The God of All Comfort

 PRAYER PRACTICE

Spoken Prayer – Out loud, pray for God to speak to you through your reading. Praise God for giving us His word. Ask the Spirit to help you read with faith, and to live out what you hear from God through the passage.

DAILY READING

2 Corinthians 1:3-11 

DEVOTION / REFLECTION

Humble Enough to Receive Comfort

by Judy Webb

I heard a speaker tell his audience about suffering and trials. He said that we cannot escape this inevitability in life. No one gets through it unscathed; we all will experience either illness, death, sadness, betrayal or personal ruin. Maybe all of these. In fact he went on to explain that we are all either, just coming out of an uncomfortable situation, in the midst of one, or preparing to enter this season. The only variable is the degree of the struggle.

That is one reason I cling so desperately to Jesus during the good times and the bad. He is the one to provide comfort as only a loving God can. We experience this comfort and accept it, then we do the same for others - we learn how to comfort them.  

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (Verse 5-7)

I know that Jesus has used friends to come alongside me when life was hard. He had prepared church members to be the Body of Christ when this support was needed. In turn, that prepared me to do likewise. But, often we never receive the comfort of others because our pride gets in the way and we never reveal our needs. So we never receive the comfort God would give to us through them.

This is actually robbing them of the joy of serving others, denying them the opportunity to comfort and pray for brothers and sisters. Pride can stop us from sharing the Good News of Jesus. When we do what Jesus did, and come alongside our brothers and sisters we may have opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Swallow that pride and let people in to your life. Let them share in your suffering and pain. You will make friends that last a life-time. 

Jesus, reveal opportunities to bring comfort and love to someone in pain. Holy Spirit, give me the words and the nudge I need to do this. Amen