"Intentional Encouragement"
By Zach Wood
Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the other prisoners were listening to them.
 
 
This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach at our church to fill in for our senior minister.  My sermon was centered around saying encouraging words to others.  Being intentional was the first point I had shared along with this passage.  Paul and Silas are in prison for preaching the Gospel.  They have had a rough time being tormented and beaten.  If any of us were in their situation, we probably would not be in the mood to be singing any kind of songs as we are shackled .  However, Paul and Silas saw the situation as a wonderful opportunity to share Christ with the inmates. 
 

We all have things we intend to do, but never do them.  There are also words we intend to say to others, but neglect to share them because we are either too afraid or just don’t take the time to share. 

 

We need to be more intentional with our encouragement toward others.  We have a decision to make each day.  We can either focus on being positive and encourage those around us, or we can be negative and draw a crowd of loneliness.  It would be wise for us to prepare our hearts each day to be encouraging to someone we know, whether that be someone at home, at church, at work, or an event that we attend.

 

I admire those who naturally encourage people around them.  You almost always see them with a smile on their face and walking around looking for someone to encourage.  These people have the intention of lifting others up.
 

It is truly amazing how Paul and Silas were presented with a situation of being in prison, but they didn’t let that keep them from being intentional with their encouragement to the inmates.

 

I want to end with three questions for you and I to consider.

 

How many of us like to be encouraged by others? 

How many of us literally receive some kind of encouragement each day?

How many of us give encouragement to someone each day?