An Encouraged Heart
by Pastor Steve Peich
2 Thess. 2.17 - May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
When I was 24 years old and not very long a Christian (about three years) I went into the ministry and worked at a refugee camp in southeast Asia. My parents were stunned and deeply disappointed at my new found career choice.
I can assure you it was not pleasant to enter the ministry without the encouragement and support from those whom I sought it most. This left me feeling a bit insecure at times. Yet despite all that, God had a plan in mind that I didn’t see coming. After months at the refugee camp, I was asked to preach in a combined service of the different Christian refugees who worshipped in the camp (Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao). I was incredibly nervous. Who was I to preach to these people? I hadn’t even read the whole Bible yet. I knew next to nothing about theology. I was in way over my head.
However, as that was going on within me, my supervisor, who was old enough to be my father, watched me preach. For some crazy reason he saw potential in me. I couldn’t see that I would ever be much of a preacher because I was so unlearned in the way of our faith and because I sounded more like Rocky than Shakespeare in those days (ok, so I still sound a bit like Rocky, but I assure you, it’s way worse back then). As the days went by and as he saw me preach more and more (and struggle more than you could imagine), he asked to meet with me each week for prayer and to share what God was doing in our lives. In time he became Christ’s encouragement made flesh.
Up to that point I was all zeal and no clue. His words of encouragement, wisdom, and guidance were like water on a parched soul. At that time, I was so gung-ho that I never thought I would return to the United States. But he convinced me to return to attend seminary so I could “put better tools in my ministry toolbox,” as he put it. It was a life-altering decision.
I often wonder what my life would be like if he didn’t take the time to take the initiative and intentionally encourage me as a Christian; to guide and support me in days where I felt so clueless and to see in me what I could not see in myself. Jesus used Him to “encourage my heart and strengthen me in every good deed and word.” I will never forget him and I will never be the same because of him.
That’s the kind of person God calls every Christian to become. God doesn’t call all of us to the same type of ministry, but there are some things He gives us to do that are universal. Being a channel of His encouragement is one of those universal calls. So let me challenge you to pray to God and ask Him to lead you to someone just to encourage them, to help them see what they cannot see in themselves. Let yourself become God’s instrument to stretch another soul to greater things.
Prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your encouragement to another soul who needs it. Help me be courageous enough to jump on opportunities today to speak Your words, Your grace, Your love into my friends, my spouse, my kids, and whoever else you send my way. Give me the words that can give life to another. In Your Name I pray, Amen.”
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