One of the greatest needs people have today is the need for encouragement.
Taken from the Old French, the word encourage means to give someone heart (Coeur is French for “heart.”). When you lose heart—become discouraged—it can take you out of faith, out of mission, out of church, and out of family.
But God wants more for you. He is the God of encouragement; that’s what He’s made of. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
God cannot help but encourage us. And the comfort you receive from Him, who is the Father of all comfort, you learn to let flow right through you. You fill others with hope through the encouragement you receive from God during your own trials—then turn around and give.
The Church needs the gift of encouragement more than any other gift at this time in biblical history. And everybody can do it. A ministry of encouragement is not a specific spiritual gift. It’s a necessity that all of us engage in. So would you ask God who you can encourage today?