Encouragement

Encouragement

Definition: Something that gives courage or imparts hope. Everyone needs encouragement. Giving it may require rendering personal help or expressing appreciation. Often it involves assisting someone to see how to cope with a difficult situation or discussing reasons for confidence in a better future. The Bible provides the finest basis for such encouragement, and the texts quoted below can be helpful in giving it to persons faced with various situations. At times much good is done by simply displaying a sympathetic attitude.—Rom. 12:15.

For those experiencing trials because of ILLNESS—

Rev. 21:4, 5: “‘[God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’ And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’”

Matt. 9:35: “Jesus set out on a tour of all the cities and villages, teaching . . . and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity.” (By associating such healing with his preaching about the Kingdom, Jesus provided a marvelous foreview of what he will do for mankind during his Millennial Reign.)

2 Cor. 4:13, 16: “We too exercise faith . . . Therefore we do not give up, but even if the man we are outside [our physical body] is wasting away, certainly the man we are inside is being renewed [or given fresh strength] from day to day.” (We may be wasting away in a physical sense. But spiritually we are being renewed as we continue to feed on God’s precious promises.)

See also Luke 7:20-23.

For persons who have lost loved ones in DEATH—

Isa. 25:8, 9: “He will actually swallow up death forever, and the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will certainly wipe the tears from all faces. . . . And in that day one will certainly say: ‘Look! This is our God. We have hoped in him, and he will save us. This is Jehovah. We have hoped in him. Let us be joyful and rejoice in the salvation by him.’”

John 5:28, 29: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”

John 11:25, 26: “Jesus said to her: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?’”

Ps. 146:5, 9: “Happy is the one . . . whose hope is in Jehovah his God. . . . The fatherless boy and the widow he relieves.” (Right now God has such loving concern for bereaved ones.)

See also Luke 7:11-16; 8:49-56.

For persons facing PERSECUTION because of doing God’s will—

Ps. 27:10: “In case my own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take me up.”

1 Pet. 4:16: “If he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name.”

Prov. 27:11: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice, that I may make a reply to him that is taunting me.” (By faithfulness we provide an answer to Satan’s false charge that no one suffering great hardship will continue to serve God.)

Matt. 5:10-12: “Happy are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them. Happy are you when people reproach you and persecute you and lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against you for my sake. Rejoice and leap for joy, since your reward is great in the heavens; for in that way they persecuted the prophets prior to you.”

Acts 5:41, 42: “[The apostles], therefore, went their way from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name. And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.”

Phil. 1:27-29: “Only behave in a manner worthy of the good news about the Christ . . . and in no respect being frightened by your opponents. This very thing is a proof of destruction for them, but of salvation for you; and this indication is from God, because to you the privilege was given in behalf of Christ, not only to put your faith in him, but also to suffer in his behalf.”

For those disheartened because of INJUSTICE—

Ps. 37:10, 11: “Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

Isa. 9:6, 7: “There has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; and the princely rule will come to be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom in order to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice and by means of righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.”

Dan. 2:44: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”

See also Isaiah 32:1, 2; 2 Peter 3:13.

For those hard pressed by ECONOMIC PROBLEMS—

Isa. 65:21, 22: “They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. . . . The work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.”

Ps. 72:8, 16: “He [the Messianic King] will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.”

Matt. 6:33: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things [material necessities of life] will be added to you.”

Rom. 8:35, 38, 39: “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

See also Hebrews 13:5, 6.

For individuals who are discouraged because of their own SHORTCOMINGS—

Ps. 34:18: “Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”

Ps. 103:13, 14: “As a father shows mercy to his sons, Jehovah has shown mercy to those fearing him. For he himself well knows the formation of us, remembering that we are dust.”

Neh. 9:17: “You are a God of acts of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness.”

2 Pet. 3:9, 15: “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance. Furthermore, consider the patience of our Lord as salvation.”