Encouragement reflects the nurturing nature of God. It is a beautiful and powerful charism that defies misconceptions about God and ourselves.
The Misconception of a Forceful God
Sadly, many people hold misconceptions about God, perceiving Him as a forceful and tyrannical figure. However, through the charism of encouragement, we have the opportunity to dismantle this harmful belief. We can reflect the nurturing and empowering nature of our heavenly Father.
Empowering Others
Those with the encouragement charism have a special calling to empower others. They serve as a concrete presence of God by actively listening, comforting, counseling, and providing support to those in need. Men and women both embody the qualities of a nurturing and encouraging parental figure.
The Vital Role of Encouragement
While encouragement is often downplayed, it is a vital charism within the Church. In fact, it serves as a guiding force for other charisms. It enables individuals to more fully embrace and utilize their God-given gifts, skills, and talents. Encouragement plays a crucial role in bringing people into faith, hope, and love. It conveys a sense of hope and igniting their passion to serve the Lord.
Recognizing the Stickiness of Encouragement
Encouragement from someone with the charism, rather, tends to linger long after the initial encounter. It has a “stickiness” or lasting impact that builds individuals up beyond a natural level. A simple word of encouragement can reignite someone’s fire and motivate them to persevere in their endeavors.
Testing and Embracing the Charism
Finally, to better utilize the encouragement charism, it is essential to observe how encouragement shows up in our lives. The book, “1001 Ways to Use and Test Your Charisms,” offers over 40 different ways to use it. By discerning and embracing our individual charisms, we can contribute to building a more vibrant and unified Church.
As we conclude today’s episode, let us remember the power of encouragement in reflecting the nurturing nature of God. We urge you to begin discovering your own charisms and embark on a discernment journey by visiting manypartsministries.com. As Jesus taught us, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Let us be generous with our encouragement, uplifting one another, and journeying together as we build the Kingdom of God.
Learn more at Many Parts Ministries.
Jill Simons [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Charisms for Catholics. My name is Jill Simons and I’m the executive director at Many Parts Ministries where we equip the Body of Christ by helping people learn about and discern their charisms which is really another word for spiritual gifts. When you discern your charisms, you’re able to see how the Holy Spirit is already active in your life and where he is inviting you to further build the Church. Let’s dive in. Today we get to chat about the charism of encouragement which is one of my favorites. I just love the fact that it is so important to the Holy Spirit to encourage his people. And I think that this is an aspect of God that has really been blown open in my mind as I have gotten to know him better and better as my spiritual life has progressed. And I think that not enough people understand that this is really a core attribute of God, this desire to encourage and uplift and upbuild his people.
Jill Simons [00:01:07]:
And there’s this really harmful and erroneous sense of God that develops where he’s just trying to bend people to his will and make us do what he wants to do. And he’s kind of this tyrannical, forceful father figure and that could not be further from the truth of who God is. And so people who very specifically have this encouragement charism are people that speak against this and really speak to this part of the nature of God. And so when we look at encouragement as a charism, we’re looking for people to be empowered, to be an emissary of God’s love and really God’s nurturing through their presence, through their ability to listen, through how they can comfort and counsel someone and really be that concrete presence of God, both listening and encouraging people to move forward. And so this is really commonly given to a wide variety of people. I think a lot of people assume that this is primarily women but I have been shocked throughout my time working in charisms at how many men also have this charism. And it’s really their call to be that encouraging father figure in the lives of those people around them. And what we’re looking for here is this sense of hope that flows through these people into the Church.
Jill Simons [00:02:38]:
The fact that it’s not done until it’s done, if you’re still breathing, it’s not too late, that the Holy Spirit always has the opportunity to do a new thing anytime we surrender to Him. And what we’re looking for in testing the charism of encouragement is really I like to call it its stickiness, its staying power with the people that are encouraged by these people. So for instance, someone who does not have a charism of encouragement a lot of times they will encourage someone and it’s lovely and it’s nice and that’s a wonderful thing for them to do but it won’t stay with people in the same kind of way that it will if you have a charism of encouragement. So we don’t want to discourage anyone from encouraging other people but we want to recognize the fact that some people do have this special gift to encourage people in a way that then stays with them and really builds them up in a way that is beyond the natural level. So you’ve probably had someone random tell you good job, you did really great and you might remember that for a certain amount of time, maybe longer if that’s an important person to you or an important influence in your life, but eventually it kind of fades away. As opposed to someone with an encouragement charism. A lot of times the very specific thing that they said when they said it, how they said it will stay with people for a very long time and that will be something that is a source of encouragement that people can return to. So I think of one specific person that has encouraged me specifically around public speaking. I’ve received a variety of compliments around my speaking abilities throughout my career and they’ve all been lovely and I appreciate them but there’s a very specific person, actually several people but the one in my mind is a specific person who encouraged me and after they did so I was like did you just discern an encouragement charism? Did that rise to the top for you? And they were like yeah. I think that’s correct because I really experienced that through them and that is really one of the primary ways that you test that encouragement charism. Where encouragement shows up is incredibly diverse.
Jill Simons [00:05:05]:
It can be in a whole host of different scenarios. And so when you read our book “1001 Ways to Use and Test Your Charisms”, there are a whole bunch, almost 40, more than 40 different ways for you to test out this encouragement charism. Beginner, intermediate, hard, and advanced ways to really both test and use this charism in the long run if you think that this is one of yours. But a lot of people with encouragement will really downplay its importance. And so the last thing I want to speak to is the fact that this is a very vital charism. Every single charism is incredibly vital and there’s no lesser ones and greater ones. They’re just different. And encouragement might seem like a boring, lame, not very contributory charism to have, but your encouragement is essentially the rudder that runs everything else in a lot of ways.
Jill Simons [00:06:07]:
Because if we have people with a whole bunch of beautiful gifts and skills and talents from the Lord that they’re trying to use, but they get discouraged, they don’t use them anymore, they don’t move forward and try to invest in them. But when they receive supernatural encouragement from you, that gives them that return of the Holy Spirit fire to have that spark, to get back in the game. To overcome that discouragement that has come against them. And so if you are one of my encouragement people, I see you. I know it can feel small, but it is incredibly, incredibly important. It calls me back to that Bible verse about the power of the tongue, where it’s like the rudder of the whole ship. And encouragement is, of course, an offshoot of that. How you speak to other people, especially when you have this gift, is going to influence how the whole ship runs. And so thank you for walking in this charism, if this is one of yours.
Jill Simons [00:07:13]:
I’ve benefited from my encouragement people so frequently, and I invite you to really be generous with every charism, but especially this one. Encourage liberally, encourage lots of people in lots of ways, because that’s what God wants to do. God’s heart is always to bring people into faith, hope and love. And you really bring that hope piece of the puzzle when you encourage. Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode of Charisms for Catholics. If you would like to learn more about your charisms or begin your own discernment journey, head to our website at manypartsministries.com where you can download our free PDF guide to all 24 charisms and also begin your own journey by taking our charism assessment.
