God, the Great Encourager

Brethren, as you well know, we live in a stressful society. The world is rapidly expanding, with a technological explosion going on. We see things today that no one had really experienced 30, 50 years ago. Just today, there was the news in Germany that they also accepted homosexual marriage, what they call same-sex, but basically I'm not going to use any euphemisms or some statements that don't accurately mention this because that's the way the Bible mentions it. It doesn't mention the term same-sex, it just mentions the term homosexual, and Paul uses it as well.

And we know that in this society it's easy to become discouraged, and Satan is constantly throwing his deadly darts of discouragement and doubt to see if he can knock us off of being part of the church and have us go back to his society, back to his slavery. As it was mentioned in the first message that there is this physical independence that this nation obtained, but we have obtained spiritual independence from Satan's way of life, and it's cost God dearly, and his son paid for it with his life. Now one way to avoid discouragement is to better understand how God operates. He does so directly and indirectly on us, and we should never underestimate how he is the great encourager. The problem is sometimes we expect him to do the things that we need to do for ourselves, and God is going to supply what we need, but we also need to do our part. Just like a child, if it doesn't try to get up and walk, the parent can't do the walking for him. Now once the child starts struggling to get up, the parent helps, but that child has to do its own effort, and that's the way it's going to be for the rest of his life. As he learns to talk, as he learns to move around and reason, the parents are there to help, but they're not there to substitute what the child can do for itself.

I'd like to read to you how God is the great encourager from 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 through 7, because Paul described God as the great encourager. I'd like to read it from the Darby version. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and God of all encouragement, the God of all encouragement, who encourages us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to encourage those who are in any tribulation, whatever, through the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged of God.

Because even as the sufferings of the Christ abound toward us, so through the Christ does our encouragement also abound. But whether we are in tribulation, it is for your encouragement and salvation, wrought in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

And our hope for you is sure, or whether we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement and salvation, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the encouragement. So Paul focuses on God as the great encourager and also tells us that we should follow his example and become encouragers of others. As we suffer different trials and tribulations, we can console and help others in their trials and difficulties as well.

Now, the difficulty is that sometimes we can't really see God operating as the encourager in our lives. We think he is far away. He is uncaring about what's happening to us. And one way we can see how God is the great encourager is see how he is working, how we can be aware of his help. A good manner of doing so is to go directly through the Bible and see how God actually encouraged others. So the Bible is there for our instruction. It says in Romans 15, verse 4, I'd like to read it from the contemporary English version. It says, and the scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope.

That's a good summary statement. The scriptures were written to teach and encourage us by giving us hope because it's the same God. And just like he has helped others in the past, he doesn't change. He will help us in our difficulties and trials today.

So I'd like to go through a couple of biblical examples of how God was the encourager. Even when mankind turned their backs on him, even when they sinned, God was still there. He was encouraging them, and he encouraged his servants when they were going through difficult times. So I'd like to go through a couple of these biblical examples, starting with Adam and Eve.

Now when Adam and Eve sinned, God didn't start over. He could have. He could have said, well, boy, they sure went for that fruit right away. And he could have said, well, I'll just destroy them, tweak and program the next one so they won't do the same thing. But God did not do so. He stuck with human beings, and that was because he wasn't finished. He knew what was going on, and he had a plan that he was going to carry out.

Now we know after Adam and Eve sinned, there were serious consequences.

But God also gave them great encouragement, hope, and out of love, the costly solution to their sins. Notice what it says in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. He's talking to Satan in the guise of a serpent. He says, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, talking about the future Messiah, Jesus Christ, and you shall bruise his heel. Because Satan, using human instruments, did kill Jesus, but God was able to resurrect him. So after three days and three nights, Christ was back alive and went up to heaven to be at the right hand of God the Father.

So he worked with them through their problem. He gave them encouragement. He says, Yes, you've made a very serious error here, but I'm going to fix it. That seed, which is Jesus Christ, will come, and he will pay for the sins of mankind, and you will still make it into the kingdom, into you will partake of that tree of life, even though it's going to take time. It's going to take a lot of suffering, but it will be carried out. And God the Father and Jesus Christ suffered more than any human being to be able to carry out his plan of salvation.

And so he worked with them, and through their son Abel and his successors that would walk in the faith, he continued showing them his way of life. He was a great encourager. He didn't say, Oh, this is not going to work. He never gave up. He knew that things would turn out for good in the end.

Now, here's a second example. Noah. How discouraged could Noah have gotten about being assigned to build this huge ship on land, far from any ocean, and he was ridiculed for it. And yet he didn't lose hope. God encouraged them time and time again. So when we go through difficult tasks or going through trials, remember God is there. He listens. He is our loving Father. Sometimes there are lessons for us to learn, but he is there as the great encourager. Notice in Genesis 6, verse 9. This is a very inspiring example. Genesis 6, 9 says, This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. In other words, God had Noah as a follower. And daily Noah prayed to God, obeyed God. He was living God's way of life. To walk with God means that you and God are in agreement about his way of life. There's not a resistance anymore.

You have submitted to him willingly. You follow what he instructs us to do. Just like Noah was that way, he had quit fighting against God.

He had yielded to God totally. And God could trust Noah to do his will.

As Amos 3, 3 says, can two walk together except they be agreed. So there was no disagreement between God and Noah about what Noah should do. He was obedient to God. He was a good example in the midst of a wicked and corrupt society.

Notice in Genesis 6, verse 17 through 19. It says, And behold, I myself am bringing flood waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall go into the ark. You, your son's, your wife, and your son's wives with you.

And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sword into the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. So yes, there was bad news, but at the same time, he said, Noah, I want to encourage you and your family. You have followed my way of life. You're not going to suffer those dire consequences. And so he encouraged. Noah didn't feel guilty before God. He didn't feel accused. He knew that he had a good relationship with God. He walked with them, and they didn't have any discussions about disobedience. They didn't have any spats about what should be done. And then it goes on to say in Genesis 7, verse 1, Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

So again, he knew no human being is absolutely perfect, but this person faithfully followed God. God knew his heart. He knew his mind, and he was totally confident. Noah was going to follow his way of life. And so he goes on to say, verse 2, You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal and male and his female to each of animals that are unclean and male and his female. Also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made. And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. Then in verse 15, it says, And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered male and female, of all flesh, talking about all the animals, went in as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. So there are two things, basically, that Noah must have thought. He could have gotten discouraged. One is, okay, I can build an ark. Yeah, I can get all that wood. I can design it. It took about 100 years to build, and he got it. But how was he going to rope all of these different animals and bring them in? That could have worried him at nights. Well, there were some giraffes out there. They're hundreds of miles away. And here, how do you get the elephants into the ark and all these wild animals? Why, I could spend years trying to hurt these animals. But Noah knew that God had a plan and that God was going to provide what Noah lacked, what he couldn't do himself. The first thing was how to bring all the animals. So what did God do? Well, God was the one that brought the animals. They all meekly came in from all the parts that they were in, and so God intervened with a miracle. And then the second one was, okay, now you got this huge ship, and you got this huge door where everything came in. How do you close that door? He just had three sons and three daughter-in-laws, and here's this huge door. It was bigger than this whole sanctuary. It was higher than the sanctuary. So you look at the doors that were involved, or the door, and what did God do? Well, it said God shut him in. So God did a second miracle.

See, the point is, faith is doing our part and relying on God to do His. And God is encouraging us. Don't lose faith. Don't doubt. Don't get discouraged. I'm going to do what it takes that you can't do on your own, but God will not do that, which depends on us. He expects us to work hard, to do our part. He's not going to have money rained down from heaven if we're not doing our part. He expects us to, again, carry out what we can do on our own. We were bringing this point out about our children, and they have brought up that we never gave them everything on a silver platter. They had to work. Since they were 15 years old, they got out there and worked for their money. And they went through school, and they worked during that time. The great majority, unless they got a scholarship or anything, but they worked, and they said, you know, that helped us to say you were relying on us to do our part. Now, we always had that support. We always knew you could come in in any emergency, but you didn't try to do everything for us. And in a sense, we learn these principles from the Bible of how God expects us to do our part while He does His. A third example we have is Abraham. Now, God constantly encouraged Abraham, because Abraham was going to have some of the toughest trials a human being could have.

Notice in Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12, in verse 2 through 4, it says, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So not just the Jewish nation or the Hebrew nation, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Christ came not for one group of people. He came for the entire earth. Verse 4, and so Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken to him. So he obeyed. God encouraged him. He said, look, I'm going to bless you greatly, but you're going to have to step out on faith. You're going to have to go to the place I tell you, and I'm not going to explain to you everything about this trip. So Abraham didn't know exactly where he was going to end up, but he knew God was true. This was a true God, and that he had faith, that God knew what he was doing. Notice in Genesis chapter 15 in verse 1, it says, after these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision, saying, do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abraham said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go charless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. And so God came and said, Abraham, things are going well. You're going to be blessed. And Abraham looked around and said, well, I still don't have a son. I'm past bearing age. So it was hard to believe God. And yet Abraham still trusted in God, as it says in verse 2. Abraham said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go charless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. Then Abraham said, look, you have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir. So Eliezer had been born. He was a servant. He was going to be the one that was going to inherit Abraham's blessings. Verse 4, And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside. Of course, they didn't have electric lights at then. This was at night. He was in his tent. They brought him out. And if you've ever been in one of these beautiful dark nights, you see all the stars gleaming. And so Abraham looked, and God said to him, Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness. So it's similar to the story of the centurion. A man used to ordering people, getting things done, just like a centurion, they called them the backbone of the Roman army. Those were the ones that held their men strong in battle. It was basically like the captain in modern day terms. He would be over 100 men, at least. And these centurions were the leaders and those men that inspired others.

And so when the centurion came to Christ, and he had his servant who was very sick, and when Christ said, Well, okay, I'll go over and see him. And he said, Well, you don't have to do that. I've already recognized who you are. You're the Son of God. You're visiting here on this earth. All I need is your word, and it's going to be done. And Christ marveled. He said, I haven't seen that type of faith in any of the Israelites. And here's his Roman centurion, and he trusted Christ more than the Jews did and the Jewish leaders. And so here you have Abraham that he knew his age. And basically, it took 100 years for all of these promises that God said to really get going, because this was when he was 75 and Abraham died when he was 175. And at that time, he just had his son Isaac, and then Isaac had the twins, Jacob, and also Esau. And at that time, it didn't look like it was going to be very many people. But you see, God was carrying it out. And Abraham believed, and it was counted as something certain. God had no doubts that Abraham was not going to waver in his faith. And so he goes on to say here, verse 7, Then he said to him, I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit. And then let's go a little further in here where God made a pact.

Verse 18, On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying to your descendants, have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, and all around there. So Abraham trusted God. Yes, God encouraged him along the way. He kept encouraging him, but at the same time, Abraham had to do his part and show that faithfulness, show that he was going to carry out God's will. So again, you need both parts. Notice in Genesis 22, verse 10. Remember the sacrifice of Isaac. And here Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only begotten son, verse 10, And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Again, this is a walk with God. And I can't emphasize enough that we have to focus on what God expects of us. And God will focus on what he's going to do, that we can't do. Let's go to the fourth example. Let's go one more scripture, Hebrews 11, before we finish with Abraham. One last scripture, Hebrews 11, verse 6, talks about what faith is.

Faith is needed along with encouragement. Encouragement is not going to do the work if a person doesn't do their part. Hebrews 11, verse 6, says, But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is, that God exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So a person has to know when God encourages you, he's going to carry out. It might take time. It might not be fulfilled exactly as we expected. But God is in charge. He knows what he's doing. And in the long run, we shall see that he knew exactly what was best for us. Now let's go to verse 17 here in Hebrews 11.

It says, By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called, concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. That Abraham's faith was so great that he said, Look, God promised it. Even if I slay my son, God will resurrect him and bring him back because God fulfills all of his promises. Now that's a lot of faith because he was willing to kill his own son on God's instructions.

Now let's go to a fourth example. King David. God was David's great encourager, and David became a great encourager to his people.

We're going to see a glimpse of this. We're going to see David's heart, the humility, and gratitude. Perhaps we haven't focused on this scripture very much. It's a chapter in the Bible. Second Samuel, chapter seven. It's one of the most beautiful chapters in all of the Bible. If this doesn't inspire you, I don't think anything else can because it is just so moving, so inspiring, so encouraging.

Second Samuel, chapter seven. This is after David had become a powerful king. He built his palace there in Jerusalem, beautiful palace. Everything was going very well, and you think he was just going to enjoy all the power, fame, and wealth. But what was David thinking about? A very different mentality than the great majority of people. You know what David focused on? How is God's work doing? How am I honoring God? That was his concern. That's what didn't let him sleep at night.

Second Samuel, chapter seven, verse one. Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. So he said, it's not fair. The great God who's made it all possible, and he's there in a pretty old tent by now, tabernacle, and David was in this luxurious palace, and he was thinking, I haven't honored God enough.

He is not where he should be. He was concerned about a God that he couldn't see visibly, and yet he knew God intimately. He walked with God, and he was looking after God's own interests, not his own. Verse three. Then Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. So Nathan said, well, if you want to build a temple for God, go ahead and do so. And God was touched by David's concern for God himself. And how many times we're all worried about our different pains and problems.

Do we ever think about, well, how about God? How many things is he going through in this, as he sees this world, degenerate, and how he sees things? So God intervened in this way. God was touched by David's concern for God.

But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David. Thus says the Lord, would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. Now this reveals that the God of the Old Testament that worked with Israel was the word, the one who became Jesus Christ. And that there was a God that came down and dwelt in that tabernacle there between the carabin above the Ark of the Covenant, the cloud and the pillar of fire.

That was the presence of God himself. Now it wasn't God the Father, because he says he's done everything here on earth through his Son and carried out this work. It wouldn't make sense to have God the Father down here. And what? You'd have God the Son up there?

And sort of the Father that delegated things to Christ. But, oh wait, Son, no, I'm going to dwell in the tent. You stay up here with the angels and handle the rest of the universe and I'll just be with Israel. It doesn't make sense. God the Father said, you go down. You walk. It was the rock that walked with Israelites that was with them. And so just think, this was who became Jesus Christ. And he's talking to King David.

And so he says here, verse 7, wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, why have you not built me a house of cedar? And so he says, David, you know, of all the leaders that we had, very fine ones. I never told them, well, why don't you build me something more fitting for my glory? And here you are. And you're the one that's concerned about it. He goes on to say, now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel.

But what a change from a shepherd that was a nobody, the smallest child of the family of seven, at least seven sons. And he said, I took you and I put you as ruler over Israel. He goes on to say, and I have been with you wherever you have gone. I've encouraged you, I've strengthened you, and I've cut off all your enemies from before you. It was God working that way. Maybe David went out, did the physical fighting, but God was the one that was there with all the angels making sure that Christ was going to make sure that David was going to win and protect David.

He says, and have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. He became a famous and powerful king. Now God didn't say that to any of the other kings of the earth, because they weren't interested. They didn't have that intimate relationship, but David had that intimate relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Of course, he was dealing again more with Jesus Christ. Verse 10, Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more as previously. So now he's projecting into the future and saying, David, one day it's going to be my kingdom, and my people are going to be safe. There's not going to be any war anymore. And guess what? You're going to be there as a ruler. He goes on to say, Since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies, also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house. So now God turns the tables on David. David was concerned about God, and God was touched. So much that he said, David, I'm going to build you a dynasty. Your ancestors are going to be blessed because you cared so much for my concern, my welfare. He goes on to say, When your days are fulfilled and you will rest with your fathers, doesn't say you're going to come up to heaven, you're going to be alive. No, you're going to rest with your fathers. You're going to go to sleep with your fathers. I will set up your seed. Those are His descendants after you who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name. Talk about Solomon. And I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His father, and He shall be my son. If He commits iniquity, I will chasten Him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from Him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. So he wasn't dealing with Saul the same way he dealt with David. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever according to all these words and according to all this vision. So Nathan spoke to David. So this is why we have the booklet on the U.S. and Great Britain and prophecy and all of these things that happen because David's descendants are still on a throne today. God is still carrying out His purposes because of David's concern for God. And 99% of the people are asking, God, what can you do for me? Now I need help. I need this. I need that. How many think, well, God, how can I please you more? I'm concerned about your work, your standard, your stature before men.

This is why David was such a special man with a heart after God's own heart. Verse 18, Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. So he started praying and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me this far? He was just completely awestruck by what God had just told them. And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God, and you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Now what more can David say to you, for you, Lord God, know your servant? For your word's sake and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, nor is there any God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our hearts. And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, to make for himself a name, and to do yourself great and awesome deeds for your land before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations and their gods. And so we are part of that heritage. We have become part of the heritage of Abraham and of David. So we are spiritual Israelites. We are part of what David is talking about here, those blessings.

Now in verse 29 it says, Now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever. For you, O Lord, have spoken it, and with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever. So again, it's this beautiful interchange. Who's more concerned about whom? David was thinking about God, and God immediately started thinking about David. And then when God was talking to David, he wasn't saying, oh yeah, that's great, God, oh thank you so much. And no, he's thinking, God, who am I? I'm nothing. For you to do this, this is not something that humans do. For you to think that way. And so it's just one encouragement after another that God and David went through. Now you know why David's going to be over those 12 tribes of Israel, because he knows God intimately. And he showed his humility and spirit of service. Let's go to one final example, and that was Jesus Christ himself. Now Jesus Christ, the one who spoke with David, who was working on behalf of God the Father, representing God the Father here on earth, became a human being, and he needed encouragement too, as well as encouraging others. Notice in Matthew chapter 3 verse 16, God had to encourage Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had human emotions, and so God sometimes intervened to strengthen him. In Matthew chapter 3 verse 16, it says, when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. Now some think it was kind of a dove, but it wasn't. It's just the same movement of a dove, softly landing in its place. And so God's Spirit was not a dove at all. It was just fluttering and landed on him. Verse 17, and suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Those were words of encouragement. God was saying, this is my Son, and I'm very pleased with what he's doing here on earth. God said that many times. In Matthew chapter 4, the next chapter, Christ needed more encouragement when he fasted 40 days. Notice in Matthew 4, in verse 11, after he defeated Satan's temptations, it says, then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. He was hungry. He was famished. He felt all of these physical needs. But once he accomplished it, God immediately stepped in and gave him the strength. Ministered. Angels helped him to recover his strength. The same happens in John chapter 12, in verse 27. John chapter 12, in verse 27.

When Christ was at the Garden of Gethsemane, it says, now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. It was a witness to them. But again, Jesus Christ had his Father's backing. God the Father was with him all the time.

In Luke chapter 22, it adds this detail to that prayer at Gethsemane. Luke chapter 22, verse 42. Christ said, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me, about the suffering that he was about to go through. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. So again, giving him more spiritual strength to carry out what he needed to do. Now Christ's will was the one that was accomplished, but he was going to need strength, and he was needing that encouragement for God to carry it out. The same way, when we cry out, God is there, he can strengthen us in our trials and difficulties. He knows what we're going through, what is best for us.

And of course, because of time, I can't go over examples that we could, but just mention them. You have Barnabas, whose name is son of encouragement. The Greek term means encouragement or consolation. Consolesomebody is to encourage them.

And then you have the apostle Paul, who suffered enormously in God numerous times, intervening, strengthening Paul, giving him encouragement to go through the trials.

Now we don't have angelic voices coming now, but it's the same God. He can do it through our thoughts, through people around us, or circumstances, where we see God's hand working things through and working them out. So we have four action steps to focus on. How can we put this into practice? We've discussed the theory. We've talked about here the biblical teaching, but now how can we put it in practical terms in our own lives?

Number one is learn to be more aware of the ways God encourages us through circumstances, people, or thoughts. I think all of us can see through circumstances or certain people that come just in the nick of time, and they're there and they give you that encouragement, they give you that help, they give you that courage to carry on. Sometimes through thoughts, either at night when you're thinking about things or dreaming, sometimes God will intervene, and in one way or the other, encourage us.

Tell us He is there. The second step is to be conscious that God will help us with what we can't do for ourselves, but expects us to do our part. Again, encouragement is to help, but it isn't to do things for someone because that is many times enabling, spoiling, getting the person to just think God's going to do everything. No, I'm not going to fix my teeth. God can fix the cavities for me. No, we should do our part. We can take care of our teeth. If there's a cavity, we should take care of it before it gets worse. If we have some organ that's not working right, be diligent. Check it out. Go to the minister. Get anointed, and then see what you can do in the meantime. God sometimes can miraculously intervene without any other need. Sometimes He will wait and see. Well, is this person going to learn to take care of his own body, or do I have to intervene for everything? God doesn't cut our toenails, does He? We got to do it on our own. We got to feed ourselves. We got to bathe ourselves. We got to be aware of we have to pay the monthly bills. He's not going to send an angel there at the end of the month and say, here it is! You didn't do much, but here I'm just intervening. He doesn't, because He's going to then get us into a bad habit of neglect, of not doing our part. You know, the book of Proverbs is just based on the principle of being diligent, of not giving up, of having that strength and that drive, that perseverance that God admires so much.

In Philippians chapter 4 verse 19, we see this principle. It says, Philippians 4, 19, and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He will supply all your need, not your wants, not what you can do on your own. He will supply what is lacking there. The third action step is to thank God for all He does, to be grateful. That's what David did. That's why God was so impressed with David, because David was thanking God. He was conscious of what God was doing in his own life. So few were as thankful as David was. Remember, he composed over a hundred psalms giving praise and thanks to God. David could see God's hand in many things that people never saw. He could see God's invisible hand in his own life, and he praised God for it. Notice what it says in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15. Colossians chapter 3 and verse 15 through 17, it says, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body and be thankful. Those are words that should sink into us. Be thankful. Many times God will intervene. We'll say, oh man, I just miraculously got out of this accident. Oh, I miraculously avoided these problems. And then at night we don't even think about God. How many angels did it take to do that? And so we should give thanks to God as he says, and be grateful. He goes on to say, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual psalms. Admonishing can also be translated encouraging, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. So God is in charge. He has Jesus Christ overseeing his work here on earth. We are in good hands. Sometimes we act like Satan is the one that is the master of all things. He isn't. We're on the best and winning side. And so remember to see God's unseen hands in everything that happens to us.

And fourth and lastly, the last action step, as God is the great encourager let us become an encourager as well. God's instrument for good. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5.11, I'd like to read it in the easy reading version of the Bible. It says, So encourage each other and help each other grow stronger in faith just as you are already doing. Is that what we already are doing? Trying to encourage each other?

Because God is the great encourage.