In Becoming a Woman of Encouragement and Influence (part 2) our last words were:

“These women were not to fight against each other, but for each other. They needed a hand stretched out to pull them up not push them further down. They didn’t need anyone to pick sides. They needed someone to bridge the gap. Beloved of God, we whose names are recorded in the book of life have been called to stand in the gap. We have been called to help.”

I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land…

Ezekiel 22:30

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The Lord is for me among those who help me…

Psalm 118:7

Now the question is… how do we help?

When I think of where so many of us are… in that place of feeling overwhelmed, in that place of just flat out exhaustion, in that place of discouragement with our knees buckling right there on that brink of despair… my mind goes to a perfect little verse that is safely tucked away in the book of Isaiah.

Encourage the exhausted,

and strengthen the feeble.

Isaiah 35:3 (NASB)

So, the question again, how do we help?

We encourage and we strengthen. Now we must ask:

• How do we encourage?
• When do we encourage?
• Who do we encourage?

because wrong encouragement can be just as deadly as no encouragement at all. I think of Brittany Maynard when I say that, and the countless and faceless others who will now be “encouraged” by her choice.

As I attempted to dig a little deeper in this verse I began where I always begin, with a word search and digging into the Hebrew translation while keeping the scripture within context. I love word studies and cross-referencing the Word of God. Letting God tell us what He said, by what He said, is the best way to interpret His book.

The first time the word encourage is used in the NASB is in Deuteronomy 1:38

Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it.

The Hebrew translation of the word encourage is

chazaq and it means

• be or grow firm or strong, strengthen, aid, amend, catch, cleave, confirm, be constant, constrain
• to fasten upon; hence, to seize, be strong
• figuratively, courageous, causatively strengthen, cure, help, repair, fortify

The first time this word for encourage is used in Scripture is in Genesis 19:16

But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.

As I read this passage of Scripture in Genesis my mind went to the book of Jude…

And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Jude 1:22-23

…and I wondered if maybe the word used for snatching also meant to seize… I literally clapped with excitement in the middle of my living room floor when I discovered that it indeed did!

The Greek word used for snatching in this verse is harpazo and it means

catch, seize, take by force

I find this to be absolutely wonderful! Stay with me, and hopefully I will be able to explain why 🙂

Now after I learned this connection with Lot and Jude, I wondered when was the first time the word encourage was used in the New Testament. When I went to my word search, I discovered that according to the NASB the first time the word encourage is used is in Acts 11:23. The next thing I needed to do was find out what Greek word was used…

The Greek word used for encourage in Acts 11:23 is parakaleo and it means

to call to one’s side, call for, summon to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc. to admonish, exhort to beg, entreat, beseech to strive to appease by entreaty to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort to receive consolation, be comforted to encourage, strengthen exhorting and comforting and encouraging, to instruct, teach

My next move was to do a word search on this Greek word and I discovered the first time it was used was in Matthew 2:18. It was also used in Matthew 5:4, Luke 15:28, Jude 1:3, and many more. Now as I put this word search, this Hebrew and Greek defining, and cross-referencing all together I prayed and asked God to help me answer the how, why, when, and who’s of encouragement. This is what He taught me.

My dear sisters in Christ we are to:

Encourage with conviction:

• Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; (Act 11:23)

The Greek word Parakaléō (“personally make a call”) refers to believers offering up evidence that stands up in God’s court. When we encourage we are not offering up empty meaningless words. We are to encourage with truth and fact and conviction. We are not to encourage when we don’t mean it, when we don’t believe it, when we have nothing to back it up or stand on.

I think of these poor people that try out for singing and talent shows and over in the wings are their parents and friends who have convinced them that they can sing and encouraged them to try out, and they are less than musically inclined and are humiliated before the world. That’s not encouragement. Real encouragement comes with proof in the pudding. Real encouragement repairs, it doesn’t destroy.

Let’s take a moment to go back to the Hebrew word chazaq, and what we know about the context of it’s use. In Genesis 19 God has sent word by angels that Lot needs to exit the city, but he hesitates. Now did the angels just stand there and say, “ahhhh come on Lot, you really should come?” No, they didn’t. They seized him by the hand. They encouraged with conviction. Look back at Jude 1:22-23, sisters we are to snatch. Sometimes encouragement is taking the bull by the horns and saying get up and come on!

You’ve got the teenager that all of a sudden doesn’t want to come to church anymore? Oh Momma, it’s time to seize and snatch. You’ve got that friend that is fighting depression and doesn’t want to leave the house? It’s time to seize and snatch. Oh sister, but notice that it was the COMPASSION and MERCY of God that seized and snatched. We are not to look at those that we know God has placed in our path and give a little kind word, and shrug our shoulders, and say, oh well I tried.

You have not tried anything until you have seized and snatched.

SEIZE AND SNATCH! If you believe in the wrath of God and the eternal damnation of hell, and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the glory of God, encourage with conviction and do so with compassion and mercy.

Encourage to comfort:

The world is hurting. People are hurting. Our encouragement should bring comfort. When we find someone who is weighed down with the things of this life, we are to do what we can to comfort them… even when they appear to refuse it.

• “A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.” (Matthew 2:18)
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

We never know when what we have said or what we have done will sink in. Our words and our actions towards others should always be with grace (Colossians 4:6). We serve a God who gives perseverance and encouragement and His Word is meant to bring hope (Romans 15:4) and hope doesn’t disappoint. If it doesn’t disappoint then it doesn’t discourage and it doesn’t hurt. It instead comforts.

Encourage with passion:

• Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. (Jude 1:3)
• But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. (Luke 15:28)

I love this. Women of God we must encourage with passion. Look at these two verses. Here are two men who are making every effort, who are appealing, who are pleading, who are encouraging with passion. They are not concerned with whether or not they are loosing their dignity or their position of authority. They just want to see these before them encouraged so that they can continue to honor their God and walk out what God has called them to do and be.

Beloved, when was the last time you were willing to beg someone to Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20)? When have you wanted to see someone come out of their discouragement, their exhaustion, their false sense of reality, that you were willing to plead with them? When was the last time you were willing to make a fool of yourself in order to bring hope to another.

Sometimes, we just need somebody to take us by the hands and look us in our eyes and speak to our souls. The world is screaming lies into our hearts. We need more people who will speak the truth, and speak it in love (1 Corinthians 13:1). The roar of that woman of folly is loud and wisdom does not use a noisy gong or clanging cymbal that just deafens us even more.

Wisdom speaks up close and personal with a strong still small voice that calls to the deep within us to rise up and know hope, to be encouraged. To encourage with passion is not to scream in ears. No, to encourage with passion is to speak intently and intensely into a soul.

Encourage in person:

Lastly, and probably most importantly… we are to encourage in person. When we look at the Greek word for encourage we see that it comes

• (from pará, “from close-beside” and kaléō, “to call”) – properly, “make a call” from being “close-up and personal.”

which means

• I send for, summon, invite, I beseech, entreat, beg, I exhort, admonish, I comfort, encourage, console.

Did you get that?

Go back and look through all these cross-references on the word for encouragement. Whether its use be in the Old Testament or the New… they all involved someone up close and personal.

I encourage

Not I added them to the prayer list. Not I sent word to the pastor or the women’s director.

No.

I saw the need and I did something.

I was up close and personal. I was there to grab hold of their hands and drag them along because they hesitated, because they were blinded due to the fact that they were so close to the pits of hell that even their garments reeked of it. I was close enough to look them in the eyes and speak to their heart.

In Acts 4:36 we meet a man named Joseph, a man who was a Levite by birth, and yet the apostles named him Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement. In Acts 9:27 we learn that it was Barnabas that took hold of Paul. He took hold of him. Barnabas did not cheer from the sidelines.

Encouragement isn’t simply cheerleading from the stands. No encouragement is when you pull someone up along side you. It’s not just when you get up in front of someone, but you get down in the trenches with them. It’s pulling them with you if need be… encouraging them all the way to the finish line.

 

 

So who do we encourage?

• We encourage the hesitating
• We encourage the doubting
• We encourage the hurting
• We encourage the pouting
• We encourage the stubborn
• We encourage the weary.

And why do we encourage?

Because our God is a God of encouragement and we ALL need encouraged. We encourage to repair and to fortify. Our encouragement should always repair not destroy.

And when do we encourage?

At all times.

And how do we encourage?

We encourage with conviction, to comfort, with passion, and in person.

Next time we will look at the next part of that beautiful verse in Isaiah… we look at how, when, where, who we strengthen.

Becoming a Woman of Encouragement and Influence (part 4)

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