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PROGRAM D-8104

Encouragement—we all need it! I want to remind you that we all need to work diligently at becoming encouragers. Everyone around us needs encouragement, but especially those who have failed.

Barnabas was that kind of an encourager. He traveled extensively with the Apostle Paul, but at one point they had a sharp disagreement. Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul didn’t—because Mark had deserted them at one point earlier in their travels. Because Mark had been unfaithful that one time, Paul didn’t want to take him along again. But Barnabas somehow felt that Mark should be given a second chance. When they could not agree, Paul went one way with Silas, and Barnabas and Mark went another way.

Later on, when Paul was writing to Timothy, he asked him to get Mark and bring him with him to Paul for “Mark is useful to me for service.” Now you don’t have to fill in too many blanks to see what happened here. Barnabas had taken Mark, taught him, encouraged him, and Mark had become a profitable servant of Jesus Christ. Obviously, Paul recognized this, too, and I imagine Paul learned a valuable lesson from Barnabas. It is really important to encourage people at times of failure.

Know anyone who has failed lately? Know anyone who thinks they just can’t try again because they didn’t succeed before? Encourage them. A sense of failure can be devastating. They need to know that all is not lost—they can go from where they are.

If you need encouragement, a sure-fire method is to spend time in the Word of God. If you’re not using the Word of God daily in your life, don’t be surprised if you become discouraged easily. Nothing can replace God’s words of encouragement. There are some passages put in there just for you to help you get through whatever you’re facing. However, if you don’t spend time in the Bible, you’ll never know what they are.