1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Do you know there are millions if not hundreds of millions of Chinese people who have never been told: “You are a winner!”, “You are a champion!”.
I am amazed at how many people who have attended our church and commented on how encouraging the messages are.
Many of them say that it is not a part of the Chinese family culture to be overly encouraged. Rather, they are scolded if they do not achieve expectations in the family, school, and work environments. As a consequence, there are generations of people growing up who are starving for encouragement and approval.
These people are craving for someone to speak blessings over their life and this is not only a great opportunity but an important role of Believers today.
The Believer, who has been blessed with every blessing in Christ Jesus, should be the most secure, steadfast, and confident person on the planet. And in the same way that God declared Abraham would be “blessed to be a blessing to the world” (Genesis 12:2), as His seed through Christ, we are also blessed to be a blessing.
When you bless people through your words by affirming them, encouraging them, valuing them, and telling them that you are proud of them, they often progress to exceed everyone’s expectations. When we speak these words over people it is as though God is the one who is building them up.
Often when you talk to many successful people, they will always tell you about somebody who believed in them. Somebody planted a seed of encouragement within them and continued to water that seed.
Thomas Edison encouraged Henry Ford.
Ford was first introduced to Edison as “the man trying to build a car that runs on its own fuel”. When Edison heard this, his face lit up and he slammed the table with his fist declaring, “You’ve got it! A car that has its own power plant; that’s a brilliant idea!” Up to that point, no one had told Ford that it was a good idea. He had almost convinced himself to give up. But Edison’s encouraging words were the fuel that kept him going!
What seeds of encouragement are you sowing into the lives of people that God has positioned in your world – family, neighbors, work colleagues?
As a starting point, begin encouraging the most important people around you – your family, co-workers, and fellow believers! If you can begin to see them with the eyes of the Lord, you will start becoming a mouthpiece of the Lord speaking seeds of life, vision, and purpose into them.
Speak up and speak life!