Encouragement

Encouragement is an amazing thing isn’t it? It’s like the wind in your sails or the bounce in your step. Without it you’d still be sailing or walking but it would be missing the key component that we all need; it would be missing life. I know that the defining moments of my life have happened due to someone encouraging me at just the right time in just the right way. For example, when I first learned to do a handspring I did it because my oldest brother nonchalantly said I could if I practiced hard enough. What he didn’t recognize was that up until that moment I didn’t actually believe I could. Once I realized that someone believed in me I practiced the rest of the day until I succeeded and that birthed a deep love for gymnastics that carried on for years.

The same thing happened on a deeper level when I came to know the Lord. My sister had been encouraging me for years to get to know the Lord and I ignored her for the most part because I didn’t believe that I had what it took to be a Christian. My view was skewed and I thought that I had to live a Christian life in my own strength instead of realizing that you don’t clean a fish before you catch it and that the Holy Spirit would take care of my heart once I gave it to the Lord. I came to a point where my self-esteem couldn’t get much lower and I did things that I still cringe thinking about today, and instead of blasting me with the speech I so richly deserved, my sister encouraged me. The Lord spoke right through her and told me that He loved me, He wasn’t ashamed or angry with me, and that if I would just talk to Him and pour it out to Him that He would fix my battered, broken heart; and He did.

Encouragement is so desperately needed today, yet with all of our insecurities and inadequacies we withhold it worrying that by encouraging someone else it might elevate them to a higher level and free them of their burdens while leaving us alone to face ours. If it sounds like I’m speaking from experience it’s because I am.

My entire life has been spent keeping my feelings to myself and spending inordinate amounts of time worrying about other people’s opinions. I kept everyone at an arm’s length and rarely encouraged others for fear that it may seem weak on my part. How sad, how tragic, how demonic. Who would benefit from convincing me that by encouraging others I would somehow look weak and less than the other person? The father of lies has his pathetic minions running around ruining our lives and creating division among God’s people. When someone encourages me I instantly adore that person and want to encourage them right back! When someone speaks life over me my entire being is uplifted and I can’t help but smile wider and want to bless others too. Yet I have lived under this ridiculous lie that others would have power over me if I told them what I really thought. I have been in competition with every single person I’ve ever seen and for what? It did nothing to lift my spirit or deepen my walk with the Lord. All it did was withhold the blessing that the Lord had for that person. Who knew what that person was going through? Who knew how badly they needed a word of encouragement even if it was as small as “Wow you have a beautiful smile”. The Lord knew, that’s who. And by closing my mouth out of fear of what they might think or say I closed the door on the Lord’s blessing for that person. Wow...

Once I found out that a sick and vile spirit of fear had been plaguing me for literally my entire life and I was taught how to cast it out (as well as the spirit of doubt, discouragement, perversion, distraction, mind control, frustration, etc – sadly the list really does go on and on) I was a new creation. I came home from that business seminar a completely changed person and for the first time in my life I longed to encourage others. I started right in that seminar and let me tell you, it felt incredible! To see a person’s spirit literally light up because of something I said and to know that they are going to have a much better day has released something inside of me that longs to see people set free in the same way. We really do reap what we sow and personally I’d rather reap a harvest of blessing and encouragement than fear and ungodly competition. I was a slave to these spirits for far too long and it was needless because the battle’s already been won. I guess I just needed to realize that for myself and as usual I didn’t come to that conclusion on my own. The Lord is always faithful to His children and as they seek Him and seek to grow in Him He honors that and deepens their relationship with Him. I want to continually grow in Him and have Him speak through me as often as humanly possible and thankfully He blessed me with the knowledge of my sin and gave me a passion to do the opposite and speak life over people’s lives instead of withholding it. I know that this is just one fight with the enemy and I’m not naïve enough to think that my struggles with him are over but this is one fight he’s not going to win and as I gain ground the Lord will expand my territory because He promised He would and my Jesus is faithful to His word.