Believe me when I say that as 21st-century Templars, we still go out on our daily battlefields, and – on more days than not – we each get beaten up by circumstances, surprises, unexpected insults, and often from blind-sided sword strikes from our own friends and family. Even the commonly appearing monster of disappointment stalks us on a regular basis.
And with the Word as our guide, the closer you are to God, the more the enemy stalks you, offering even more pain and discouragement. The great Prophet Ezekiel was so exhausted from his daily assaults that after one extraordinarily trying day, he asked God just to take him home to Glory.
“But he (Elijah) himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked for himself to die, and said, ‘Enough! Now, Lord, take my life…’ (1 Kings 19:4)
In a classic example of watching out what you ask God for, his Creator said, “Okay, Elijah” and took him home by way of a chariot of fire! (1 Kings 2)
There is a far better way for us to ask God for relief than by Chariot of Fire, since you and I presumably have more battles we need to fight before our duty on Earth is complete. The seemingly unlikely sure-cure for the “Down in the Dumps” disease is called “encouragement.” You have an infinite supply to give – and your fellow Templars need all that you can mercifully hand them in Christian love.
Encouragement weighs absolutely nothing, costs nothing, and has zero volume. You can carry as much as you wish each day you leave home for the battlefield. Indeed, the standing order to encourage one another is found dozens of times throughout our daily “general orders” issued by God to His poor soldiers of Christ – otherwise known as the Word of God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, it is stated like this, “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up….”
The really cool, little-known secret about encouragement is that it guarantees benefits for the giver as well as the recipient. The more we encourage others, the more encouragement we receive back from God, as the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1:11-12:
“For I long to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift, to strengthen and establish you; that is, that we may be mutually encouraged and comforted by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
We discover in this verse, through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit of Grace, that if we are discouraged, the best way we can encourage ourselves is to encourage others in the Order!
I cannot tell you how many times this astonishing principle has served me well in my life. The most assured fix for a bad day is to simply call, email, text or even write a real letter to (no kidding – that is still not against the law) someone you know, respect, and love and just let them know that you are thinking about them, and encourage them with your kindness. It is the instant cure not only for battle scars but also for the “Down in the Dumps” disease that inevitably metastasizes into selfish whining.
Encouragement outside yourself produces inner encouragement, it costs you nothing, and it is the perfect, failsafe, instant cure for a bummed-out day.
“We should be glad that God usually works for man by man. This forms a bond of brotherhood, and being mutually dependent on one another, we are united more completely into one family.” Charles Spurgeon