The Pro-Aging RevolutionSample

Day Five - Encouragement

Everyone needs encouragement - from the exhausted triathlete to the frustrated piano student, to the weakened cancer patient, to the weary pastor - everyone needs encouragement. In all my years of pastoring, I’ve never had anyone complain that they were over-encouraged. Nobody has ever come to me and said, “Pastor Tim, I feel too encouraged. Tell people to stop. I can’t take it anymore”. It’s just never happened. I have, though, on many occasions had people come and tell me that they are overwhelmingly discouraged.

This is one of the important ways God wants to use his senior saints; to be great encouragers. There are 13 direct commands in the New Testament for Christians to encourage one another including Hebrews 3:13 which tells us to “....encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today..’ In other words, do it now. Don’t put this off. It’s too important. Do it today! Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “The tongue has the power of life and death…”

So, I want to throw out a challenge for you today. It’s a challenge that I have taken on myself on several occasions. I call it The 30-Day Encouragement Challenge. The idea is pretty simple. Will you intentionally encourage one person a day for the next thirty days?

Today’s Prayer: “Lord, help me become a better encourager. May the encouragement you have given me flow through my life to the people around me. Help me get outside of myself and reach out to others. Show me who I can encourage today.”