Welcome to His Encouragement: Thankful Thursdays

Every Thursday I will be using scripture to bring you some encouragement along with some other sister bloggers I recently joined.

As soon as you finish reading this short encouragement you will find links to other encouraging posts. Be sure to take a look and glean from them as you head into the weekend.

Today to begin, I want to share the importance of being encouraging. We were all given gifts when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, however, everyone didn’t get the gift of exhortation or encouragement.

But there is some measure of encouragement that we can give to one another and so I want us to look at Barnabas the son of consolation.

Does the name sound familiar?

Be a Barnabas

Acts.4:36- “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement,”

Did you know that Barnabas’ name was Joseph? Why then was he called Barnabas? They called him Barnabas because he was known as one that often encouraged the brethren.

Before Saul became Paul, he persecuted the Christians. All the believers were afraid of him because he wasn’t one to offer mercy. After his conversion, the Christians including the apostles at the time didn’t trust him.

Would you have trusted him? After knowing who he was and what he was capable of, I would think that this was some sort of trick that he was trying to play on the believers so he could get to the apostles.

When he tried to join them, they refused to give him accept him because they were afraid of him.

There was one however who chose to believe the report given about Paul’s conversion and what he did set the path for Paul to be accepted.

Barnabas did what he could do best and encouraged the brethren to accept Paul as one of them, their brother in Christ. He went before the disciples and told them all of Paul’s conversion story and everything that happened to him. How God got a hold of him and was going to use him for his glory.

Barnabas pleaded on behalf of his newfound brother and stood in the gap so he could be a part of their fellowship.

When it comes to peacemaking and encouraging others do you play a vital role? Or are you the one that holds out or creates division?

While we look for encouragement from one another let’s strive to encourage others.

You may not be called to be a Barnabas; you may not even have the gift of exhortation… But you can whisper a word of encouragement to the sister that is in deep grief.

And you can sit in silence and listen to a sister in deep distress tell you all about her troubles because she just wants someone to listen to her.

Maybe you can send a text to someone that you know needs it. Do you think that Sis Mary would like the cake that you baked?

Encouragement comes in many different forms and you can be a Barnabas in your own way.

If you were encouraged to be an encouragement to those around you, please check out the other words of encouragement from the ladies below.

Leave a comment and let me know if you are a Barnabas or not?

Is there a specific scripture that is encouraging you this week? Leave it in the comments.

Next Thursday I will start at the vast book of Psalms for more encouragement so see you then!

Keneesha 🙂

Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Nicole @ The Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Becca @ The Becca Files

Gina @ Stories by Gina

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

Andi @ Radiant Light

Leslie @ Words of Hope

Claudia @ Claudia Moser

Hi there, are you a blogger? Would you like to join us in sharing encouragement from the Word of God every Thursday? Don’t be shy! Contact Trisha or Nicole today!