Are you an Encourager?

1 Thessalonians 5: 8-11

Are you an encourager? If you are it is a good thing because this old world has a way of destroying our hope.  But to be an encourager requires that we set our mind on Christ and not on self.  When we become self-absorbed it is impossible to let our light shine and bring glory to our Father in heaven. 

With all the uncertainty of life in 2011, I need an encourager in my life, I need to know that if the dollar loses it’s value and I find that my savings will no longer meet the requirements to live in a manner that we have grown to expect.  If the very worst comes, and my pension goes the way of US Steel or Braniff Air Lines, I will need someone to be an encourager, someone to remind me, to keep me focused on the source of my joy.  Who will be that one?  Others find themselves in the same fix?  Will I be so entwined in self that I no longer let my light shine?  These are real questions, and like any small child, I need to know that my Father will supply my needs.

Now the apostle Paul gives us this instruction: “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”  My simple understanding of these verses is; you and I who are in Christ, have moved from the control of darkness to the light.  We are to prepare our minds and our hearts with faith and love, always remembering that our mighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ has brought us out of the control of sin and death.  It is so important to set our minds on the same attitude as the apostle Paul, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

T W Hunt is one of my hero’s in the faith, he is also a dear friend and brother in Christ.  His name could easily be exchanged with the word encourager, for he has often been used of God to renew my spirit.  His life has spoken much louder than his words, and he has led me to find rest in the Word of God.  Psalm 16 is very special to T.W. and it begins in this way; “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”  (Psalm 16:1-2)  Now I pray this also encourages you as it has many; “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”  (Psalm 16:7-8)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice