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COMFORT

When you read the following...

2 Corinthians 1:3-7, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the Source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.

I wonder what kind of image that brought to mind. God's comfort is not some sympathizing pat on the hand as you sit helpless and alone in your trial or misery.

The word we find in the text above "comfort", comes from two Latin words combined. "Com" means WITH. "Fort" comes from fortis that means POWER. Comfort them means "with power" God meets us in our circumstance, in our weighty troubles and pain.

The truth is, there is no salvation, wholeness, healing, forgiveness, hope, restoration, strength or the fullness of life in anyone else. Wholeness of life can be found in Jesus Christ alone. Wholeness and peace are not due to the lack of life-struggle. They are found in the Presence of God alone.

When a person believes what God has done for them in Jesus Christ (a rescue and salvation impossible to ever achieve by human effort), that Jesus has paid the price for all sin and by His death as destroyed death as "the final word" in a person's life...that person becomes a "new creation". The Holy Spirit unites that one to Jesus' death and resurrection and give the believer a new heart and a new spirit. THEN, God, Himself, the Holy Spirit comes to live out in the believer the Life of Jesus Christ, resurrection life.

From start to finish, the work of restoring one to full humanity is the work of God alone. His promise to be life within us, that the Holy Spirit IS our "Comforter" means that His grace is not a mere sympathetic pat on the head, but the same Power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead actively working in the believer.

That "with-power" that is God's comfort is present even when we are not aware of it, even if what we feel seems to negate God's promise. He is with you, He lives in you, He is for you and His grace now being exercised in you, even when your grief and pain would make you howl, does not come in "dribs and drabs". It comes in a torrent of love and power to be your salvation, your restoration, your peace.

Look at the picture below...there is a good look at the grace, the "with power" that God has for you. He IS your Good Shepherd. He knows how to care for you in this broken and chaotic world WITH POWER. Trust Him; turn it all over to Him; surrender all of life to Him. You were never meant to live life as if it depended on you. You cannot bear that weight. He has borne in for you and will live that Life out within you. He's telling you the truth.



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