“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Have you heard? There is a pandemic going around!
No, I am not talking about COVID I am talking about a pandemic of discouragement.
This year has brought with it so many challenges that none of us could have foreseen. Many across the world, including believers, have been shaken by uncertainty and by the media’s constant bombardment of bad news. It is a time unlike any that we have experienced before, leading to the hearts of millions being filled with fear and to a tsunami of discouragement seeking to wash away our hope.
However, we are not as those who have no hope. We are a people whose hope is rooted in the Rock of Ages that cannot be moved. We are those who can see beyond the circumstances of life because we have been blessed with eyes of faith. We are a people filled with expectation of the goodness of God, knowing that when we walk in His wisdom, favour and anointing, nothing is impossible.
With the revelation that we walk from a place of victory, we have the ability to encourage one another, taking authority over the spirit of discouragement that seeks to engulf Ireland at this time. Just as Paul encouraged the Thessalonians, now is the time for us to be intentional to ‘encourage one another and build one another up’. Right now this is perhaps one of the most important ministries we can engage in. Ireland, North and South is experiencing difficult times, but God’s plans for Ireland are good!
Can I encourage you to decide to encourage someone today and then encourage at least one person each day?
It may be a fellow believer, or it may be a local person, as yet unsaved; a teacher, a nurse or a businessperson struggling with the challenges this season has brought. Within us, we have the hope that people lack. We have the confidence that people need. We have faith to inspire belief, we have the power to see the nation transformed.
Finally, I pray, ‘may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.’
Father, we thank You that we are encouraged in You. We thank You that we are built up by Your Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit. We commit to being ministers of encouragement who will release a tsunami wave of encouragement across our land, releasing people from fear and despair so that they may walk with faith and hope in the days that are to come. In Jesus name we pray. Amen