Blessings!
Today’s promise is 2 Corinthians 1:5 (AMP):
“For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must].”
Devotion:
I wrote when I had cancer, in Loved So Much, It Hurts, that one of the reasons God’s people suffer is to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” Phil. 2:12. When we sign on to God’s team, we are signing up for the process of sanctification, or refining, that we might be remade in the likeness of Christ. This is accomplished through trials. What makes our trials bearable is the power of the Holy Spirit in us and the ministering angels of God. The same angels that ministered to our Lord and Savior in His sufferings. What does this have to do with “working out our salvation?” Everything. The same Holy Spirit who ministers to us in our suffering works in and through us to comfort our brothers and sisters in their suffering. With the Holy Spirit, the angels of God, and the Body of Christ on our side, the only thing that can defeat us…is our own choice to not take advantage of this tremendous support system.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I praise You for loving me enough to grow me through adversity. You know better than anyone how hard it is for me to press into You when I’m hurting. So, Father, please grant me an extra measure of faith to do so. And please open my eyes to those who are hurting around me, and grant me wisdom to know how to help them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a victorious day in the Lord!
Rebecca
