He Comforts Us in Our Troubles

2 Corinthians 1:3-5(NLT)
“3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.”

Everyone has troubles – and I’m sure you can name a few off the top of your head. We all need help, advice or comfort at some point. God is merciful in our times of trouble, and because of His amazing grace, we can comfort and uplift others.

God has given us the authority through His love to be able to pour out love and kindness to other people. It is especially meaningful to be a conduit of His love towards those that are enduring a troubling season in their lives. Take the Apostle Paul’s example for instance. He understood that his mission was to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to instruct the church in righteousness, but Paul had a past. Before his Road to Damascus experience, he actually persecuted Christians. He faced what many of us face today, in that people who knew his past tried to use it to hold him back. 

The church at Corinth had a lot of problems. They hadn’t renewed their minds to God’s Word in important areas of the faith. Division among them crept in. Following his call by the Lord Jesus Christ to guide the church in righteousness and Godliness, Paul wrote the Corinthians an epistle under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was sent to sternly correct them. Some changed their ways after receiving this correction, but others strongly turned against him. Some even said that he was not a real Apostle of Jesus Christ.

There can be no question that Paul suffered persecution and endured things many of us living today couldn’t endure. As he wrote the Second Epistle of Corinthians under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul knew and had experienced the comfort of God through tribulation personally, and this is one of the reasons he was able to offer this same comfort to other believers. Paul knew God’s power, and this gave him the confidence to minister, serve, and help others. We are not sufficient in and of ourselves. Paul wrote in 2Corinthians 3:5 that our sufficiency comes from God. Our Heavenly Father empowers us through His tremendous love, and this very same love gives us the strength to encourage, comfort, and help others.

It’s no question that all of us will go through seasons in our lives when we endure pain and suffering. Like Paul, we all make poor judgements and bad choices. Many of us start out with a healthy appetite for living God’s way, but we will sometimes allow relationships with a significant person to throw us off the path. By the third or fourth month of dating, self-control goes straight out of the window. This is the condition many Christians find themselves in. They succumb to the pressures of life and the flesh; they give themselves over to sinful behavior. I’ve heard many of my single Christian friends say how much they regret actions like these, because their sinful actions caused so many problems, and my friends wished they had been more patient while dating. 

Our God will make sure that we never lose out when we patiently endure, no matter how challenging things may seem. He will reward us for living His way and by following the example of Jesus Christ. Paul knew this. He had experienced the power, grace, and mercy of God continually. Paul had a problem that was so troublesome to him that he called this problem a throne in his flesh. He prayed to God about it, and God told him in 2Corinthians 12:8 (NLT), “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

God knows we’re going to make mistakes, but He never stops loving us; therefore, we must not allow our mistakes to keep us from loving and helping others. We’ve got work to do, and we shouldn’t let anything keep us from being a blessing to the Lord’s people. God told Paul to lean on His grace, and this is precisely what we must do. God’s power works best in weakness. We must remember this no matter what we’re going through, no matter how much we are tested. Things can become bad very quickly, but tribulation should press us to draw closer to God because we have no other help but Him. We must lean on Him and remember that it’s in the struggle that we’ll see the overwhelming strength and power of God’s love.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“He Comforts Us in Our Troubles”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

With God’s Love, You Have All You Need

It’s time to take a serious look at your life.  Lessons that are

constantly on repeat will continue to reveal what you need to change or let go. 

Breaking up with someone that you care a lot about is very hard to do. Whether you’ve been together six-months or six years, letting go is not something that comes naturally to most of us. We live in a world that encourages us to cling to what is comfortable and easy—and this includes relationships, even when we know in our hearts that they’re not good for us. “Moving on” is a process, and many of us have yet to learn it, but it is incredibly important that we do. Life is a very dynamic entity, and it doesn’t just do away with lessons simply because we refuse to learn them. All of us must open our eyes and recognize when we’ve made decisions that were unwise. Owning our mistakes and learning from them isn’t a downer; it’s one of life’s rewards, because it allows God the room to bless us even more. 

A friend shared how devastated she was after recently coming out of a long-term relationship with her boyfriend. They’d been together for a couple of years, and she said to me, “If I could only make this pain go away.”  I could sympathize, remembering saying those exact words once myself. A broken heart can make us go through all kinds of emotional pain, but sometimes it isn’t so much about losing the person that has betrayed, abandoned, or mistreated us. It’s about the fear we have of being alone, of not feeling as though we can depend on something that we’ve grown accustomed to. Whether we realize it or not, this fear is the thing that is causing misery, not a broken heart. The fear is the thing that keeps us spiritually immature. It can paralyze our lives if we don’t take authority through the Lord Jesus Christ, so we can begin to walk in the liberty he extends.

God designed life in such a way that learning to surrender is a spiritual lesson all of us must learn. Jesus Christ teaches by way of an invitation in Matthew 11:28-30(NIV). In this passage, he says, “28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This is packed with so much good stuff that it must be read repeatedly throughout our lives. We need to keep going back to chew on it some more, and we’ll come away with a brand-new beautiful revelation of the beauty and love of Christ every time.

Jesus Christ is our burden-bearer. We do not have to carry the struggles of life upon ourselves, because we don’t have the strength to do it. Moses and God’s people sang in Exodus 15:2(NIV), “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.” We are here on this earth to build our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Life was not intended to be lived through anyone other than our wonderful Redeemer and Savior. We can’t allow our dependence or comfortability to become an idol that we worship and serve.  

We must open our eyes when we’re doing this, when we’re trying to cling to a person because we feel our lives will not be good without them. This is a lie that the devil wants us to believe, so that he can continue to steal our authority and dominion. We must not allow it to happen. We must surrender our discomfort and dependency issues to Jesus, because he will break every chain of bondage in our lives.

Isaiah 26:3 says that God will keep in perfect peace everyone whose minds are stayed on Him, because they trust in Him. Having God’s peace, allowing it to saturate your heart—this is where you want to get to. The way to get there is to focus your mind on the Lord Jesus Christ and continue to keep this focus. He’s our source of strength, and he will give us rest for our souls, but we can’t forget the instruction he gave us in Matthew 11:29. He said we must learn about him by studying God’s Word. The Bible is a living Word, and when we take it into our minds and hearts, it feeds us. This is the food we are truly looking for. We are tricked into believing a person can feed our souls, but it is the living Word of God that we are truly hungering after.

Don’t continue to allow the vital nutrients of joy, peace, and enthusiasm to be continually sucked from your life. Do yourself the greatest favor and feast on God and His Word. Now is the time to press into Him. Pray that He will help you surrender every piece of emotional baggage that hinders your relationship with Him, because if it hurts your relationship with God, then it is hurting you. Understand that when you have God, you will always have more than enough. So, be confident that He loves You, and with His love, you have all you need. ■

New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

“With God’s Love, You Have All You Need”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Regain Your Balance

“For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” 1Corinthians 4:20(NLT)

Costly mistakes should cause us to ask, “What am I doing wrong? Could it have been sinful thoughts and behaviors over a long period of time or is it my pride that blinds me?”

My friend Miranda was the kind of woman that never sat anywhere for long. She was constantly on the move, and her kids were accustomed to their mother’s whimsical and impetuous behavior; it was all they knew. You could call Miranda on a Wednesday morning to say ‘hello’, and out of the blue, she’d be on a train to New York, taking her daughter for modeling classes. The two-and-a-half-hour train ride and taking her daughter out of school for the day, we’re not even a consideration. To her friends, these spur-of-the-moment decisions were both adventurous and sometimes frivolous, but this was Miranda’s pattern. She’d go full force on a whim, and never considered the reality that sooner or later, there would be a cost that had to be paid. 

It’s one thing to live carefree, it’s a completely different story to have the wisdom to make good and wise choices. Godly wisdom makes all the difference. God tells us in Proverbs 4:7 that wisdom is the principal thing, and we should get it and also get a good understanding of how to apply that wisdom. When a person lives their life and seldom consult God about their choices and decisions, mistakes are inevitable, and sometimes these mistakes lead to devastating circumstances. 

When a person makes a big mistake, many believers refer to it as a fall from grace. It shows up in the form of a failed marriage or important relationship, a lost job or home, and it can even drive some people to other addictive behaviors. Mistakes that lead to great loss will indicate that our lives are off balance. We’re not trusting God and inviting Him to lead, guide, and direct our lives, and we will never be on solid footing without standing on the solid foundation of Christ. The awesome truth about God and His love is that He will always help us turn this around.

Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to live boring or unfulfilling lives. Jesus Christ told his disciples in John 16:24(NKJV), “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” This is what God wants for all of us. He wants our joy to be full, and this is why He has given us His Word and placed His Spirit inside us; so that we can navigate beautifully through the rocky terrain of life. If we don’t use His wisdom, we can’t do this. 

Proverbs 14:1(NLT) tells us, “A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.” This isn’t what we want to do. We should desire to model good judgement to our children. Through our example, they should learn to balance joy and fulfillment with the discipline of obedience to God. If we seek God first in all that we do, we save ourselves from costly mistakes. So, let’s stay on the path of righteousness by following the example of Jesus Christ. When we do this, and stay humble before the Lord, he will help us make good choices and make sure we receive all the rewards that come with them.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Regain Your Balance ”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Keep God Front and Center

‘Do what you want to do, feel the excitement of life to the fullest, but remember to always be true to yourself.’ You’ve probably heard similar expressions or even know people who will only follow their own rules in life.  This kind of mind-set is not new and it’s certainly not new to God.

If ever there was someone born with a proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, it was King Solomon. He is said to be the wisest person ever to have lived, and his wealth was equally vast. As with most wise individuals, Solomon hungered for more wisdom, and made a study of everything to do with pleasures, business, and happiness. In the Old Testament, God’s Word tells us much about Solomon’s views on life, both the joy and the sadness of it. 

Like many of us, he was looking to define the meaningfulness of existence, and sometimes he had a pessimistic view, even finding life to be very empty at times. If we’re honest we’d have to admit that many of us feel this way sometimes ourselves. We take one step forward and something happens to knock us two steps back. A person might start to feel like “What’s the use…I try and try, and still can’t make this thing work.” 

We must keep in mind that King Solomon spent his entire life exploring, experiencing, and analyzing everything the world had to offer. He’d done it all and had studied just about everything that could be studied. He showed us that when you step outside of God’s purpose, and you try to find meaning outside of pleasing Him, you are going to meet with misery at every level. Colossians 2:7(NLT) tells us, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Instead of endeavoring to grow in our relationship with God, many of us look to sink our roots in people, situations, or in our own personal agendas. God commands us to let our roots grow down into Christ. He’s the firm foundation on which we can build a great life. 

Without God, people merely exist, moving from one experience to another. This isn’t what God wants. He wants us to have a rich and satisfying life, and He tells us in His Word to start out laying the foundation in our youth. His wisdom to young people is spoken through Solomon in Ecclesiastes 12:1,6(NLT). It tells us, “1 Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore. 6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well.” It was prevalent in Solomon’s day, thousands of years ago, for young folks to party and live frivolously, doing whatever pleasured them. They had no thought of how this would impact their lives as they grew older. This attitude and behavior is just as prevalent today. 

After spending their youth under the influence of the devil, I know several men and women who waited and came to the Lord when the vigor and flexibility of their youth had faded. They could have done so much for the Kingdom, but chose not to, and now decide to give the scraps that life has left them in service to God. He deserves so much better, and we should always strive to give Him our absolute best. If only the people who waited had realized this in their early years, they would have discovered that with God, we can enjoy every moment of life. He makes it possible for us to have fulfilling relationships and a meaningful existence, but we must have a heart to honor and please Him. We must keep Him first in all things. 

In Ecclesiastes 12:13-14(NLT), Solomon writes, “That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.” We must keep God at the front and center of everything. Obedience to Him is non-negotiable, and He will always reward us for our commitment to walk in the example of Christ. If you don’t know the Word of God as well as you should, and you want a closer relationship with Him, know that He wants the same thing. Now is the time to get your heart and mind rooted in Him through the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will help you every step of the way. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Keep God Front and Center”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.