourage.
Another specific strategy is to name one another. Naming is powerful. Throughout Scripture we see new names given to people as a significant marker in their journey. Names still function powerfully in our culture—we assign new names or nick-names to people as a way to more clearly capture who they are, what they do, and what they mean to us. You may have recieved a nickname you didn’t like as a child, but imagine the power a life-giving name could have on your spirit! Practice this, practice tangible encouragement; would we become a church known for private and public celebration and encouragement of one another.
Take a look at this sermon by our former pastor Fred Mok from 2020 on Habit 11:
Here is the full Habit 11 in the Guidebook to flip through, too:
We also want you to have access to the whole Guidebook if you don’t already, so below is a link to download it. We have a physical Guidebook for you too, so you can scribble down your thoughts and prayers and dive into the resource in a Lifegroup! Join us on Sunday to pick up a copy!