Thank you for reading the message today. I hope that you are all doing well. This was a very hard week, but the Lord helped me to make it through. I thank the Lord for His help and for the opportunity to post the message this week.
For several weeks now, we've been looking at the names and titles for God in the Old Testament. I am going to change up a little bit today. I want us to examine a title for God found in the New Testament. I was thinking about this passage during this week, and I believe that the Lord wanted me to address this in our message today.
II Corinthians 1:3-5 reads, "Praise be to the the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ."
There are actually three different ways that God is referred to in this passage. He is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is God and the Son of God. God is the Father of compassion. His great compassion for all people is clearly demonstrated through the work and ministry of the Lord Jesus.
God is the God of all comfort. This verse makes it clear that God's comfort comes to us through the Lord Jesus. Jesus is always with us. He gives us His presence and He gives us His peace. The Lord brings comfort to us in the midst of our troubles, trials and problems.
I know that the Lord has provided His comfort to me this week. As I've mentioned here on the blog previously, things are pretty difficult at my job right now. It used to be fun going to work there, but now it is really hard to get up and go to work in the morning. There is a lot happening there that really takes a lot of the joy out of life. This week has been especially hard. However, I was able to make it through, because I felt that the Lord Jesus was always with Him. He was continually reminding me of His love. He let me feel in my heart that I was important to Him and that I mattered to Him. Knowing that Jesus loved me helped me to make through the week.
There have been other times that I have felt the the comfort of the Lord. I've had a lot of health problems in my life. In the church that I went to as a young man, those what were sick a lot were looked down upon because they were viewed as either lacking faith or as having done something wrong. For a while, I thought about not even going to church anymore. However, two things happened that I know the Lord brought about to bring comfort in my life and help me to stay on course with Him. First of all, I found two great ministers to listen to on the television who preached about hope. They preached about the love, compassion, kindness and goodness of the Lord. They let me see that not everyone who believed in Jesus was like those who went to the church of my youth. Also, about that time, the Lord allowed me to find my friend Toby who brought love and healing into my heart. God provided His comfort in troubled times.
Recently, I've had some really bad dreams where Toby is lost and I can't find Him. I was really upset and asked the Lord to help me so that I would know that Toby was OK in heaven. The next two nights I had dreams that let me know that Toby was OK. I believe that this was the Lord bringing comfort to my heart because He is the God of compassion and comfort.
Now, God does not comfort us in troubles just so that we can be OK. He helps us and then expects us to help others. We are to be the agents in the world that bring God's love, healing, compassion and comfort to others. That is what those two ministers I just mentioned did. That is what we are to do.
For instance, I know that the Lord comforted to me when others who said that they followed Him were so mean to me. That is why I try to always tell you in these messages that Jesus loves you. He is not against you. He cares about you, and He cares about all of your anxieties and problems. He will never leave you, and He will never forsake you. You are of great value to God. I didn't hear things like this growing up in the church we attended. I want to make sure that you know that Jesus loves you. I also want to tell you that just because you are ill or have chronic health problems doesn't mean that you aren't a good Christian or are a terrible sinner. We live in a world where bad things happen. Jesus loves you just the way you are. Never forget that.
I hope that when you are going through hard times that you will pray and ask Jesus to be with you in a special way. Ask Him to provide you with the comfort that only He can give. I know that He will be with you, and He will make you aware of His presence. He will bring friends or some means to bring good things and hope into your life. Then, when you have felt the comfort of the Lord, be a source of comfort, hope and healing to others that you know so that they will know that Jesus loves and cares about them too. Amen.
Prayer Requests
I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I am not having the best time at work, but God is seeing me through. I am feeling a lot better, and I thank the Lord for this.
Please keep praying for peace. The Israel and Gaza situation is so terrible. People in Gaza need to get aid. Pray for peace. Pray that people will get help. Pray that the hostages will be released.
Pray for peace in the other troubled regions of the world. Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Ukraine and Syria all need our prayers.
Pray for those in California dealing with excess rainfall and snowfall.
For our prayer focus countries this week, I feel that we should once again focus on Western Sahara this week. Let us all pray for those living in Comoros.
Next week, we will continue with our current sermon series. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will post the next section of the book on the Minor Prophets midweek. May God bless you all.
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