I Want to be Your Cheerleader!
“Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?” might’ve been a cheer you’ve heard over the years. When you think of a cheerleader, who do you think of? One of Isaiah’s favorite programs is The Goldberg’s, which has a mom who can only be described as The Cheerleader for her children. Right or wrong, she is strong in their court and I think that is why she is every young man’s dream mom. Me, not so. I’m more for do what’s right, do it right and do it when I tell you to do it.
But I heard Pastor Cathy Mazza say recently that at home, she is trying not to be so critical to her kids, not reminding her kids what they need to do or didn’t do, but she is learning to be their cheerleader.
What a sweet concept! A cheerleader! I’d love to be that kind of person to not only my husband, children and grandchildren but to the world in general. Maybe that’s what the world needs now, although the song What the World Needs Now is Love is pretty relevant, what we all really need is a cheerleader; a journeymate who can inspire us to keep pressing on. Wouldn’t that be great? Come on, now, let’s hear it for the home team, your home team of people in your family that you love. Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah, let’s hear it for our kids, friends and loved ones!
Cheering involves the uttering or making of sounds and may be used to encourage, excite to action, indicate approval, or welcome says Wikipedia. The term “sis boom bah*” is a term popular in U.S. high school and college cheers. It was used by Johnny Carson's character Carnac the Magnificent.
I think perhaps Jesus could be called the Ultimate Cheerleader. In the prayer titled, “Jesus Prays for All Believers” He prays something we can pray, that all who believe through His prayers and testimony may be one, so that the world around us can see that God sent Him. That we will walk in unity and that people will know that they are loved. And how about when he encouraged Peter to get out of that boat and actually walk on water?
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
He cheers us on through prayer and that is something we all can attain to do. We pray each day that we can encourage, that we can love, and that we can press on in a world that is often conflicted. We can pray for those who are hurting, those who need healing and those who feel alone, sometimes through their own isolation.
Paul was a great cheerleader, also, in fact the whole first chapter of Ephesians cheers us on.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Ephesians 1
Paul also was so sweet in writing to Philemon saying, “Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, “Oh, thank you, God!” I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to other believers. And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do, and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel, doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers.” If that doesn’t cheer someone on or cheer someone up, I can’t imagine what would.
The Psalms are full of cheers:
“I love you, God—
you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.
I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.” (from Psalms 18 The Message)
So I encourage you to join me in becoming a cheerleader, cheer people in your life on, look up verses and cling to them. Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah, it will do your own heart good! You may find the encouragement you gave away to someone made their day. I guarantee that you will be cheered up also.
*sis-boom-bah
cheerleading chant, originally (1867) an echoic phrase imitating the sound of a skyrocket flight ( sis), the burst of the fireworks ( boom), and the reaction of the crowd ( (b)ah).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
