NIV 365 / The God of All Comfort

The NIV 365-Day Devotional Reading Plan

Day 215 of 365 The God of All Comfort God's Story God prompts Paul to write to the Corinthian believers again. He has traveled to Asia and encountered extreme difficulty. Thankfully, God has been his comfort. Also, since Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he made a visit to Corinth that went poorly and wrote a second letter that didn't go over so well either. It seems the believers in Corinth want to know what authority Paul has to speak to them. Traveling false teachers have led to the need for letters of recommendation of their validity. But Paul needs no such confirmation. He tells the Corinthians that they themselves are his letter of recommendation. The wonderful things that God is doing in them, through his Spirit, are proof that Paul is a part of God's work. Paul has endured great hardships for the sake of bringing the life of the gospel to people. But Paul encourages himself and his readers that the hardships that believers endure now achieve an everlasting glory in eternity that is far more important. God will eventually give us heavenly bodies; he has given us his Spirit as a deposit to guarantee it. Paul explains that if he and his fellow laborers for God's truth are bold in their teaching, it's not because they want recognition. They are driven by Christ's amazing love, and they want more people to know him and become new creations too. The King's Heart Paul endured incredible hardships, enough to make him give up on life. Yet he found God to be "the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3). Comfort is often seen as what we receive from someone who pats us on the back and offers words of consolation. But the Greek word for comfort, paraklesis, means much more. This word's verbal root means "to call to one's side" or "to summon to one's aid." It's the idea of one person being with another - a person who stands in the situation with you. Jesus uses the same root Greek word to describe the Holy Spirit - paraklete (see John 16:7). God is the ultimate Endurer with us. He is in life with us; he is in us, coming near to offer the ultimate comfort. He will continue to live in us - walking with us - until we are finally home. Insight Amen is the transliteration of a Hebrew word that can mean either "Yes indeed, it is so" or "So be it." In 2 Corinthians 1:20, Paul declares that God's promises are "Yes" and "Amen" in Jesus. Taken from NIV Discover God's Heart Devotional Bible 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 KJV 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 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. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.