Today, more than ever, we are surrounded with voices. Our friends, family, the news, social media, and advertisements are constantly speaking to us. I recently read that we hear approximately 30,000 words each day and between 4,000 and 10,000 commercials in a twenty-four hour period. That’s a lot of voices.

            At the command of His voice, God created the universe. “The unfathomable cosmos came into being at the word of the Eternal’s imagination, a solitary voice in endless darkness. The breath of His mouth whispered the sea of stars into existence” (Psalm 33:6, VOICE). “God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared” (Genesis 1:3, MSG).

            The words voices speak contain messages. The verses above show God created the universe with words. He communicated the Gospel through His Son, Jesus, the Word. He spoke humanity into being, made in His image. Like God, we are able to communicate through our voices – to influence what is created.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it [for death or life]” (Proverbs 18:21 AMPC). Our words and the words of others carry weight and influence.

            With words, we can build up or tear down. We can speak hope or proclaim fear. We can give thanks or complain.

            In addition to voices on the outside, there are voices on the inside. They can be voices of hope, encouragement, and love, or they can be voices of fear, shame, and guilt. The question is, what voices are we listening to – the ones which tear down or the ones which build up? Which voices will we accept and believe and which ones will we reject?

            In simplest terms, the words of the voices we hear speak either fear (from our enemy, Satan) or faith (from our heavenly Father, God).

            The words that come from Satan are full of lies and murder (John 8:44), accusation (Zechariah 3:1-2), lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and deceit (Genesis 3:1).

            But the voice of God through His Word tells us that as believers in Jesus, He is for us, and not against us (Romans 8:31), He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), He has poured His glorious grace upon us (Ephesians 1:6), He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), He will give us His wisdom when we ask for it in faith (James 1:5), He has poured out His Holy Spirit upon us (Titus 3:6), given us His peace at all times and in every situation (2 Thessalonians 3:36), welled forth His love within our hearts (Romans 5:5), and shown us His special favour (1 Corinthians 15:10).

            Jesus said in John 10:27-28 (VOICE), “My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me. I give them a life that is unceasing, and death will not have the last word...” The voice of Jesus leads us to Heaven and life eternal.

        We first meet Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, in Acts 4, when he sold property he owned and gave all the money from the sale to the church. Joseph was a natural encourager. How do I know that? Because the apostles called Joseph Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement”.
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       It was Barnabas who vouched for the reality and faith of the newly converted Saul/Paul, when the Christians in Jerusalem were afraid of him. When news of the burgeoning church in Syrian Antioch reached Jerusalem, Barnabas was sent to encourage the believers to remain true to the Lord. Later, Barnabas went and found Paul in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch, where the two of them ministered to the church there “...and taught great numbers of people” (Acts 11:26 NIV).

            Everyone needs to be encouraged. Hebrews tells us, “Encourage each other every day – for as long as we can still say “today” – so none of you let the deceitfulness of sin harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:13 VOICE). If we don’t encourage each other, sin’s deceitfulness will make us discouraged. “So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind...” (1 Thessalonians 5:11 MSG).

            And what about Titus? How was he an encourager? In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote, “For even when we arrived in Macedonia we had a wretched time with trouble all around us – wrangling outside and anxiety within” (2 Corinthians 7:5 Phillips). Paul had battles on the outside, which struck fear on the inside. What encouraged Paul? It was the arrival of Titus. “But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:6 NLT).

        The Bible doesn’t say that Titus spoke with perfect words or delivered a divine message. What did he do? He showed up. He made himself available to God and was obedient in telling Paul about the longing and concern of the Corinthians for him. Although it wasn’t exciting or spectacular, it was exactly what Paul needed. Sometimes, to be an encourager, all it takes is to show up.

         And if there’s no one to encourage us, what should we do? We should do what David did – encourage ourselves in the Lord.

       In 1 Samuel 30, the Amalekites raided and burned Ziklag, David’s home base. They carried off all the women and children. When David and his men returned to Ziklag and found  what had happened, his men talked of stoning him. “David was in serious trouble: the people were talking about stoning him to death, because all the people were in such deep grief...But David strengthened himself in Adonai his God” (1 Samuel 30:6 CJB).

       When there’s no one around to encourage us, we can draw on the strength of the Holy Spirit inside us, the Word of God, and prayer, to give us the courage we need to go on and keep our eyes fixed on the good plans God has for us.

        So as God’s children, dearly loved, let’s build ourselves up in our most holy faith (Jude 20), step up, show up, and find someone to encourage today.
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Adapted from Dennis Burke’s article, “The Power of Encouragement” in Believer’s Voice of Victory, May 2024.
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