Encouragement, Part II
June 2025: A letter for people who want to encourage, to take courage, or to accept others' encouragement.
Dear family, friends, and Internet strangers,
This letter picks up where I left off in May. In “Encouragement, Part I”, I wrote about what encouragement is and how it seems to work, and I came to the conclusion that encouragement:
uses evidence
to infuse a person with hope
that spurs them to action.
Toward the end of that letter, I wrote, “I believe Christians, at least, have an ability, even a requirement, to encourage others (given the ‘encourage’ directives to believers in the New Testament).” I mentioned the fact that the Bible refers to a spiritual gift of exhortation (ESV) or encouragement (NIV), and the fact that it’s not a gift I seem to possess.
Given that believers are supposed to encourage one another, even those of us without the spiritual gift, how do we encourage appropriately?
And how do we take courage?
I’m approaching encouragement from a Biblical perspective as much as I can. The Lord, the Living God, is the designer of reality as we know it and the source of all truth. He—His Word, His Spirit, Himself—must be my foundation for lasting hope and the standard by which I try to define “right” action.
If you are not Christian and you still want some encouragement tips, you might yet glean something from this letter. I truly hope something in it helps.
Accurate Evidence
It’s possible to provide false evidence that temporarily seems to encourage; it’s possible to encourage on the basis of false hope. It’s possible to encourage people toward wrong action (again, I reference Ezekiel 13:22).
I’m interested in using accurate evidence to offer real hope that spurs people to right action.
In general, to wisely and lovingly encourage, to accept encouragement, and to take courage in the absence of external encouragement, the approach seems the same. If encouragement is made of evidence-based hope, and if we aren’t interested in lying to others or to ourselves (please don’t lie to people), then we must look soberly at reality, and believe the truth.
That is, in order to encourage, and to take courage, look at reality—believe the truth—and tell the truth!
Because we have access to the truth that leads to hope (in fact, Jesus is Himself the truth), we can encourage.
Because we have a solid standard of truth in God’s Word, we can hear truth when others speak it.
In some of the Psalms, the writer encourages his own soul (Psalm 42, Psalm 103). Some days, I have to do this. Sometimes, I am double-minded, and the part of me that remembers the truth has to tell the rest of me what’s still real. To take courage, I think, is to remember and use the evidence I already have access to.
Sometimes even then, hope is still hard to see. I think it’s good to ask other people to help us see reality clearly. We are told to encourage one another; we can request that encouragement from others—especially others who value, seek, and believe what is true.
In Ephesians 4:15, the Apostle Paul refers to “speaking the truth in love”. I believe love and truth are tied to one another, and if you’re telling the truth to encourage others, tell it with love.
Real Hope
When Moses died, the Lord commanded his assistant, Joshua, to take courage—to be courageous—repeatedly, on the basis of what God would do and on the basis of God’s continued presence:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
— Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
The presence of the Lord God is certainly a source of encouragement, and so is His written Word—see Romans 15:4-6. God is the source of encouragement, the source of truth, the source of all true hope. He works all things to the good of His people and to His glory, and we can trust Him.
And that is the basis for my hope. Not the temporary hope I described in May, as when a tasty breakfast gave me encouragement for part of a day, but the hope that doesn’t end.
Again, to take courage is to remember and use the evidence we already have access to. To find faith (or hope) in the dark is to remember what we saw in the light.
Right Action (or When Discouragement Has a Purpose)
Sometimes we’re discouraged because…
we’re not doing what we should be doing.
we won’t see all the good that really exists.
we put all the pressure on ourselves, or we seek hope in things like people, money, or circumstances, instead of seeking real hope in God.
we just forget what’s important and treat small things as big.
When we’re not doing what we should, or we are doing what we shouldn’t, a bit of discouragement is a blessing—it can turn us back to what is good.
There’s a passage in Isaiah where God spoke a word against Israel, and the Israelites, rather than repent and turn toward God, declared that they would simply rebuild (Isaiah 9:8-12): “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.” (ESV)
They took courage from falsehood and walked in false hope toward destruction. A strong dose of discouragement would have been much, much more useful, it seems.
It is possible, too, for people and circumstances to discourage us from doing what we are supposed to do (again again, Ezekiel 13:22). Discernment and prayer, and good and Godly judgment, and counsel from trustworthy, loving, mature believers, are helpful.
As for me, my sleep has remained broken this month, if not as badly as it was last month. I have been often discouraged, and at the worst of it, I’ve felt too tired to try to figure out what the problem is.
In my discouragement, I’ve had the opportunity to try to “take” courage, as described above. I looked at Bible verses about sleep (the relevant Psalms are encouraging; some of the Proverbs are much less so). I’ve prayed. I try to tell my soul the truth. It isn’t nothing, but it isn’t always the jolt of encouragement I wish for.
Recently, I began to wonder if this is on purpose. I wanted encouragement that I would feel well-rested again, and that my days are not, or will not remain, purposeless. But I don’t think it’s right to judge my days “good” or “bad” based on my personal sense of productivity, nor to judge the fulfillment of my purpose as a human according to the success of my daily tasks. I wonder if at least part of this sleep loss has been to lead me to repentance of my shallow views of what life and purpose are meant to be.
All this to say: what we’re encouraging toward, or taking courage for, matters.
In Romans chapter 15, Paul describes God as the God of encouragement, and he is specific about what we’re being encouraged to do in the context of his letter:
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
— Romans 15:5-7 (ESV)
Glorify God, in unity together with the Body of Christ.
Right now, I don’t think any truly right action will contradict that.
Parakaleó, Again
Even without the spiritual gift of encouragement, God’s children can grow in this area. I’m combining a couple of ideas from the letters written by Paul.
As referenced above, in Romans 15, Paul describes God as “the God of endurance and encouragement” and he also credits Scripture as a source of those two things. He goes on to call the Lord the “God of hope” several verses later.
And in his second letter to the church at Corinth, he wrote this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
— 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (ESV)
The Greek word for “comfort” used repeatedly in that passage is parakaleó and its related forms. It is the word I brought up last month that is used for “encourage” in much of the New Testament.
That is, the God of comfort and encouragement, with and through His Holy Spirit—paraklétos, “the paraclete”—helps His people imitate Him and encourages us so we may be able to encourage one another.
I’m sure of this.
Guess what? Encouragement, Part III
Encouragement turned out to be a massive topic, and I ended up writing more for June than I’d expected—which means there’s a part III. I have some more specific, practical thoughts and observations related to encouragement. However, I have another idea for July, so you may get Part III in August.
Spoiler alert: start your encouragement (and everything else) with love.
If you are not currently a Christian:
The Bible is constantly pointing toward hope, constantly telling us why we must hope, constantly telling us to remind one another of the truth about God, which brings us hope.
We hope because of His presence. We have a hope that cannot be put to shame (Psalm 25:3, Romans 5:5). We hope because the rewards will come (e.g., Galatians 6:8-10), and because the Lord is Himself our reward (e.g., Psalm 73:25-26). I hope also because of all He has already done for me, and for the people I know who know Him.
One action this spurs me to is writing letters like this one, and especially the sections like this:
If you are not yet a Christian, I want to encourage you to seek the path of life—Jesus Christ. If you need encouragement to do the right thing, or simply to live, find your hope in Him, the Lord Who is eternal, whose goodness never quits.
Hope is in Him—all of my hope for seemingly hopeless situations is in the only true God.
If you would like His true hope, I have good news for you. You can join God’s people by accepting Jesus Christ, which means acknowledging your sin, repenting, and accepting and trusting Him as your Savior and Lord.
Along with the solid hope of salvation from sin and death, there is much, much more hope for life generally when walking with Him. See the rest of the Gospel (literally “good news”) spelled out clearly on my friend Tina Marie Cox’s website: Let’s Be Real: Real Good News.
I also recommend reaching out to a trustworthy Christian friend, or, if you are subscribed, you can reply to this email.
If you are seeking a church where you live: Based on personal experience, I can suggest Indy Vineyard Church in Indianapolis, IN; Lifepoint in Palm Bay, FL; or Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, if you’re local to one of those. Meck also has a full online campus with services on Sundays and Tuesdays.
No local church is perfect; in my own experience, these three I’ve mentioned have been good places to start.
Writing Updates
I have been working on another white paper for a client, and just like in May, I’ve had little time for personal writing projects. I did manage to write this letter, partly because I accidentally started it while working on the first last month.
A Gift
One lovely person from our church recently told me she’s been enjoying my Substack letters, and she said, “You have a gift.” It’s come to mind a few times since then.
Yes—if you get good things out of this, surely it’s a gift. I haven’t done a whole lot of training in writing and communication. I’m not formally trained in any of what I’m doing here, really, so if something speaks to you in a good way, thank God for it, and if it’s not good, blame me. There’s plenty of me left in these letters, but if I can make more room for Him, we’ll all benefit from that.
Take the gift and forget where you read it—just thank Him, if you get something good here.
That’s it for this June! If any of this was valuable to you—interesting, useful, or beautiful—share it with someone:
To truth, love, and adventure,
Rae
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