READ: 2 Corinthians 7:5-7 NLT
When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction, with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. His presence was a joy, but so was the news he brought of the encouragement he received from you.
I was once chatting to two friends of mine when the subject of encouragement came up. One of them worked in a bank and the other was an engineer. They both said that they couldn’t remember the last time their bosses had given them any word of encouragement. I was shocked by that. They were both great people and I can only imagine that they were diligent and effective workers, but they had been denied the oxygen of encouragement which we all need.
Paul had clearly been going through a really tough time. He had been working in Macedonia which is what we now know as northern Greece. In Acts 17 we read about some of the opposition that Paul had encountered. He felt that he had been attacked from all sides. So the arrival of Titus was a very welcome encouragement and not least because he brought the news that the Corinthians, in southern Greece, had been an encouragement to him. Result! Paul’s conviction was that God is a God who encourages the discouraged and that’s exactly what had happened.




Everyone needs encouragement and today we will all have opportunities to share some with others. It may be in the form of a kind comment, or a thoughtful text, or a bunch of flowers. They may appear quite small actions in themselves, but they can have life-changing effects because God is at work in our encouragements and he can use them to transform people’s lives. There is almost certainly nothing greater that we can achieve today than to be encouragers.




QUESTION: Who are you going to encourage today and how are you going to do it?
PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you are a constant source of encouragement. Increase in me the determination to be an encourager. Amen.

Released on 11 Feb 2021