Author Archives: pastorjeremyhelmuth

En-courage

When is the last time you really built someone up with your words?  When is the last time you told someone how much you appreciated them?  One of the most powerful things that you can ever do on the face of this earth is encourage someone else.  There is great power in the word encourage. There is a little known story in the Old Testament that gives us a glimpse of the power of encouragement.  It is found in 2 Chronicles 32.

I’d like you to meet King Sennacherib of Assyria.  He was an evil man.  Part of his military strategy was to demolish people’s bodies so that those who saw the brutality would be demoralized.  He is responsible for cutting off people’s noses, ears, arms, and would even impale people just to show off his power.  He was famous for leading people away by a ring in their tongue.

I’d like you to also meet King Hezekiah.  He was the king of Israel at the time.  He was faced with a desperate situation.  A siege was coming to his city.  Sieges can lead to great, horrible circumstances.  The Bible explains just how bad it can get during a siege.  The situation was so severe in one case that even forbidden food was selling for unbelievable prices: “A donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver” (2 Kings 6:25).

How much would eighty shekels be?  It is hard to place an exact number on the measure of a shekel back then, but most commentaries speculate that this would be the equivalent of asking five hundred dollars today.  The extreme conditions even brought on cannibalism: This woman said to me, “Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son.”  So we cooked my son and ate him (2 Kings 6:28).

But Hezekiah had a plan.  He blocked off the water supply just outside the city so that the soldiers who would be surrounding the city would have nothing to drink.  He worked hard at repairing all the broken sections of the wall.  He built towers on the wall and built another wall outside the original walls.  He even produced many weapons and shields and appointed military officers over the people.  But he also encouraged the people.

Most good leaders are strategic planners.  They know how to “draw up a plan” and make it work.  But great leaders realize the importance of encouraging their people during the process.  They know that without encouragement, the people might not have the actual courage to do what needs to be done.

Hezekiah gave an encouraging speech to his people who were facing imminent danger.  They needed a plan to follow, but more than that, they needed to know that there was hope.  They needed to know that God would take care of them.  Hezekiah placed courage in his people’s minds.  An encouraging person places COURAGE in people’s minds.  This is exactly what this word means in this context here.  “En” means “in” and when you place it with “courage” you have someone placing courage in another person.  That is what it means to encourage someone.  You give them the courage to do something that they were not sure if they were able to do it.  You build a confidence in them to do the right thing.

Encouraging words…build confidence.  I have never felt “courage” being poured into me more than at any other time than when I was running a cross country race as a Senior in high school.  I still remember some of the races like it was just yesterday.  I was trailing a guy from the other team the entire race.  I seemed to be just content letting him set the pace about fifty feet in front of me.  That is, until one of the teachers at my high school who was known for making courageous speeches saw me and decided to start yelling at me to catch the guy in front of me.  He started yelling my name saying, “Jeremy, look at that guy in front of you, you can beat him, you can run faster than him, you will pass him.”  At first I didn’t think it was possible.  He was just too far in front of me for me to catch him.  But this teacher wouldn’t let me off the hook.  He yelled, “Jeremy, look at him!  Focus on him!  You are gaining on him!  You’ve got him!  You’re going to do it!  Keep it up!  This interchange lasted only a few seconds, but it gave me a surge that I didn’t know that I had inside myself.  I ended up running past the other runner and even a few other runners and ended up finishing second overall that race.  If the race would have been a little longer, I might have even won it.  What amazed me is that I didn’t just barely beat this other runner, but by the time the race finished, I had gained a lead of at least fifty feet in front of him.  This teacher built confidence in me that I didn’t know that I had.  The greatest thing I took from that one season of running cross country was that moment when I was given the courage by someone who believed in me.

One of the best things that we can do for our children is to encourage them.  For every critical comment we receive, it takes nine affirming comments to even out the negative effect in your life.  So make sure you are unloading lots of positive re-enforcement to your child.  This is something that I do with my daughters on a daily basis.  I take my daughters to school three to four mornings a week. It is about a five minute drive to the school.  During that time, I am trying to think of at least one to two positive things about both of them that I can praise them about.  I want each of them starting off their day with confidence.  Confidence to do the right thing in every situation.

On the other hand, what happens when you show a lack of confidence in your children and don’t encourage them?  A while back, I watched a television program about how parents can have a tremendous impact on their children for either good or bad.  In this special, one thousand prisoners were interviewed.  They were all asked one simple question: “How many of you had parents who told you that you would end up in prison one day?”  Almost every one of the inmates stated that this was repeated to them as a child more than once.  Encouraging words do matter. 

After Hezekiah’s speech, the Israelites had to make a choice.  Were they going to believe the encouraging words of their king, Hezekiah, or were they going to listen to the discouraging words of the king of Assyria?

Encouraging words…are worthless unless they’re absorbed.  Are you the kind of person that no matter what anybody says to you that is encouraging, you turn it into something negative?  You are un-encourageable.    This is a disease that plagues many people today.  It is the inability to just take a compliment.  To be told that you are doing something good and to just leave it at that and say, “Thank you.”

King Sennacherib tried to discourage the people of Israel.  He wanted them to give up.  There was no doubt in Sennacherib’s mind that they would be conquering them and he wanted the people to know that.  But he didn’t want much of a fight.  He wanted them to lay down and give up without a battle.  So he tried to scare them into thinking it wouldn’t be worth it to try and hold out on a siege.  He got out his list of other conquered nations and said, “Look at these nations, their god didn’t save them and your god won’t save you.”  A discouraging person places past failures in people’s minds.   This is the opposite of placing courage in someone.  You are actually trying to take courage out of them when you bring up their past failures.

Discouraging words do two main things:

Discouraging words…create doubt. Here in the story, the Assyrian king tried to create doubt in the people’s minds to the fact that God is real and that God is good to them.  He tried to make them doubt the fact that their God can take care of them.

A common denominator in all successful people is that they are not conquered by their own doubt.  Other people might doubt them, but they believed in the encouraging words of their parents and grandparents and other people around them that believed in them.  Now, I am not telling you to lie to your children about what they can be in life, but I am asking you to instill within them courage to try new things.  Too many people are around discouragers, and discouragers love to instill doubt into a person’s mind.  Many women doubt that they have anything good to give to society because of years of listening to a husband discourage them with words.  Many men doubt that they could ever be a godly leader in their home because their wife discourages them with words.  Others have contemplated suicide because they doubt that their existence matters.

Discouraging words don’t just create doubt, but discouraging words…create fear.   Researchers conducted a study where they asked a group of seventy year olds if they had any regrets in their life.  The number one answer was that they wish that they would have tried more things in their life, but didn’t because they feared that they would fail.  When the interviewer asked them further why they felt a fear and then didn’t go for something, almost all the respondents talked about how they remember someone saying something to them early in their life and they could never forget it.  The interviewer gave a couple examples.

The seventy year olds stated that they had many aspirations in their late teens and early twenties, but almost all of the dreams faded by the time they were in their thirties because they feared taking risks.  They got a job that paid okay, so they stuck with it instead of pursuing something that might have been more fulfilling.  Also, when asked if they were influenced by anything anyone said, they said that when they shared their dreams with different people, most, if not all of them would discourage them from taking some of those risks.  So they didn’t, and they regret not trying to find out if their dreams could have come true in certain areas of their life.

Many of those same seventy year olds also stated that they regretted not taking more vacations because of a fear of other people’s comments, either their boss or other co-workers, or other people giving them a hard time for it.  If they could do it all over again, they would have taken more time off to just be with their family.  They would have traveled places they wanted to see.  Many of them never used up all their vacation time because they feared what others would say about them.

There is a close connection between living in fear and listening and believing in discouraging words.  That is why there is power in discouraging words.

If we look at how the story ends in 2 Chronicles, we read that King Hezekiah cried out to God in a prayer.  This is where his courage came from.  He knew that if they were going to be protected from the evil Assyrians, then God needed to be on their side.  And God was.  God sent an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

God is the power source for our courage.  You can’t just turn on a switch one day and expect to be a great encourager of people.  It just doesn’t happen like that.  You have to understand where the power source is.  And the power is released when you spend time asking God to fill you with courage.  There is a supernatural power that we have at our disposal from God.  This is why Hezekiah could tell his people to be strong and courageous.  He knew that God was his source of power.  That is why you can tell other people to be strong and courageous.  You know that God is your power source.

We all need to be encouraged.  None of us can go very long without encouragement.  Some of us need encouraging words every single day while some of us might go several days and not need any, but we all need to be encouraged at some level.

Encouragement is much like a gas tank.  For years, I had always prided myself in the fact that I have never run out of gas.  But that ended one day a while back.  I was driving along on a highway and heard the little bell go off that reminded me that I needed to get gas soon.  Then the little light turned on as a further reminder.  My car was shouting to me that I needed some gas.  I registered this in my mind that I would turn off within the next ten or so miles and fill up on some gas.  But somehow, I completely forgot that I was low on gas, that is, until about forty miles down the road my car turned off.  At first, I thought something was wrong with the engine.  But then it dawned on me: “Jeremy, you forgot to get gas!  How could you forget?”  I looked north, south, east, and west, and could see no sign of any kind of gas station.  So I got out and started walking in the direction I thought a station might be located.  I felt like asking my car for a do over.  I wanted it to forgive me for this mess up and if it would just go to the gas station, then I would fill it up with really nice gas, maybe even put in some 93 octane.  But as you know, a car doesn’t act like that.  There is nothing negotiable about a car and gas.  If it has some, it runs.  If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.  And I knew where I needed to get the gas: at the gas station.  That is the source of gas.  A kind man stopped and took me to the nearest gas station about five miles away and then brought me back to fill up my tank.

People are the same when it comes to encouragement.  We all need it.  We cannot run without it.  And that is why if you feel low in your tank, you need to surround yourself with other people who will encourage you and lift you up.  Also, you must commit yourself to filling up other people’s tanks with encouragement.  But remember the source: God!  Without being connected to Him, you soon run out of courage yourself, and without courage, you cannot pass it on.

A Prayer for Our Schools

Heavenly Father, I come before you today with a heavy heart.  I wonder what You think when You see thousands of students across the United States gather around a flag pole to pray to You.  Are you happy with them?  Does your heart well up with joy because you see so many people gather in Your name?  Do You get excited because You see these students shining brightly for their school?  I wish I could read Your mind, Lord.

I wonder sometimes what You are feeling when Your people gather to pray.  Does Your heart ever break when You hear so many words flow out of the mouths of students who don’t really even know You?  Students who don’t make a difference where they go to school?  Students who are more interested in “fitting in” than “fighting the good fight?”  God, You can look into everyone’s heart.  You know why they are at the pole.  You know whether or not their prayers are genuine.  You know if they are living for You.  You know.

So…I am asking for these things right now for our schools.  I know that these things are what You want.  In your Bible, You make it clear that there are certain things that You desire us to learn.  You make it clear that there are certain things that You desire us to do.  I request these things knowing that it is Your will.  I do not know the timing of the completion of Your will, but I know that “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Almighty Lord, bring truth back into our schools.  Give the teachers freedom to train their students what is correct.  May science be presented with the presupposition that there was an intelligent designer.  God, you must laugh at the idea of evolution.  You hear many call it fact, but You (and Charles Darwin now that he is in eternity) see it as a lie from Satan.  Allow science to point people towards a supernatural creator of this earth.  May history be taught in such a way that students realize that it is really “HIS-STORY.”  Open up the eyes of students so that they can witness God’s story unfold in an interesting and accurate way.  God, when the students are taught math, allow them to see the order in all things, how universal organization was created by someone.  God, as the students learn correct grammar and learn other languages like French, Spanish and German, help them see how unique humanity is, and that we were created to communicate relationally because we were made in Your image.  God, bring truth back into our schools.  Take the confusion out of the schools.  Let every student know what is right and what is wrong, and may they each follow what is right.

Almighty Lord, protect the Administrators as they lead each school.  God, you know that there are many godly leaders in the public school system.  Fill their minds with new ideas that can be implemented in a practical way.  Let these new ideas bring safety to our schools.  Let these new ideas bring respect back to our schools.  God, give the Administrators the authority they need to change the environment our students are in.

Almighty Lord, energize the teachers to be great role models. God, you know that many students have terrible role models in their life.  Allow the teachers to realize this “deeper calling” in their life.  Give each teacher a passion for the students they teach.  Let them not just be “givers of information,” but let them transform the next generation in a positive way.  God, connect the female teachers with female students who need the influence of a godly mother.  God, connect the male teachers with male students who need the influence of a godly father.  May spiritual fathers and mothers fill the hallways of our schools.

Almighty Lord, instill parents with the courage to do what is right for their children.  God, we ask for a multitude of parents who are willing to confront the evil that is now in their schools.  Convict them to do what is best for their children, not just what is best for their pocketbook. Wake the parents up, Oh Lord!  They have slumbered for too long.  They have been preoccupied with their own careers for too long.  They have been too afraid to speak up for too long.  They have been too distant from the reality of what is being taught for too long.  Allow them to see that things are different in schools today.  God, help every parent think deeply about who they are willing to teach their child for eight hours a day.  Rise up godly parents to sit on public school boards so that wise decisions will be made for their children’s future.  If things don’t change in their school, give them the courage to homeschool their children.  Give them the courage to send their children to a Christian school.  Give them courage, Lord.

Almighty Lord, convict believing students to stand firm in their faith.  Give students the discipline to live out their faith each of the 180+ days of school a year, not just a few minutes once a year around a flag pole.  Help our students understand that we are a light in a dark place.  Help our students hold the truth of the gospel up high for all to see every single day in our schools, even if that means that they will be ridiculed, singled out, and ostracized.  Give students the motivation to desire integrity and doing the right thing instead of increasing their level of popularity.  Rise up Your young people, Oh Lord!  Give Your students a passion to proclaim your name to anyone at anytime no matter what the consequences.  And let them be filled with love as they tell others about YOU!

 Almighty Lord, help our families stay together.  God, I feel in my heart that this is the core problem. Families are fragmenting.  They are not staying together.  Our students don’t show respect to our teachers and bus drivers because they are not taught respect at home.  God, for students who don’t have much of a family, may they find a family within their church.  God, help the church to reach out to these students.  My heart cries out to You, Oh Lord, so that administrators, teachers, pastors and parents will rise up and train our students the fundamental virtues of humanity: respect, loyalty, determination, excellence and integrity.

 As I close out my prayer to You, Oh Lord, my mind tells me that it is too late.  Things will not change.  It will only get worse.  But my heart believes.  For You, Oh Lord, are the God where nothing is impossible, and I am comforted in knowing that You will answer my cry to You.

 Amen.