The Power of Encouragement

Speaking words of encouragement allows you to call out what you see in them. Many people have gifts and talents that they know nothing about. These hidden abilities need to be exposed.

God built gifts into the people around you that were designed to change the world. You have the unique opportunity to call out this amazing gifting. Like a baseball scout watching a high school game looking for future talent, you can see things in the people who are in your life that others cannot.

The 2008 Summer Olympics focused attention on a swimmer named Michael Phelps. As a gangly, big-eared kid with ADHD, Phelps got very little positive attention growing up. But at age 11 his swim coach saw something special in him. The coach told Phelps’s mom that he had the makings of one of the greatest swimmers in history. He saw something in Michael that no one else had seen, and he got to see it come to fruition as Phelps became the only person in history to win 8 gold medals in one Olympic Games.

In the book of Judges, we learn of a young Jewish man named Gideon. Gideon lived in a time in Israel’s history when God was particularly upset with his people. The Jews had turned their backs on God to worship idols, so God decided to give the Promised Land to their enemies, the Midianites. Gideon’s people were pushed into the mountains and forced to grow crops up there. God was so frustrated with his people that he even let the Midianites come and steal crops and food from the

But then, Gideon enters the story. Gideon is in the process of hiding a little bit of wheat that he has just harvested. Out of nowhere, Gideon hears a voice say, “Mighty Warrior”. Not knowing who the voice is talking to, Gideon keeps on working. The voice repeats, “Mighty Warrior”. Gideon is getting a little frustrated at this point, so he approaches the person doing the name calling and asks him to hold it down since there are no mighty warriors around. He’s trying to hide the wheat without drawing attention.

The person, who turns out to be an angel of the Lord, says, “I am talking to you, Mighty Warrior.” Gideon feels compelled to tell the angel that he has the wrong guy. After all, Gideon is just hiding some food, he is in the weakest family in the tribe, and he is the weakest in his family. Translation: his sister beat him at arm wrestling earlier and that is why he and not she is out hiding the wheat. 

Can you relate to Gideon? Anyone that says, “I am the smallest, the weakest, the least talented…”?

The angel is sure that Gideon is the right guy. Gideon wants proof, so he tests the angel. First, Gideon gets the angel to bring forth fire from a rock for the offering he has brought. Then Gideon puts out a fleece and asks the angel to make the wool wet but the ground around it dry by the next morning. Finally, Gideon wants the angel to make the fleece dry but the ground around it wet by the following morning. Each time, the angel gives Gideon the sign he is looking for.

Gideon begins to trust the angel. So he assembles an army and prepares to take back the Promised Land for his people. Gideon leads the Israelite army to a stunning victory over the enemy. At the end of the day, it was clear: Gideon was a mighty warrior.

The temptation is to read the story and say that the angel knew what would happen in the future, so when he called Gideon a mighty warrior, he was simply telling Gideon who he would become. I don’t think that’s true. Gideon would not become a mighty warrior…he already was one.

When God knit Gideon together in his mother’s womb, He made him to be a mighty warrior. Unfortunately, no one told Gideon. He was going through life with the belief that he was weaker than others. The angel saw the gifting in Gideon’s heart and called it out. Gideon then acted in accordance with how he had been designed.

There are people in your life…all around you…who were knit together with some amazing gifts, talents, and abilities. Often, though, they may not be living and using all of the great stuff that God put inside them. The enemy has worked to squelch those gifts, rob him or her of those abilities, and convince him or her that those talents are not really special.

You have an incredible opportunity. You can see into their heart. You can recognize his or her special talents and abilities. Like the angel of the Lord did with Gideon, you can actually call out that gifting in that person. Are they a gifted leader? Tell them. Does she show amazing compassion? Tell her. Is he extraordinary in his faith, giving, exhorting, discerning, or wisdom? Why not say so?

Encouragement is powerful and it is life changing.