Comfort In God

Will God comfort me? God has promised to comfort us. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 66:13, NKJV. " As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.."

Infinite, all-powerful, all-loving God is the one who comforts us. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 51:12, NKJV.  "I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man who will die, and of the son of a man who will be made like grass?"

We can trust God's guidance and protection to comfort to us in our darkest moments. It's in the Bible, Psalm 23:4, NKJV. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me"

Where can I find comfort? God's promises in His Word gives us comfort. It's in the Bible, Psalm 119:49-50, NKJV. "Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life."

The Scriptures give examples to teach us and give us hope and comfort in God. It's in the Bible,Romans 15:4, NKJV. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

God is merciful, and will comfort us in even when we make mistakes. It's in the Bible, Psalm 94:18-19, NKJV.  "If I say, 'My foot slips,' Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul"

God's grace is an everlasting source of comfort. It's in the Bible, 2 Thessalonians, 2:16-17, NKJV. "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work"

God will never forget or forsake us. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 49:14-16, NKJV. "But Zion said, 'The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.' Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.."

Jesus's mission was to give us hope and comfort to our fallen human race. It's in the Bible, Isaiah 61:1-2, NKJV.  "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn"

Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would be sent to be our Comforter. It's in the Bible, John 14:16, 26, KJV. "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;"  "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you"

How can I comfort someone? Friends can provide comfort with their sympathy and presence, even if nothing is being said. It's in the Bible, Job 2:11-13, NKJV. "Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great."

In facing loss, we can find comfort that we can see our loved ones again at Christ's coming. It's in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, NKJV. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words"

In our troubles, God comforts us that we may give comfort to others who experience trials. It's in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NKJV. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.B

Comfort others, and in turn it you encourage each other. It's in the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, KJV. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do"

Becoming a Good Christian this Year

To be a good Christian in this present world is definitely an easy and difficult task.

However, following the principle of biblical standard and believing God can make it easy for us, on the other hand, been self-confident will make it difficult to live the Christian life we so desire. But in the midst of this contradictory statement, we can be champion for Christ and be a model for all Christian if we ask God for guidance by asking Him the following questions.

·         What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

·         What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

·         What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

·         In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

·         What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

·         What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

·         For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

·         What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

·         What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

·         What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity

Biblical Redemption!

Redemption is a prominent theme throughout the Bible. God, in His love and mercy, is long-suffering, not willing that any should ultimately perish (2 Peter 3:9). He wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of His truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

Because sin results in death—physical and eternal death—and the promised redeemer had not yet been born, God in days of old revealed to Moses a religious system based on animal sacrifices and offerings.

Israel came into God’s presence through sacrifices the Levitical priesthood offered at the tabernacle and later the temple. However, these sacrifices could never provide redemption for sins to enable worshipers to receive forgiveness and the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:1-4). They could provide only a temporary ceremonial cleansing that represented the genuine cleansing to come through Christ’s sacrifice.

Lacking the heart and mind for true obedience, Israel as a whole neglected its promise to obey God and keep His commandments. Instead, the Israelites gradually placed far more importance on the sacrificial laws and their oral traditions. Obedience from the heart became far less important than physical sacrifice and ritual.

By the time of Jesus’ life on earth, the Israelites were placing more emphasis on their own oral tradition than on the law of God. Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? … In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:3-9).

God gave the ancient Israelites His great, immutable spiritual law. But at the same time He gave them a temporary physical system for worshiping Him. The spiritual law revealed to people the basis for conducting their affairs with God and their fellow man (Matthew 22:35-40). The physical system of rituals served mostly to remind them of their sinful nature and the need to be clean and without spot or blemish when they came into God’s presence.

This physical dimension was temporary, however, until the promised Redeemer would come and pay the ultimate price for sin (Hebrews 9:9-12).

Jesus the Messiah is the promised Redeemer. He had to be born for humanity to be redeemed from sin.

As we noted earlier, Peter summarized what we must do to be redeemed: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Through Christ’s blood God forgives our sins, and by Christ we receive the promise of eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:12-15).

Through Christ, God has restored that which was lost in Eden—access to the tree of life. Moreover, repentant people have become the temple of the living God.

“As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). Yes, God has made it possible for all people to enter an intimate relationship with Him—which is why Jesus had to be born.

The Promised Redeemer!

God promised a redeemer to Adam and Eve even before He cast them out of the Garden of Eden. After the Creator confronted our first parents with their sins, He spoke to Satan, who appeared in the form of the serpent. He told him, “… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15).

What is the meaning of this prophecy, and what does it have to do with the redemption of humanity?

As Walter Kaiser Jr. writes in his book The Messiah in the Old Testament : “Genesis 3:15 has commonly been called the protoevangelium (the ‘first gospel’) because it was the original proclamation of the promise of God’s plan for the whole world … The ‘seed/offering’ mentioned in this verse became the root which the tree of the OT [Old Testament] promise of a Messiah grew. This, then, was the ‘mother prophecy’ that gave birth to all the rest of the [messianic] promises” (1995, p. 38).

In this great prophecy, “woman” can refer to Eve, the mother of all living, who was present in the garden. “Woman” in prophecy can also symbolize Israel—the physical nation or the spiritual Israel, the Church of God (Revelation 12:1; Revelation 12:6; Revelation 12:13; compare Genesis 37:9-10).

In this particular prophecy, then, we should consider that through the woman Eve, the mother of all living, will come the “woman” Israel. Revelation 12 pictures a child being born of the woman Israel. The nation gives birth to this child through an actual woman. Thus we have here also a picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus: “… A woman … being with child … cried out in labor and in pain to give birth … And the dragon [Satan] stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born” (Revelation 12:1-4).

With this background in mind, we can see the prophecy becoming clearer. The Seed of woman (Christ) bruises the head of Satan by eventually nullifying his influence (Romans 16:20). In the meantime, however, the devil wages war against Jesus.

Satan attempted to “devour” the woman’s child by influencing Herod to order the murder of all male children age 2 and younger in Bethlehem, and Satan eventually instigated Jesus’ crucifixion.

However, Satan’s scheme backfired, for the death of the Son of God provided mankind with a redeemer.

Jesus Christ: The Redeemer Of Mankind.

The salvation of mankind was dependent on Jesus coming to earth and living a perfect life, then dying as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world—for every disobedience, by every man and woman who has ever lived, to God’s righteous laws.

All of this is another way of saying that Jesus had to be born because He is our Redeemer. God in His infinite mercy foreordained His plan of redemption for sinful mankind through Christ (1 Peter 1:20). Jesus was declared to be “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” to redeem humanity (Revelation 13:8).

But why does sin require a redeemer? The Bible shows us that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23), and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, all have earned the death penalty for sin. People speak of human “rights,” yet the only real right anyone has earned is the right to eternal death.

But God has made allowance for sinners to be redeemed, or bought back, from the death penalty by a redeemer. Romans 5 call Jesus “the second Adam,” in contrast to the first, the original man. The first Adam brought sin into the world (Romans 5:12). The second Adam—Jesus Christ—brought redemption, reconciliation and the hope of eternal life (Romans 5:6-10).

Since the wages of sin is death, redemption requires the sacrificial death of the Redeemer. This sacrificial death will lead us to heaven where we will spend the rest of our life with God (Jesus).