Empowerment by Encouragement

by | Aug 1, 2026 | Inspiration

On February 11, 1990, undefeated heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson fought James “Buster” Douglas in what was supposed to be little more than a tune-up bout for Tyson. Doulas had a respectful record, 29-4-1, while Mike Tyson’s record was  37-0 with 33 knockouts. Douglas’ was known to be erratic, with a lack of heart and discipline.  Oddsmakers made Tyson a 42-1 favorite to win. There was one person, however, who believed Buster Douglas could win – the woman who gave birth to him, Lula Pearl.  Lula Pearl died three weeks before the bout.  Her death, coupled with her belief in her son and her encouraging words prior to her death, provided added motivation for Douglas.  He stunned the boxing world by not only going toe to toe with Tyson for the entire ten rounds, but in that  tenth round he knocked Tyson out.  Buster Douglas rode the memory of his mother’s love and encouragement to be crowned Heavyweight Champion of the World.1

I like the word encouragement. Encouragement is one of those words that just sounds positive when it is spoken. It sounds kind, helpful, hopeful, and caring.  It suggests support, success, strength, renewal.  The only time I know of it not being a positive word is when it is applied to encouragement to do something wrong, bad, or harmful.  At the same time, its antonym, discouragement, is one of those words that typically carries negative baggage with it.  It evokes feelings of low motivation, thoughts of being helpless or hopeless, suggestions of  weakness, and inevitable failure. The only time I know of it not being a negative word is when it is applied to discouragement from doing something wrong, bad, or harmful.

So what is encouragement? Let’s break it down. “En” is a prefix meaning “to put into.” “Ment” is a suffix meaning “the action taken or the result of” the verb or noun it is attached to. So, encouragement results when something or someone causes courage to be put into another person.  Courage is the willingness to move forward despite the presence of fear, apprehension, and self-doubt. Bravery is not credited to us unless our actions come in the presence of something which scares us and/or threatens us. Courage is the willingness to move forward – to climb the hill  and storm the castle – despite the presence of fear and apprehension regarding one’s health, possessions, life , and death.  To encourage is to build strength, generate renewal, and/or restore hope into another individual.

Encouragement is empowerment one person bestows on another to move forward despite apprehension they feel physically and emotionally.  Opportunities for giving the gift of encouragement to another person abound for those whose desire is to make a difference in people’s lives. Opportunities exist in those whose hopes and dreams are deemed out of reach, in those who feel isolated – especially that no one cares about his/her concerns, in those who feel helpless and/or hopeless, in those who experience domino effects of bad circumstances one right after another, and in those whose reaction to others who succeed is jealousy, not increased motivation and inspiration to succeed.

What are some of the tools of encouragement that can help us in a ministry of encouragement?

  • Words of hope that enable those who are discouraged to be truly hopeful; words that are reasoned, seasoned, and measured; words that are appropriate for the moment – genuine, realistic, yet challenging. There  are no words better to share than the words of God in the Bible.
  • Being a good example to the discouraged of what it means to live encouraged.
  • Our presence with them when they are discouraged to show they are cared for.
  • Citing other’s successes as motivation, but only in the sense of,  “If they can do it, you can, too.”
  • The doubts of others can inspire and motivate the discouraged person to prove the others wrong.

We see how the role of encourager played out it the lives of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Tolkien struggled with discouragement while he was writing  Lord of the Rings – even to the point of quitting several times.  But each time, Lewis, who was the only one who saw merit in Tolkien’s project, urged Tolkien to continue. Tolkien later thanked his friend when he said, “The unspeakable debt I owe him cannot be fathomed.  For long, he was my only audience.”2

The consummate encourager is God. We know that fact from many verses in the Bible. As you read just a few of them below, allow God’s encouragement to wash over you so that He can inspire you to have a ministry of encouragement.

  • Psalm 31:24 ESV – “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!”
  • Isaiah 43:1-3 ESV – “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”
  • Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

 

1Houston Chronicle,  2/11/2015, p.C7.
2Today’s Christian, May/June  2018, p.10.