Weekly Encouragement: Comforted to Comfort

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We had been discussing about why adversity comes into anyone's life? I had been thinking about all kinds of people God brought into my own life- sometimes those who come with heart-breaking stories and cause so much pain and sorrow. And those who are always in need constant exhortation and encouragement that wear us down. And I came to realize the reason behind such people coming into my life-so that I could share my comfort with them. When I talk to them of how my faith in God and His Word sustained me in times of trials and discouragements they get encouraged and comforted.That is the reason God allows us to go through a season of adversity to prepare us for that very thing-to comfort and encourage others who are facing similar circumstances.

It is to makes us "Comforters". And that is also the reason you are receiving these encouraging letters all these days. Many think they don't need encouragement or comfort as things are going on well for them or that they can cope with their own problems. However, one of the blessings of accepting comfort from others is to become comforters ourselves!

God wants each of us be involved in the ministry of comforting others. But before you rush to volunteer, keep one thing in mind. It is a very poor comforter who has never needed comforting. So we come to yet another reason God allows adversity to touch our lives: to equip us to comfort others.

The God of All Comfort

According to Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4,6. Part of the reason God comforts us in our times of distress is so that we can more effectively comfort others. The apostle portrays himself as one who is passing along to other believers the very comfort God used to comfort him. And what was true for the apostle Paul is true for all believers. God allows tragedy to interrupt our lives so that He can comfort us. Once we have dealt with our hurt, He will bring someone across our path with whom we can identify and therefore comfort.

To comfort others is "to impart strength and hope" to them. God wants to use adversity to teach us to rely upon Him. To impart hope is to enable others to take their focus off their immediate circumstances and place it on eternal things. Much of our suffering will not be completely understood or justified in our minds until the Lord Jesus returns. In His presence all the loose ends will tie together. All the questions will be answered. The Apostle Paul described our hope when he wrote, in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.Why did Paul not lose heart when faced with great difficulty? Eternal Glory; that which is unseen.That was where he found great comfort. So it is with all of us when questions raised by adversity run too deep for simple answers.

Experience is Not Enough

Simply experiencing adversity does not automatically prepare a person to comfort others. Only those who have received comfort are capable of giving it. Simply going through hard time is not enough. Only persons who have allowed God to comfort them are ready to comfort others.

Your response to adversity will determine whether or not God can use you to comfort others. Many are so thrown off course when adversity strikes that instead of turning to God for comfort, they turn away in anger. When that happens, they miss the purpose for which God allowed adversity to strike in the first place. Not only that, they disqualify themselves as comforters.

In Search of Comforters

God is in the process of making you a comforter. He is structuring your experience in such a way as to prepare you for a ministry in someone else's life. Are you aiding the process by drawing on His divine power? Or you working against Him by questioning His goodness and love?

My friend, the world is full of people who need someone who understands. That is the ministry to which God has called each of us.

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." 2 Cor. 1:3-4.

Be Encouraged.

A.Othniel

><> Letter # 17 (2. 6. 2013 ) <>< Printable at http://ctouch.org.in/encouraging