We all face sufferings, trials and burdens of various kinds. Paul and the Corinthian believers faced sufferings that were even to the point of being beaten and killed by others. The great news is that God the Father is the God of all comfort and the Father of mercy/compassion. He not only expresses these attributes, but he is the origin of them! He loves us, cares about us and feels with us our struggles. In the ESV, the word comfort (or comforts or comforted) is used 9 times between verses 3-7. Part of the comfort comes from the body of Christ, for God comforts us that we can comfort others (v 4). The implied parallel is that we also go through some sufferings to be able to comfort those experiencing similar problems. As the writer of Hebrews says, Jesus was made perfect/complete in what he suffered so that he is a high priest who understands our weakness and suffering (Heb 2:10,17-18).
Thank you Father God for your love and compassion! Thank you that you care about us and our struggles and our pain. Help us to look to you and trust you and find strength and help in you. And help us to see the needs and struggles of those around us that we can comfort them with the comfort we've received!
Amen
Amen is one of those words that Christians use often without fully understanding. Most will end their prayers with an "Amen" without understanding why or what it means. Jesus would often begin his teachings with "Amen, I say to you", which is often translated "Truly I say to you". So a basic translation of "Amen" might be "It is true", "Truly" or "I agree with the truth of this". Paul, Peter, Jude and John all have prayers in the letters that they wrote that end with "Amen" (Rom 1:25,9:5, Gal 1:5, 1 Peter 4:11, Jude 1:25, Rev 7:12). Here Paul clarifies that all God's promises are "Yes" in Christ Jesus (v 20). He both is the fulfillment and he brings them to fulfillment. He is trustworthy and true. And as Jesus said when we ask in his name, we shall have what we ask for (John 14:13-14). From this we get the common prayer ending of "In Jesus name, Amen." Clearly though simply add the "in Jesus name" is not what it means when Jesus told us to pray in his name. When we do something in someone's name, we are doing it for them, and doing something that they would both agree with and do or say themselves. So we want to pray things that Jesus would want and then we know that he will fulfill the prayers. Then we say "Amen" and agree with Jesus and bring glory to God (v 20).
There is much more that can be said about prayer such as "How do we know if we are praying something that Jesus would agree with?" and "Will God always answer our prayers?" etc. but we'll have to wait for another time to talk about these.
Establishing, anointing, sealing and giving!
I am struck by the statement in verses 21-22. "It is God who establishes you in Christ" - it is God who makes us stand and who strengthens us and makes us grow and prosper in Christ. He has anointed us, sealed us and given us his Holy Spirit. Anointing was done for prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament to set them apart, prepare them and commission them for their task. The sealing is done both to make secure and put an identity upon us. Both the anointing and sealing is done by the Holy Spirit - God himself who lives within us - and who is a guarantee of eternal life, adoption into the family of God and a relationship that we have with God.
Thank you Father God for listening to and answering our prayers! Thank you for establishing, anointing, sealing us and giving us your Holy Spirit to live in our hearts! This is all too wonderful to ask or imagine and all I can do is say thank you, thank you and thank you!! You are so good to us!! I love you!
Thank you Father God for your love and compassion! Thank you that you care about us and our struggles and our pain. Help us to look to you and trust you and find strength and help in you. And help us to see the needs and struggles of those around us that we can comfort them with the comfort we've received!
Amen
Amen is one of those words that Christians use often without fully understanding. Most will end their prayers with an "Amen" without understanding why or what it means. Jesus would often begin his teachings with "Amen, I say to you", which is often translated "Truly I say to you". So a basic translation of "Amen" might be "It is true", "Truly" or "I agree with the truth of this". Paul, Peter, Jude and John all have prayers in the letters that they wrote that end with "Amen" (Rom 1:25,9:5, Gal 1:5, 1 Peter 4:11, Jude 1:25, Rev 7:12). Here Paul clarifies that all God's promises are "Yes" in Christ Jesus (v 20). He both is the fulfillment and he brings them to fulfillment. He is trustworthy and true. And as Jesus said when we ask in his name, we shall have what we ask for (John 14:13-14). From this we get the common prayer ending of "In Jesus name, Amen." Clearly though simply add the "in Jesus name" is not what it means when Jesus told us to pray in his name. When we do something in someone's name, we are doing it for them, and doing something that they would both agree with and do or say themselves. So we want to pray things that Jesus would want and then we know that he will fulfill the prayers. Then we say "Amen" and agree with Jesus and bring glory to God (v 20).
There is much more that can be said about prayer such as "How do we know if we are praying something that Jesus would agree with?" and "Will God always answer our prayers?" etc. but we'll have to wait for another time to talk about these.
Establishing, anointing, sealing and giving!
I am struck by the statement in verses 21-22. "It is God who establishes you in Christ" - it is God who makes us stand and who strengthens us and makes us grow and prosper in Christ. He has anointed us, sealed us and given us his Holy Spirit. Anointing was done for prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament to set them apart, prepare them and commission them for their task. The sealing is done both to make secure and put an identity upon us. Both the anointing and sealing is done by the Holy Spirit - God himself who lives within us - and who is a guarantee of eternal life, adoption into the family of God and a relationship that we have with God.
Thank you Father God for listening to and answering our prayers! Thank you for establishing, anointing, sealing us and giving us your Holy Spirit to live in our hearts! This is all too wonderful to ask or imagine and all I can do is say thank you, thank you and thank you!! You are so good to us!! I love you!
In the NIV, the word comfort (or comforts or comforted) is also used 9 times between verses 3-7. Our God is the God with all comfort and the origin of comfort.
ReplyDeletev4 also stands out to me, "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with comfort we ourselves have received from God." I think to receive comfort from God during our troubles and hardships, we need to prepare not only a broken heart, but also a humble heart. Then, with a thankful heart, we will be glad to comfort others with the same comfort from God, which can be done via listening to them and then sharing them with our testimony of how trustworthy God heals us our heart and leas us in our life.