The Blessings of Christian Encouragement

This week God has continually reminded me of the blessings of Christian encouragement. On Tuesday I read an encouraging post at stepontoliquid that discussed how to apply Hebrews 10:24--and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

On Wednesday we had our last summer Bible study, on the faithfulness of God. What an encouragement to reflect upon how God is true to His Word and His character time after time after time. One verse that stood out to me was Isaiah 25:1. The end of the verse says, "For You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." God's faithfulness is absolutely perfect. 1 Kings 8:56 states that, "not one word has failed of all His good promise." Wow! How encouraging is that! I can trust in every single word that God has said.

Wednesday evening we had a Titus Two Fellowship for the women of our church, in which we talked about encouraging with cards, and then had an opportunity to make cards. As I reflect upon cards I've received over the years, I was reminded about how great a minstry tool that can be. I have been encouraged many times by the kind words and by the challenging words of others, and others have mentioned being encouraged by the cards I have sent.

Thursday morning I met with a couple of women with whom I read the Bible. Each month we read the same section of Scripture and then at the end of the month we get together to talk about what God has taught us and to pray for one another. What a blessing to have friends that are learning and growing, that God can use in my life, and that He can use me in ministering to them. I am always encouraged after our times together. Prov 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." I am so glad that God has made His children part of a family of believers, that He uses us to encourage and build up one another, to sharpen each other, to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

This morning I read an encouraging essay at godsongmusic based on Psalm 23. What a blessing to have the Lord as our shepherd, who perfectly leads us and guides us, who restores our souls. I also thought about the blessing of good Christian music, how God uses it to encourage us, stimulate our thinking, and tune our hearts toward Him.

Truly God is good, and that is the best encouragement of all.