{ABIDE Day 5} Encourage Others

And so, here we are … the end of our five-day journey to ABIDE. I hope you have been encouraged and motivated to start this year with intention and focus on building your relationship with the Lord through these posts.

ABIDE: five day plan to start 2016 with intentionality

In case you missed any of the previous posts, here they are:

Acknowledge Him First

Bring Your Burdens to Him

Intentionally Slow Down

Develop a Rhythm of Gratitude

And today, we wrap up with this one …

Encourage Others

As we abide in Christ, we will develop a greater love for others and become better encouragers.

Seems sort of counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Abiding is all about developing a deeper relationship with the Lord and yet, here we are, looking at moving beyond our quiet times and prayer journals into interacting with others.  Why? Because as we spend more time with Jesus we should become more like Him — and Jesus was an encourager.

As we abide more in Christ, we become more like Him and Jesus was an encourager. #Abide2016 Click To Tweet

His interactions are full of words that gave life and built up. He saw people and engaged them. Zaccheus in the tree. The woman at the well. The woman with the issue of blood. Blind Bartimaus. The Gospels give us a picture of Christ reaching out to others.  And throughout the rest of the New Testament we see His disciples following His example.

Consider these five verses:

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:6

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13

He saw people and engaged them. Zaccheus in the tree. The woman at the well. The woman with the issue of blood. Blind Bartimaus. The Gospels give us a picture of Christ reaching out to others. And throughout the rest of the New Testament we see His disciples following His example.

When we speak encouragement to one another we are imitating Christ. We are coming alongside each other and we are giving the world a picture of what the Church as intended to be.  When we encourage others, we are acting in the love of Christ. Remember Jesus’ words,

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35

When we encourage others, we are acting in the love of Christ. #Abide2016 Click To Tweet

Today’s Challenge:

Take time to make a list of three people who have encouraged you recently. What did they do or say? How did their encouragement affect you? Now, make a list of three people you can encourage within the next week. Pray about the way God would have you reach out to them — perhaps sending a card or text, maybe fixing a meal or planning a coffee date.  Then, do it. It’s so easy to think about encouraging others, to want to do it, to plan to do it … but make a commitment to follow through!

Thank you so much for joining me for this journey to ABIDE. Perhaps these five simple ideas have been an encouragement to you — I hope they have! As this year begins, let’s be intentional about abiding in Christ.

I’ll be here cheering you on and offering you ideas and inspiration as we move through 2016.  If you haven’t, now would be a great time to join my email list. Once or twice a month I send an email with unique content not found on my blog. Simply fill out the form below and join over 1000 others who are passionate about living well.



xo,

Teri Lynne

How has someone encouraged you lately?

P.S. If someone on your encouragement list has “gifts” as their love language, you might want to check out this deal from Cents of Style today. Monogram jewelry is all on sale for $5.99 and FREE shipping with this code: MONOGRAM2. You can see everything available here**… and this is just a taste of the items available:

fashion friday initial ringsfashion frieday initial bar necklaces

** I am a Cents of Style affiliate and will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through these links. Thank you for your support!

Read the Psalms this summer with Scripture Dig!

Comments

  1. It’s a great thought to try and actively encourage others. I love your challenge and will definitely come up with three ways to encourage others this week! 🙂

      • It would be a great world! People complain too much, I agree. For some it’s their daily fuel. On my blog and in my vlogs I always try to inspire others. Encouraging them goes one step further even. I love it! People are holding themselves back so often only because of their own doubts. Imagine what a bit of encouragement could do! 🙂

  2. Thank you for this Teri Lynne, I definitely do not encourage others enough. I was just thinking about this last night. “Encourage each other today, as long as it is called today” the author of Hebrews says. Somehow that gets so lost upon me. Thank you so much for the reminder. Have a great day.

    • Vanessa, I too struggle to be a true encourager. Love that verse from Hebrews … and now I think I’d better print it out and put it in front of myself to keep me focused!! Thanks for stopping by!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge