Encouragement

In reading Thessalonians 1 & 2 I am blown away at the encouraging words that Paul offers to his churches. I know its most of the epistles that we have, but Paul is such an encourager. The verses that really caused me to think about this is 2 Thess. 2:16-17...

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."

After reading about this chruch, and discussion in class today, we understand that this church was at a great disadvantage. I say that meaning, these new christians were faced with persecution so early on, and really the whole trip to Thessalonica seemed a failure, however it was not. That is really cool to me, and the fact that Paul knew how difficult these times were for that church, he provided words and words of encouragement so that these new christians would not lose heart.

If only we modern Christians could learn to provide words of encouragement in times of discouragement...if only today we could notice things around us, and the needs that need to be met. This is quite a challenge to me...there is so much more that I could do for my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Abbi