Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing.
-1 Thesselonians 5:11
I looked down at the results. Encouragement. Really? Of all the "spiritual gifts"encouragement was among my top 5. Oh, if only a more esteemed gift graced my top gifts, perhaps prophesy or healing. But to a freshman in college encouragement didn't seem very exciting. Rather ordinary really. Something anyone can do. And, something we all should be doing.
Yet, once I embraced this gift I began to see it's effects all around me. Encouragement is sometimes spoken through gentle words, sometimes it is spoken in challenging truth, and still other times it is a gesture that reminds someone that they are special, noticed, loved. When I am truly walking in this gift the Lord will whisper words for me to tell others, prayers to pray over them, truth to speak into them. And it's in those times that I realized that while we are all to be encouraging one another the Lord has given me this gift and he uses me to supernaturally spur on and empower others. Amazing.
So, I want to encourage you today. Whatever giftings and talents that you have use them for the glory of God. There is no hierarchy of gifts; he uses each one to build up his kingdom. Do not ignore these gifts, but ask him to cultivate them in you and to put you in situations where you can use them to bless others and bring glory to his name. What an honor!
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