For the past few weeks, I have been reading through the book of Acts which is the book that documents the first few years of the early church after Christ's ascension. In my reading, I noticed that encouragement seemed to be a reoccurring topic. In Acts 20, it is even mentioned back to back in verses 1 and 2...

When the uproar was over, Paul sent for the believers and encouraged them. Then he said good-bye and left for Macedonia. While there, he encouraged the believers in all the towns he passed through.

Out of curiosity, I decided to check and see how many times the word encourage, or a variation of it occurred in the remaining books of the New Testament. It turns out that from Acts to Revelation, encouragement is mentioned 56 times. When you think about it, it makes sense that members of the early church would need encouragement. Christians were faced with much persecution and many trials. In Acts alone we read of Stephen being stoned, Paul being imprisoned, and many others being chased out of town or ridiculed for their preaching.

Thankfully, here in America the persecution and trials that we face for our faith are nothing like what is seen in the Bible, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't still be encouraging each other. Sometimes I think we try to make excuses for why we shouldn't encourage each other. We think that others might think we are annoying or that we have no experience with what they are going through so our encouragement can’t be helpful. Occasionally we might even refrain from encouragement because the other person is older than us or we think that they are a better Christian than we are so they probably don’t need to be encouraged by us. All of these excuses are completely false. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, your words of encouragement have the ability to do far more than you ever imagined.

I can confidently say this because I have been on the receiving end of encouragement from friends. I am blessed to have friends that I can always count on for encouragement, but when writing this article, one situation, in particular, comes to mind. The picture at the top of this article is a picture of the wall of my room in Bolivia. This past summer I spent two months in Bolivia as a short-term missionary with SIM through Grove City’s Red Box Missions program. Before leaving at the end of the spring semester, one of my friends handed me a manila envelope filled with notes from my friends to encourage me throughout my summer. Of the two dozen notes, there were only a few who had been in a situation like mine in the past, but every single one of those notes was so incredibly encouraging.

Knowing that spending two months in a foreign country might come with some trying times, these letters included words of affirmation and reassurance that God is in control. While each friend shared something different and chose a unique angle for their letter, there was one commonality between over 80% of these: Bible verses. My friends may never have stepped foot into a foreign country let alone spent two months living in one, but that’s one of the beautiful things about the Bible. It is the place we can turn to when we have no clue what to do next or what to say to someone in a situation we cannot even begin to fathom.

So, as we enter this new year, I encourage you to encourage others. If you see someone who is stressed or going through a hard time, send an encouraging text, email, or letter. If you can see them face-to-face, make a point to, even if it’s only for five minutes, let them talk, encourage them, maybe even end with a hug, or finish by praying with them and lifting the situation up to God. If what your friend is going through is something you cannot even begin to understand, don’t be afraid, to be honest and say that. You may not understand what your friend is going through, but God does. Continue to pray for your friend and find some verses that can lift them up.

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
Romans 15:4

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Corinthians 13:11

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Ephesians 4:29

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11