When you feel upset or down, what do you wish people would do for you? If you said, "encourage me" then you also just answered what the next spiritual gift is in Romans 12. People who have this gift offer comfort to others, especially when those people are going through a hard time. Some examples of people who encouraged others in the Bible were Barnabas, Jonathan, Ruth, and Deborah.
Encouragement can look different depending on whom you are trying to encourage. Some people just need to be held to be encouraged. Others could use a kind word or just someone being there for them. This can go into the five love languages. I've found that there is typically one common cord of encouragement in almost any situation: God's word.
True, God's word is offensive to some. Some non-belivers may not like what it says. But I've found if someone is down, and you are not shoving the Bible down their throat, they are more open to hearing God's word if you've already shown you care about them. That doesn't mean you just pull out your Bible and begin reading. It means you can give them the message of the word without necessarily giving them the reference. If this encourages them and they ask where you found that wisdom, you can tell them.
I cannot count how many times I have either encouraged someone with God's word or someone has encouraged me with it. Sometimes it's nice to have a reminder that we are not alone. Someone out there cares enough about what we are going through to take the time to encourage us. That's all it takes sometimes: a note saying, "I'm thinking about you" can make a huge difference. That's something we all can do, even if we feel we don't have this spiritual gift.
So, do you know anyone with the gift of encouragement? How can you encourage someone each day?
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