LIFT Daily Prayer: Comfort and Build One Another Up | November 9, 2025
For believers committed to practical Christian living and spiritual discipleship, the Apostle Paul provides a clear directive in 1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing”. This scripture serves as the foundational verse for understanding the necessity of “doing the church” through active, supportive engagement with others.
This mandate is crucial for believers navigating daily life, especially during times marked by the advancement of evil and the pressures of the holiday season. The call to comfort and edify focuses the Christian mission away from immediate gratification and toward mutual spiritual fitness [j].
1. The Threefold Call: Comfort, Edify, and Continue
The instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 contains three critical factors that must be applied to the believer’s prayer life and daily conduct:
- Comfort Each Other: Offering support and solace.
- Edify One Another: Building others up.
- Continue Doing It: Maintaining this practice consistently (“just as you also are doing”).
The command to continue performing these acts suggests a grand assumption made by the Bible: that believers should be practicing comfort and edification all the time. This was the positive reputation of the Church at Thessalonia.
2. Practical Application: How to “Do the Church”
Discipleship living requires believers to actively apply these mandates whenever they come in contact with someone—be it a family member, husband, wife, child, stranger, congregant at church, or grocery store employee.
Offering Comfort
Comforting others means finding someone in need and applying a Christ-centered attitude. While the specific action may be guided by God, comfort can take several forms:
- Asking if they need prayer.
- Giving a hug.
- Writing a note.
It is essential to assume that every person encountered—whether a brother or not—is a potential recipient of comfort.
Practicing Edification
Edifying means to lift each other up through “edifying words”. This involves deliberate actions to build someone up:
- Expressing Appreciation: Thanking someone for their faithfulness in their role, whether on a ministry team, as a church greeter, at a job, or behind a counter.
- Acknowledging Effort: Acknowledging and appreciating individuals for what they do.
- Encouragement: Seeking to say something encouraging to others.
Edification requires believers to decide to be “nice for Jesus sake” and maintain a right, Christ-centered attitude.
3. The Necessity of Authentic Christian Witness
The difference between a believer and the world is in action. Believers are “the church folks,” not the world, and must not act like the world.
Action Over Words
Christian faith is validated not by mere profession but by lived reality. Saying one is a Christian “a million times” does not change anything unless one truly is a Christian. If a person is genuinely a Christian, they will naturally be interested in comforting others and building them up (edifying).
This living witness is crucial in the face of current events, which demand that believers choose to run the race with endurance by prioritizing spiritual actions over apathy [j].
Overcoming Apathy and Conviction
The call to comfort and edify is a mandate to overcome apathy. Some believers may feel convicted, recognizing they “haven’t been loving people” or expressing gratitude and encouragement. The ultimate goal is to obey God by comforting and edifying one another, and continuing to do so until they see the Lord Jesus Christ.