All tagged comfort

Prayer Brings Comfort, and More

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Prayer Comforts

"Prayer Brings Comfort" is more than just the title for this morning's devotional message, it is a declaration of the benefit that speaking with God brings. My morning reading in E.M. Bounds puts it this way... "Prayer in times of trouble brings comfort, help, hope, and blessings that, while not making the trouble disappear, enables the saint to handle it better and to submit to the will of God." If we are not careful in prayer we will simply dwell on finding relief from troubles, and miss the greater benefits. Prayer is indeed a time of seeking God's intervention and help in our distresses, but our prayers go beyond removing the discomfort, they have a deeper purpose. Prayer also reaffirms our belief, reinforces our humility before God, and communicates His will to us. Prayer does more than asking for help, it teaches us from whence that help comes.

Our Testimonies and shared suffering

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Testimony and Suffering

We may have suffered much in our lives, but with that suffering comes the comfort of the Lord, and it often comes from the testimony and goodness of people who have endured what we are facing. Likewise, the hardships in our lives that produce great spiritual lessons and blessings, aren’t meant to cause us pain, but to give our Heavenly Father the opportunity to bring us relief, and to prepare us to pass that same relief on to others. We share the story of our grief and pain, then tenfold we share the joy and peace that follows. Do we use our moments of torturous trial to touch others? Do we use the relief and understanding from God that flows from those experiences to deliver that message of mercy to others who share our unpleasant experiences with us?

Our Celebration of Life after Death

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Death’s Sting

The mourners gather and hearts break when a loved one passes from this life to the next, but when the deceased is a Christian believer, and the mourners take possession of the victory that has been won, then although their hearts might be sad, their souls rejoice as they share in the victory claimed in that triumphant moment. We mourn for a season, but claim victory in the promise of eternity.

Can We Bless God?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Comfort

Do we pray blessings upon God during our prayers, and bless Him by our actions as we live out our lives? Perhaps this perplexes us because we don’t know how it could be possible for us to give anything, much less a blessing, to Almighty God the creator and possessor of all things? So what are we to do, or what do we have that we should find valuable enough to consider a blessing for God?

Hardened Hearts, and Comforting the Sick and Dying

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Comfort

In this time of COVID in which people are afflicted, sickened horrifically, and many die, it is easy to become hardened to the agony that is going on around us. It seems that our hearts can become overloaded as we empathize with the suffering we see, and the pain we shoulder with them. In sharing the grief, and commiserating with the pain of others, we can become overwhelmed, and to protect ourselves we tend to withdraw from what is happening, and to isolate ourselves from the trauma, but scripture tells us time and time again to comfort others, care for them, and provide for their needs. How are we doing in these stressful times? Do we pray for strength so that we can become a wellspring of strength and comfort to others, or has the pain we have internalized changed us into hardened souls? Are we looking for reasons not to comfort others?

Blessed are those who mourn, and the Comfort of God

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Mourning

We go to funerals of friends and family with hearts aching, or broken, suffering in our loss, but in times such as this we are led back to the Sermon on the Mount, and the words that Jesus delivered in the Beatitudes... specifically the second of these when He said: “Blessed are those who mourn.” Our tears are never to be held back, nor is our pain to be trivialized because in this place and at this time we are to receive the comfort of God.