Encourage

1 Thessalonians 5: 11    GW

Therefore, encourage each other and strengthen one another as you are doing.

I received an email last week from a dear soul who receives the Word of the Day and it reminded me of this verse. There are others like this one, teaching us to be encouragers to one another. I have written on this call to encourage before, but it struck me a little differently last week. I thought about how much the notes you send bless me and how they keep me going when the task of writing a daily devotional gets wearisome. So, I want to thank you for your part in keeping the Word of the Day going and encourage you to be an encourager to the leaders in your life.

We have written 3119 Words of the Day. That’s a lot of devotion. I say “we” because I definitely could not do this on my own. Your encouragement is like fuel in the gas tank. I certainly would not keep this up, but for you. Of course, our Father is helping us both. He nudges you to write a note and He nudges me with an idea for the Word of the Day. It really is a team effort. As I enjoyed the refreshing I received through that email I wondered how many other pastors need a booster shot. That led me to thinking about other leaders and their need for support. I coined a phrase years ago, “Leadership comes from below.” It has multi-level meaning but one of the nuances is that those who rank below the leader need to show their own leadership by encouraging and supporting the leader. The old saying, “It’s lonely at the top,” is true but shouldn’t be.

Each one of us has the opportunity to encourage someone daily. I want to motivate you to be purposeful about encouraging others. After a period of intentionally encouraging others, it will become part of our nature to do so. While we are being intentional about encouraging folks, let’s remember our leaders. This may be your pastor, your boss or even the leader of a civic organization. You know what, it could even be a parent or spouse.

We all need encouragement. Like I said, it is like fuel. When the gas tank is empty, it is hard to keep going. I encourage you, in the name of Jesus, to find someone you can give a boost to. They will appreciate it and so will your Dad.