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Preparing to Share Encouragement
This book is for Bible study. It is not a book of happy stories or a book intended for you to use in a group
setting to make others “feel good.” Certainly, the gospel of Jesus Christ by itself can evoke great feelings of
joy, peace, hope, contentment, and self-worth. And certainly as you share the gospel with others, you will be providing
edifying encouragement. Even so, this book is not an inspirational book; it is a study manual linked to the Bible.
My hope is that you will refer to your Bible again and again, and that you will freely mark phrases and words that
have special meaning to you, or write in the margins what God is speaking to you in your spirit.
Many good inspirational and devotional books are on the market today. I certainly recommend that you read daily
from those authors who love God's Word and help apply it to daily living in an encouraging, inspirational way.
The Bible, however, will always remain the most encouraging book ever written. It is the source from which we draw
our hope and faith. It is the reference to which we must return again and again to make certain that the words
we speak to others are not just idle words that flow from our human desire, but rather, are words that are in line
with God's hopes and desires.
In this study we will be focusing only on several key aspects of encouragement. As you read and study the Scriptures
as a whole, you will encounter “encouragement in action” time and time again. The whole of God's message
on encouragement cannot be contained in a Bible study book or course. It is far too great for that. It is to be
found only in a full understanding of all of God's Word. I trust you are reading and studying the Bible
on a daily basis.
Keys to Study
Repeatedly in this guide you will be asked to identify with the verses or concepts presented by answering one
or more of these questions:
• What new insight have you gained?
• Have you ever had a similar experience?
• How do you feel about this?
• In what way are you challenged to act?
Insights
A spiritual insight is something that involves a new degree of understanding about the nature of God or the
nature of God's relationship with you. It lies beyond a literal understanding of a fact, word, or idea. For many
people, a spiritual insight comes as almost a “rush of understanding” or a “sudden seeing.” It is as if a light
has been turned on in a dark room. You may have read a particular passage of the Bible many times, and even studied
it word by word. But then, God surprises you with a new aspect of meaning. That is a spiritual insight.
Insights are usually very personal. Most of them come when you see how a passage of Scripture relates to your
life—perhaps something in your past, more likely something in your immediate presence, and occasionally something
in your future.
Insights are a function of the Spirit of Truth—one of the names Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
works within our spirits to reveal to us precisely what is important for us to know or understand at any given
moment so that we might grow in Christ and reflect Christ to others.
Every time you study the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to give you insights. I believe that is one prayer God delights
in answering with a resounding yes! In fact, if you don't gain new spiritual insights after reading several
passages from God's Word, you probably haven't been engaged in the process of genuine study. The person who truly
studies God's Word with an open heart and an eagerness to hear from the Holy Spirit is going to have spiritual
insights on a regular basis. (NOTE: There is a difference between devotional reading of the Bible—such as daily
reading of a portion of Scripture—and focused Bible study, which is directed toward answering a question, understanding
a concept, or identifying a recurring theme. Insights come as we engage in devotional reading of the Word, but
they come more often and generally in more profound ways as we study the Bible. It is as a person compares
one passage of Scripture with another, reading as many related passages as possible, that profound insights tend
to emerge.)
As you receive spiritual insights, make notes about them. Your faith will grow when you look back in the margins
of your Bible and read at a later time what God has shown you or spoken to you, and then reflect on how that insight
has manifested in the subsequent months or years of your life. I recommend that you add dates to any spiritual-insight
notes you make.
Experiences
We each come to God's Word with a different personal history. We come with different backgrounds in the study
of the Bible and therefore, with different levels of understanding about the Bible's content. Each person has a
slightly different perspective on the Scriptures. In a group setting, these differences can sometimes cause problems.
What we all have in common are life experiences. We each can recall times in our lives when we have found the
truth of a Bible passage to be highly relevant to our lives. We can cite times when the Bible confirmed, convicted,
challenged, directed—and, yes, encouraged—us in some way. We have experiences to which we can point and
say, “I know that truth in the Bible is real because of what happened to me.”
Now, our experiences do not make the Bible true. The Bible is truth, period. The value of sharing our experiences
is that we come to see that God's Word relates in far-reaching and amazing ways to all of human life! When we share
our Bible-related experiences, we grow in our understanding that the Bible applies to every person, every
aspect of human nature, and every human condition or problem.
Sharing experiences is important to spiritual growth. You benefit not only from hearing the experiences of others,
but from sharing your own experiences. Although none of us may like the idea of sharing about times when we were
discouraged or when we were a discouragement to others, these are important confessions for us to make. We have
not, are not, and will not be people of encouragement at all times, in all situations, to all people. We each have
a lack in this area of encouragement. There are areas in which we need to be encouraged. There are areas in which
we need to grow in our ability to encourage others. Facing these facts about ourselves and confessing our shortcomings
can result in our experiencing forgiveness and also in our making a new commitment to be a person of encouragement.
We also might be slightly uncomfortable sharing about times in which we have been encouraged, or times in which
we have given encouragement to others. We may fear that we will come across as “bragging.” Share your encouragement
examples with a spirit of humility. Always point toward the reality that it is God who was the source of any encouragement
you received, regardless of the instrument He may have used. Acknowledge that God was also the source of encouragement
you gave to others—that you were simply an instrument in His hand. In giving God the credit for all encouragement,
you can help build up the faith of others to trust in God to work in their lives in similar ways.
Avoid the tendency to judge others as they share their life experiences. A judgmental attitude not only can
do great harm to the spiritual growth of others, but it can cause great friction within a group. Ultimately, a
judgmental attitude is a major roadblock both to your receiving encouragement in your own life and your giving
of encouragement to others. We rarely speak encouraging words to those we are judging in our hearts!
Listen. Discuss. Talk about what the Scriptures say and mean to you. Be careful to do so in a way that is encouraging.
Emotional Response
Just as we each have unique personal histories, so do we have our own emotional responses to the Bible. No emotional
response is more valid than another. One person may be very convicted by a particular passage. Another may feel
great relief at reading the same words! Face your emotions honestly and give others the freedom to share their
emotions fully. Every emotion is valid.
Again, our emotions do not give validity to the Scriptures. Neither should they be used as a gauge of faith.
Our faith must always be based on what God says, not on what we feel. The Scriptures are true regardless of the
emotions they evoke in us. The value of sharing emotional responses is this: We grow in our understanding that
every time we approach the Scriptures, we must invite God to work in our emotions as we read. If we approach the
Scriptures in a totally emotionless, coldly intellectual way, we are not going to feel encouraged by what
we read. Encouragement is a feeling. It is a response God desires for you to have as you read portions of His Word.
Bible study groups sometimes become sidetracked as individuals within them share opinions. Opinions tend to
divide people. They lead to debate, distrust, and confusion. Keep your group focused on the sharing of feelings
and experiences, not opinions. Do not allow your group sessions to degenerate into a debate about God's Word.
Also make certain that your sharing does not take on an air of admonition. Leave it to God to challenge a person
to become an encourager and to give up discouraging ways.
Certainly scholarly commentaries have a place in the study and teaching of the Bible. But a person's knowledge
and opinion actually have little impact on other people within the context of a group Bible study. What God says
to us individually and directly is what we each find to be truly significant. And God often speaks to us in the
language of the heart—the silent language of intuition, innermost desires, unvoiced longings, and deep emotions.
When we share feelings with one another, we grow closer together. When we share only opinions, we rarely grow closer
as a community or find unity of spirit in Christ Jesus.
Challenges
As we read the Bible, we ultimately come to those passages, or receive insights, that challenge us to change
something in our lives.
The challenge may be a conviction to give up something, such as a sin we may have been harboring. We may feel
a need to correct something in the way we think or the way we act toward others. We may feel a deep, compelling
desire to make things right with another person. Especially as you study the topic of encouragement, you may feel
a conviction that you have been a source of discouragement to another person. You may be challenged in your spirit
to go to that person to apologize for “pulling them down” in their emotions.
The challenge of God may also be a clear call to do something new—to acquire a new habit or to begin a new form
of ministry to others. In my life God never ceases to challenge me just beyond my ability so that I must always
rely on Him to work in me and through me. God is never content with the status quo; He always wants us to grow
more like His Son, Jesus Christ. As I read the Scriptures and hear others share their life experiences and emotional
responses to the Word, I often feel challenged to grow as they have grown or to extend myself to others as they
have extended themselves. I believe it is vitally important for us to be aware of the ways God may speak to us
through the Bible to challenge us, stretch us, change us, or cause our faith to grow.
In your study of encouragement, you may very well feel a direct challenge from God to go to a specific person
and give a word of encouragement or to do something of an encouraging nature for another person. Be open and receptive
to that call. Do not sweep it under the rug of your conscience or file it away. Act on that challenge. God is calling
you to be an encourager, and as you obey His challenge, He will not only teach you more about encouragement, but
He will cause a spirit of encouragement to flood your own heart and mind!
God's ultimate reason for us to know His Word is that we might share His Word with others, in both actions and
words. God not only expects us to know and believe the Bible, He expects us to do His Word—to keep His commandments,
to be His witnesses, and to carry on His mission in the world (James 1:22).
God expects us to learn about encouragement so that we can be encouraged and be encouragers. Look for Him to
challenge you repeatedly as you read His Word and study these lessons.
Personal or Group Study?
This book is designed for group study. If you don't have an existing group of people with whom you can talk
about your insights, experiences, emotions, and challenges, I encourage you to explore ways in which you might
create a Bible study group. You may be able to start a Bible study in your home, using this book as a focal point.
Perhaps you can talk to your pastor about organizing a Bible study group in your church. There is much to be learned
on your own. There is much more to be learned as you become part of a small group that desires to grow in
the Lord.
If you are not able to generate a group for this study, I encourage you to find at least one other person with
whom you can either share this study or share the fruit of what you learn and experience as a result of personal
study. This may be a spouse, a child, or a close friend. It may be a person at your church with whom you have a
special bond of fellowship or prayer.
You'll find personal benefit in giving voice to what you have learned. Focus on how the Word of God is encouraging
you and on ways in which you are feeling challenged to encourage others.
Keep the Bible Central
The tendency of a group studying encouragement is to try to be a group in which all statements are happy and
upbeat. A group of people can become so concerned about being encouragers that they squelch any serious, thoughtful,
or confessional statements, as well as stifle any statements of honest doubt. The result is that the group remains
only at the “surface level” of expressing feelings, insights, challenges, and experiences.
The Bible calls a person—and a group—to explore its depths. The deep riches of God's Truth are not to be found
at the surface level. Voice your questions, concerns, and challenges to one another. And then listen for answers
from God's Word.
Keep the Bible at the center of all you do. Do not allow your group to become an arena for personal counseling
or a forum for sharing jokes and lighthearted anecdotes. Stay focused on God's Word.
Prayer
As you begin your Bible study, ask God to give you spiritual ears to hear what He wants you to hear and to give
you spiritual eyes to see what He wants you to see. Ask Him to give you new insights, to bring to your memory the
experiences that relate to what you read, and to help you identify clearly your emotional responses to His Word.
Ask Him to reveal to you what He desires for you to be, say, and do.
At the close of your study time, ask the Lord to seal to your heart and mind the material you have studied so
that you will never forget it and you will always desire to apply it. Ask Him to transform you more into the likeness
of Jesus Christ as you meditate later on what you have studied. Above all, ask Him to give you the courage to become,
say, and do what He challenges you to become, say, and do!
As you pray, open yourself up to new ways in which you might be encouraged and be an encourager. Be keenly aware
that God desires this for you. He will speak to you not only as you study His Word, but as you pray about what
you have studied.
Now, consider these questions:
• What new insights into encouragement do you hope to gain from this study? (Are there questions about encouragement
that you desire to have answered, are there desires of your heart that you hope to have met?)
• In what ways have you struggled or succeeded with encouragement in the past? (Have you been the recipient
of discouragement? Of encouragement? Do you recognize that you have been a source of discouragement to others?
Have you been a source of encouragement?)
• How do you feel today about God's call on your life to be encouraged and be an encourager? Do you have
any fears about sharing encouragement with others?
• Are you genuinely open to being challenged in this area? Do you have a desire to be of greater encouragement
to others?
From Sharing the Gift of Encouragement
by Charles Stanley. Copyright 1998 by Charles Stanley.
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