JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Endurance, today’s Daily Challenge motivates us to build up others with our words.

Ephesians 4:29 instructs us with these words, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

If we are going to meet people at their point of need, we will need to use words that are wholesome and filled with encouragement.

Ephesians 5:4 tells us that obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking are out of place for God’s holy people. Instead, we are called to speak words filled with truth and thanksgiving, in a spirit of love.

One of the great encouragers in the early church was Barnabas. Through his words to the believers in Antioch, “a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” That is what can happen when God’s Spirit directs our words to build up others in the faith.

Take the Daily Challenge to build up others with wholesome and encouraging words on the journey of faith.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com