1:4 - We have the comfort of knowing there is more than just this earthly life. We have the comfort of knowing that Jesus has paid the price for all our sin. Through the strength that we gain from the comfort of God, we can in turn comfort others and turn them into the comforting arms of God...pretty cool cycle. Take strength in the promises that God has made to us and spread the message - Jesus is the only path to sanity in this fallen world.
1:9 - Pretty cool, huh? Occasionally it is healthy to feel like everything is falling apart. I must be one of the healthiest people on earth! When our plans are crashing in around us, we have nowhere to turn but God...that is a good thing.
1:11 - I saw the power of prayer in HD while we were in Thailand. I knew that we had hundreds of people praying for us and it made a hue difference. The trip was incredible. We could see God moving all around us. Steve Allen, the missionary who led the trip for us, said he had never sen a group come for 3 weeks and nobody get sick...it was a miracle. And because we were praying the entire time...all the glory goes to God. We weren't "lucky" on the trip...we didn't just catch some "good breaks" - we were covered n prayer. When we as Christians constantly pray, people will know who to give the credit to...God. They will praise Him because of our prayers. It is a beautiful thing.
1:12ff - What is the testimony of your life...can you look back with good conscience as you answer these questions? Did I live simply? Did I live sincerely? Did I live by the grace of God?
1:19 - Jesus is the answer, "Yes." He is the answer to all questions...all problems...all prophecies...he, not Allen Iverson, is the answer.
6 comments:
Sorry about getting it out of order - just thought a switch would be good especially on those 1 & 2 books.
Peace,
j
It's all good...I didn't care.
Hello from down under.
Reading the first part takes me back to 1989. I remember reading this scripture in the hospital room as my Dad died. I will never forget this scripture. We shall endure hardships, but God will comfort us, not only for our own good, but so we can comfort others going through the same thing. When we experience comfort from God, we should always be looking out for the oportunities to share that comfort with others that are going through the same stuff we have already seen.
Welcome back Brandon.
Tim, I tried to e-mail you back about how jealous I am that you got to see an Australian Rules Football game, but it keeps bouncing back to me. Did you spam me again?
I really felt encouraged by the part Tim commented on - we go through rough times so that we can encourage others.
Back to equation one - God has a plan.
My question one - can I borrow read the plan for a few minutes - just want to hit a few highlights...
and don't any of you rats dare give me the Sunday school answer about the Bible being the plan - not true - His Word is the guidebook to the plan.
peace,
james
Mark Moore was preaching on comfort, and he defined the word as "bringing strength." It's interesting because he also said that this word was used in the greek context of the instruments used to bring enough strength to a locked gate as the enemy was trying to break it down. When we think comfort, we often think of a cloud or tempurpedic mattress and think that God does that for us: he takes all our troubles and make tempurpedic mattresses of them. This is NOT what was intended with this word. Father, help us to understand the correct usage of this word; that we may correctly identify and experience this so that we may bless others in the future through these moments we needed you to comfort us, to bring strength to us...
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