August 26 - God of All Comfort
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The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is also the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. Our Abba in heaven who has given us life and being is also the Father of mercies and comfort. It is His role to send comfort to His children out of His abundant mercies. The word “all” is very meaningful for His comfort applies to “all” different kinds of affliction that we receive from this world. None of our pains or sorrows is outside of the comfort that is available to us in God the Father.
God’s comfort can be multiplied through His comforted children. With the comfort we have received from the Father, we can then comfort each other. Our comfort does not come from our own human efforts but is divine, coming all the way from the Father through us. So the believing community is also a comforting community, offering God’s comfort to those that are hurting so the Father’s all comfort can go to all the people of God. As His children, we all share in the sufferings of Christ. Such sufferings are abundant and come in many ways, but they are all met with the abundant and all comfort of the Father.
The way to spread God’s comfort is to receive it for yourself first and then in turn give it to others who are hurting. One of the most powerful ways of bringing in God’s comfort is through the work of intercession. When Paul recalled his own experience in Asia, he thanked the Corinthian believers for helping him in prayer when they were so utterly burdened beyond their strength and were despaired of life itself. While like under the sentence of death, the prayer of the saints made a difference. Now Paul was declaring the reality of the salvation of God in the past, present and future.
The end result of receiving God’s comfort is that many will give thanks for the blessings given to us through the prayers of many. The more intercession a community has, the more thanksgiving will there be. The prayers of many are effective and powerful in bringing in healing and salvation to those under affliction. It does not only make the load lighter but removes the fear and hopelessness in the afflicted ones so that they may trust God. The sharing of sufferings and comfort is always a part of God’s community on earth.
Are you under any affliction? Enlist the prayer of many others so that you may receive the comfort from the Father. When you received His comfort, it is your responsibility to share it with others. Do you realize that there are sufferings in the lives of others? Pause now and make a list of those you think that they are under affliction. Begin now to intercede on their behalf, come alongside and pray with them for God’s hand to move. The result will fill you with thanksgiving.
Ps 93:1-5 Job 20:1-22:30 2 Cor 1:1-11 Prov 22:2-4