What does it mean to exhort in a bible sense? It is

1. communicating emphatically,
2. urging one another to walk the faith of Christ!
3. the language of inciting and encouraging my brother to hold on to every word of God’s instruction and promise above emotion or logic.
4. pushing forward of one another from slacking as intended in Hebrews 12:12.

Thus, the gift of exhortation is manifest in those who strongly or thoroughly encourage the hearts of others with forward movement (maturity in mind).

“The Greek word for exhort is parakalew. It comes from two words, ‘para’ meaning “alongside of” and ‘kalew’ meaning to “call.” This is the root of the Greek word paraclete, which is the name Jesus gave the Holy Spirit. The real ministry of the Holy Spirit is to exhort and encourage us in our walk with God. Thus, you are never more like the Holy Spirit and never more in tune with His ministry, than when you are exhorting and encouraging others. An exhorter can turn a loser into a winner, a shirker into a worker, and a pessimist into an optimist. They inspire others with renewed courage, spirit, and hope”—Taken from Word for Today

Perhaps in the extreme, the real test of character of an encourager was manifest in Barnabas risking the survival of a fledgling church by convincing the church leadership that Paul was genuinely converted (Acts 9:27-28). “What if” is not in their dictionary, rather an absolute, resolute, yet infectious conviction that God will not fail to defend the situation at hand to an expected outcome.

“The exhorter has a ministry of affirmation and appreciation. What is the difference between appreciation and affirmation? We appreciate what a person does, but we affirm who a person is. Appreciation comes and goes because it’s usually related to someone’s accomplishments or performance, but affirmation goes right to the heart of a person because it is directed at that person’s individual worth. An exhorter has the ability to make you feel good about yourself. They uplift, inspire, motivate, and make you feel better just by being around you. The Bible says that Barnabas was an exhorter (Acts 11:22-23 (NKJV). So, the word and question for these times is: can you be an exhorter?

An exhorter has the ability to do three things:

1. Confirm. “When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-22 NKJV). An exhorter is a pillar of strength in difficult times. They know how to motivate the tough to get going, when the going gets tough. They throw a life jacket of faith to the believer drowning in a sea of doubt.
2. Console. So, they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed’ (Acts 16:40 NKJV). Here the gift of exhortation is demonstrated in its finest form. Paul and Silas had been falsely accused, beaten with rods and thrown into a dungeon with their hands and feet locked in stocks. When word of it reached the church, the believers were really depressed. Remarkably, after they were supernaturally released from prison, instead of looking for consolation and comfort, Paul and Silas went to church and offered it to others.
3. Confront. “I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord…these women who laboured with me in the gospel’ (Philippians 4:2-3 NKJV). These two prominent women in the church couldn’t get along with one another, so Paul took on the role of a peacemaker and confronted them. He was friendly, he was fair, but he was firm”—Taken from Word for Today

We will over the rest of the month learn encouragement from many scriptures, both to lift up our spirits in the face of challenges also to teach us how to be encouragers. The postings are from a 2016, 26-day marathon on exhortation from Elihuscorner.com. Selah

Pastor Afolabi Oladele