Are you feeling blue today?

Are you feeling blue today? Sort of under your circumstances?

 I would said: "The time I most feel the need to be encouraged is the time I most need to focus on how can I be an encourager to others." And I did.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it? When we're most discouraged, that just might be the time God wants us to lift somebody else up.

If it were illegal today to be a discourager to speak discouraging words, how many of us would be breaking the law? Well, it may not be illegal to be a discourager, but I can tell you this, it is a sin to be a discourager. And so it's something that ought to concern all of us.

I remember hearing somebody describe another woman one day as having the spiritual gift of "deflation." She was a critical person. She was a negative person. She had a way with her words, and the person was kind of laughing when they said it. But, you know, there's a little kernel of truth. And I thought to myself over the years how many times could it be said of me that I act as if I have the gift of "deflation," using my words to discourage, to tear down, to wound spirits of those around me.

And, one of the most needed ministries in the church today is the ministry of encouragement.

 To encourage is to give courage, to give hope, to give confidence, to give comfort. And you have known some encouragers, probably as I have. And I think of those encouragers as energy-giving people.

And then I've known some discouragers. Some people who are energy-draining, they're debilitating, they're hard to be around. And as I say that, I'm thinking to myself how many times I've been in that energy-draining group of people.

Whether or not we realize it each of us has within us the ability to set some

kind of example for people. Knowing this would

you rather be the one known for being the one who encouraged others,

or the one who inadvertently discouraged those around you?

-- Josh Hinds --

You know, everyone needs to be encouraged. Even such a great servant of the Lord as the Apostle Paul needed encouragement. And it's amazing as you read through the Book of Acts and the letters of Paul in the New Testament how many references he makes to the value of having other people around him to help him in the ministry, whose friendship he treasured, whose companionship he needed. Paul felt it keenly when he was in prison or in a difficult ministry situation how much he relied on the encouragement of others of God's servants around him.

So Paul says in Philemon 1, to Philemon, he says, "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints" (Philemon 1:7). I don't know about you, but that's the kind of person I want to be.

 Paul says in Philippians, chapter 2, "I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state" (Philippians 2:19). He wanted good news about the Philippians, and he said the report from Timothy would be encouraging to him.

In Colossians 4, he talks about some different people, including a man named Justus, who sent greetings to the Colossians. And Paul said of these people, "These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me" (Col. 4:11). That word "comfort" is the Greek word paregoria. It's a word from which we get our word "paregoric." It's a medicine that soothes an upset stomach. Paul said these people have been a paregoric, a comfort, to my upset inner person. They have ministered comfort and encouragement to me.

 1 Thessalonians 3. Paul says, "Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us, and that you long to see us just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you because of your faith."

So when Paul was down and out, when he was suffering for his faith, you know, we think of these spiritual giants as people who never need encouragement. And Paul says, "Thank you for providing the encouragement that I needed when I was in this place of distress and persecution."

 2 Timothy 4, Paul writes from a Roman prison cell. And he says to Timothy, "Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Tim. 4:9-11). What is Paul saying? "I need encouragement." Paul needed encouragement. We all need to be encouraged.

 But here's what I really want to emphasize, and that is that everyone needs to be an encourager. It's easier for us to focus on how we need to be encouraged. But it's more important to remember that all of us need to be encouragers.

Being an encourager is not an option. Thirty-two different times in the New Testament we read that there are things that as believers we are to do for "one another." Be kind to one another. Love one another. One of those "one anothers" is encourage one another.

Hebrews 3:13: "Encourage one another." This is not just for a few believers to do; it's for all of us. And we know from the Scripture that God is an encourager. Romans 15 calls Him the God of encouragement and comfort. So when we encourage others, we are being like God. We are ministering His grace to others.

You see, when God brings His encouragement into your life and you let it overflow into my life, you're really sending me encouragement from God. And when I let God encourage my heart in my stressful or discouraging circumstances, then I can become a means of giving God's encouragement out to you. We minister His grace to others.

Now it's easy to wait for others to come and encourage us. Especially when we're in a discouraging circumstance, our tendency is to think "I need someone to encourage me," as if to say, "Therefore I have justification for wallowing in my discouragement because there's no one there for me."

And I believe if we wait for others to come in and encourage us, we're probably going to stay pretty much discouraged. Because any time my focus is on self, that's a dead-end street. But if I will get my eyes off of myself and say, "Okay, Lord. I'm in this 'slough of despond'" as it says in Pilgrim's Progress. But rather than looking for someone to encourage me, I want to look out and ask you, "Who could you encourage through me, even as I'm walking through these circumstances?"

You know, what goes 'round comes 'round. We reap what we sow. And I really believe that we will be encouraged as we set out to encourage others. I'm convinced that a lot of the clinical depression and the psychological disorders that people have today in their spirits started way back as a root of discouragement. And people couldn't find anyone to encourage them and they failed to encourage others. So what they have not given out, they have never received. The time I most feel the need to be encouraged is the time I most need to focus on how can I be an encourager to others.

I've seen this happen in so many other people's lives. And it's really interesting to me that people who you would think need the most encouragement, whose lives have the most discouraging circumstances, often those people turn out to be the best encouragers.

Who is my best encourager? My God and his wisdom. After him, my friends and my children. They've always been there for me, never critize when I fail, lend me the shoulders. They would be in ICU room, combed my hair, cried with me and talk to me, I see their faces when I woke up.... And I remember seeing them and their words, forever. They are my encouragers.

I used to be blaming on God for all of my failures, my disapointing life. But then I would be saying, "Oh, Lord, I have no reason to wallow in discouragement, and every reason to become an encourager in someone else's life. I want to be to others what God has want me to—an encourager."

Are you inspired to go and encourage someone? I hope so. What does it take to be an encourager? What do we really hope to accomplish when we reach out to hurting people?

I would like to thanks Fr. Tony and Toni for all of their encourgament words when we have our retreat. It changed my life for better. I will always let God as my GUIDANCE, for life.

 Thank You, Lord, for knowing that we need encouragement and for being the God of all encouragement. I pray that You would open our eyes to the ways that we can be givers of energy and life and grace and comfort. Even in our own discouraging times when we feel so needy, help us to give out of ourselves, out of our selfishness to open our eyes and to look around and to let You use us as instruments of blessing and grace in other people's lives. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.