2Corinthians 1:3-5, “Be Encouraged!”
When life is draining, exhausting, perhaps overwhelming... when family members are unwilling to recognize the Lordship of Christ, when believing family members struggle with health issues, when a loved one gets hurt, when your own health is failing, when the future seems bleak, it is easy to become discouraged.
Discouragement robs our energy, our strength, our joy, our peace, and our contentment. If discouragement is allowed to take up residence in us, we will most likely succumb to a downward spiral of fatigue, hopelessness, despair, depression, doubt, disfunction and bitterness.
Discouragement can be initiated by ingratitude toward God’s past blessings, leading to indifference toward present opportunities to be blessed; ingratitude and indifference will most likely lead to spiritual apathy and weakness, rendering us useless for tomorrow.
When we stop remembering God’s past blessings we are unable to trust Him for future ones, that leads to discouragement. But the Lord knows our troubles, has great compassion for us, and He wants to help us.
Keeping your eyes on Jesus is the best way to remain encouraged and to experience God’s comfort, peace and rest. You a keep your eyes on Christ by studying His Word, honoring it, and applying it to your life, for it is through your obedient faith in Christ that you receive encouragement.
See Verse 3... God is the God of all comfort, and the Father of compassion. The Greek word translated compassion here [NIV, mercies in the NASB] expresses something that is felt and flows from deep down in the heart, and this would be God’s heart.
God is the author of compassion and mercy, He has expressed this to us through His gift of forgiveness and salvation, setting us free from eternal condemnation and punishment, at the same time granting us eternal life.
Psalm 86:5, "You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you."
The Greek word translated comfort here implies exhortation and encouragement, by coming alongside; another form of this word is used for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Comfort.
John 14:26, ”But the Counselor, [NIV, Helper in the NASB] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and remind you of everything I had said to you.”
See Verse 4... God says He comforts us in all our trouble [NIV, the NASB says affliction = illness, burden, persecution, disease, suffering, discomfort].
Trouble comes in all shapes and sizes, and is always at inopportune times: wayward children, sickness, financial difficulty, loss of a loved one. But trouble also occurs in the heart, where we can become frustrated, fearful, confused, angry discouraged, and even bitter.
We live in a fallen world where sin’s curse is running rampant and so bad things happen; but we are also sinful people, and sometimes the trouble is our own fault. We can be assured that God wants the best for us, He loves us, and even when
we suffer, whether it is our own fault, someone else's, or just the consequence of living in a world that rejects its Creator, Savior and Sustainer, God wants to use whatever happens to us in this life for His own glory and to our own benefit.
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The following is from the Daily Bread, Saturday, April 9, 2016, Take Heart!
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.
I like to watch birds at play, so years ago I built a small sanctuary in our backyard to attract them. For several months I enjoyed the sight of my feathered friends feeding and flitting about—until a Cooper’s Hawk made my bird refuge his private hunting reserve.
Such is life: Just about the time we settle down to take our ease, something or someone comes along to unsettle our nests. Why, we ask, must so much of life be a vale of tears?
I’ve heard many answers to that old question, but lately I’m satisfied with just one: “All the discipline of the world is to make [us] children, that God may be revealed to [us]” (George MacDonald, Life Essential). When we become like children, we begin trusting, resting solely in the love of our Father in heaven, seeking to know Him and to be like Him.
Cares and sorrow may follow us all the days of our lives, but (2Corinthians 4:16-18), “we do not lose heart. . . . For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”.
Heaven’s delights will far outweigh earth’s difficulties.
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James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
So then, trouble or afflictions can actually work to make us better, strengthening our faith through the comfort and mercy that we receive from God in Christ. Philippians 4:12-13, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.” 19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
So, how do we receive this comfort from God? By faith, for we must believe what God tells us, and therefore we receive whatever comfort He provides.
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.” God is ever present in our suffering, helping us.
God sometimes provides comfort to us through His people, with an encouraging
word, a helping hand, someone to listen to our troubles, someone to cry with. God comforts us through His Word, when we read it or hear it we receive
encouragement and hope, as well as instruction and guidance.
And then there is the Holy Spirit, our resident Comforter and Counselor from
God, who lives in us.
God comforts us so that we may bring that same comfort to others who are in
need of comforting.
God allows us to go through hard times and struggles so that we will call upon
Him for help; and then having been helped by God we are able to encourage others who find themselves in need of similar comfort.
In a way, we should be thankful for trouble, for through it we are drawn closer to God, and then sent to help others on God’s behalf. We aren’t comforted by God just so that we might be comfortable; but instead, we are comforted so that we will become comforters also.
Verse 5... May we never forget the suffering our Lord went through for us, whatever comfort, encouragement and hope we receive, whether it comes through people, God’s Word, or whatever circumstances, it is ultimately brought through Jesus Christ, who suffered once for all to the point of death, in order to take our sin punishment and condemnation, that we might live for Him.
God is there in the midst of our suffering, to bring us comfort. God’s comfort is merciful, loving, faithful and infinite. God’s comfort is spiritually received by faith. Encouragement is something that belongs to you as a child of God. God the Father loves you so much that He sent His One and Only Son to save you. God the Son loves you so much He laid down His life for you. God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, lives in you to guide, protect, provide for you, and to give you purpose, according to God’s plan and provision through Christ.
The God of all comfort, the God of all compassion is waiting to show His mercy and love to each one of His children, to anyone who trusts and believes in Him, to all who keep their eyes on Jesus, who said (Matthew 11:28), “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Pastor Mike <‘((((><