Man, I started 2nd Corinthians today and it totally spoke to me. It has so much to say about where I am at right now and what God is doing in my life and the church here. Good stuff!
1:2 - Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. - If you are walking with God you should be experiencing and extending grace and experiencing and bringing peace to others. If those two things don't represent your life and what your life does for others you are not where God wants you. Make a change in your belief, your actions, your location, your attitude. Do something, but everywhere God is there is grace and peace. Everywhere.
1:3-4 - ...the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, SO THAT we can comfort those in ANY trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. - God has promised to comfort us in any and all circumstances. I can testify to this. When my mom and dad were killed by a drunk one Saturday morning in 2001 I would have thought there was no way to ever live and breathe again. It sucked the wind right out of my soul. And yet, because God is full of grace and my life is in His hands He comforted me to the place where I can not only breathe again, but offer air to others who are hurting. God comforts us SO THAT we can comfort others. He has empowered us to reach-out to others and help them. It isn't about having the right answer. It is about knowing God. Sometimes all you can say is nothing. Sometimes just comfort is all there is to offer - an arm around a shoulder, a prayer, a walk, a note. Wherever you have been comforted by God go out and comfort others there. It is your God-designed ministry opportunity.
1:7 - Our hope for you is firm... - I love this!
1:8-10 - far beyond our ability to endure...this happened THAT we might not rely on ourselves but on God...He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On HIM we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.- WOW! If you are reading this and you are form The Oasis you can see truth all through this. We stand in the middle of this verse right now. We have found ourselves at a really tough place financially and yet I believe we have been allowed to get here so that we quit relying on ourselves and our money and our effort and even our people and start relying on God. God longs for us to wait for Him and He has promised that if we will He will bless us in ways unimaginable. We have indeed set out hope on Him to deliver us and HE WILL!
1:18 - But as surely as God is faithful... - I love how Paul uses God as an illustration like we would the sun. We might say, "As surely as the sun rises each day..." God is so faithful that He is the best illustration of faithfulness. Even better than the sun, moon and stars. Now that is a faithful God!
1:20 - For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. - I love this. Every promise God has ever made is a yes in Jesus. Jesus multiplies the promises. I know that sometimes we are really hesitant to look at the promises God has made because some people have abused that idea and said God promised them a Cadillac or whatever. But, every promise God has made is yes to us in Jesus. The promise of hope - YES! The promise of healing - YES! The promise that we will be provided for - YES! God says YES!!!!
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