Finish The Devil's Sermons

Bluntly speaking, I used to not be the first person to throw out words of encouragement. I struggled with affirming others and I first realized it on a mission trip to Guatemala my Junior year in High School. We had these large cement blocks that each weighed about 300 pounds that we had to remove from a truck and put them in place on this large road we were building. It took about 2-3 guys to unload each block and the heat was killer. I like doing hard manual work, especially when it benefits others but I remember this girl just standing there doing nothing, encouraging us to 'keep it up'.  This particular girl bugged me and didn't do much of anything, even in the labor that didn't require much strength. In that moment, I remember being extremely annoyed by her that I wanted to accidentally drop the block on her foot. From that moment on, I didn't want to be the annoying person just encouraging people while they did all the work. I had a poor attitude toward encouragement that affected me in a negative way all together, so I just stayed away from encouraging people even when it was appropriate and necessary.

Yes, I still find some encouragement annoying. Sometimes, I just do things because I feel like God wants me to do them and I don't want to be encouraged because of it. But in most cases, encouragement is a must. It is apart of the process as a believer. In my personal experience, the devil likes to preach in half-truths. He will twist Scripture out of context, like he did while tempting Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4. The way we counter the devil's sermons is through the power of Jesus Christ given to us through His Word. We must respond in the full truth of Christ. We must never lay down and take a beating of discouragement from the devil. In fact, Pastor Steven explained this concept to our 'Generation' students and it totally changed my perspective on discouragement. He explained that every time the devil discouraged him, he would go and encourage 5 people. "That'll cost you devil," is how he said it. He went on to say that the devil doesn't discourage him as much anymore because he knows it'll cost him 5 encouraging comments to other people. It's such an easy concept yet how often do we think to do that? In this particular moment, I was actually feeling discouraged (it's funny how God works sometimes). I was moping around feeling all bad for myself...like most of us do when we are being bombarded by discouragement. When I got off work that day, I called 5 people just to encourage them. 3 of the 5 guys said it was exactly what they needed to hear and in turn, it ended up encouraging me and getting me out of my funk. Weird how that works...

I wonder what my life would be like if I just encouraged others more. I wonder what this world would be like if we all loved each other more like Christ intended. I wonder how much easier it would be to go through trials if those around us spoke life with their words...rather than death (Proverbs 18:21). I hope the next time you feel discouraged, you pick up the phone and encourage 5 people.