2Co 1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4 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.
You hear the word "grace" a lot in church, and in the Bible. But what does it really mean? Have you ever stopped to think about it and meditate on this amazing word? In the Greek, it comes from a word 'charis' and pronounced khorece. It means God has bestowed certain favors and benefits and gifts upon us just because it is His character, His nature, to love us and want to help us. He knows better than we the flaws, inconsistencies and failures of our lives and our hearts, yet this does not cause Him to withdraw His grace from us. No, just the opposite-He extends it freely. His grace is His kindness, His willingness to offer His good will, and do what it took to offer us entrance into the goodness and blessings He has to share with us-which we did nothing to earn or merit.
Paul is writing to a people who came out of gross sin, were greatly blessed of the Lord, but promptly fell into error and division. This always happens when the Lord is moving and working among His people. The enemy will try to come in and conquer and divide. A house divided cannot stand. So, he is also writing to people he knows have been party to attempts to smear his name and service to the Lord, as well as those who have been led astray again since his last letter and visit. When Titus reports back the people repented and accepted the truth, Paul writes again. He doesn't come with an "I told you so" or harsh criticism. He writes reminding them they are recipients of the grace and peace of God.
Grace and peace. How do you truly have peace? Saying you possess it and truly having it are two different things. This peace by definition means God has no controversy with you. It means you can rest assured in His ability regardless of the situation around you. This kind of peace comes from knowing God yourself and learning who He is and how He works. Now, the Holy Ghost knows the hearts of men and women and He knows how to convict and convince them of sin and when they have erred, and repented, He comes offering peace and grace of God. Blessed-that word means adorable, worthy of praise, is God, the Father of our Lord Jesus. He is the Father of mercy-He has compassion and takes pity on His children. He knows the weakness of their flesh, and that they are but dust. He is the God of all comfort- encouragement, exhortation, urging His people to trust Him, look to Him, and lean heavy on Him for HE alone by His Word and His Spirit is able to hold them up in times like we live in.
In verse 4 the word for comfort is parakaleo-and it is used to describe one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It means to call near, invite or all for one to come closer so they can find the comfort and encouragement they need. He is calling for us to draw near to Him so He can teach and instruct us and that will strengthen and encourage us. This Scripture says He comforts us in all our tribulation. He is our Father, and He knows we are troubled about many things, and He knows what we need. He wants His troubled children to come to Him, not expecting harshness but help. There is such a pressure, and distress many are facing right now. We all have our own afflictions, be they mental, physical, financial or family problems. There is an all out spiritual warfare raging and God's children need to be edified, encouraged, and taught truth, more than ever. We need to have our minds saturated with the Truth and we all need to be praying for the Holy Ghost to fill us. As we are comforted by God through His Spirit and His Word, then we are able to comfort others. The word comfort used here is similar --"paraklesis" and it means to call those close who need help, so they can be encouraged, and strengthened. There is so much anguish and trouble in the lives of so many hurting believers. He knows this and He wants us to remember He alone can comfort and bring us through. Remember He said our faith would be tried by fiery trials, and sometimes we would be in heaviness because of these. But we can look to Him and know He will not let this take us under. No matter what storm is raging, He walks above the storm, and we will make it to the other side if we are obedient and seek Him. He doesn't want us depending on anyone or anything else but HIM and His Word. This is one of the reasons He sent the Holy Ghost to us.
Isa 25:1 O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Isa 25:2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defensed city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
The fact that He is OUR God, that He redeemed us and bought us, and saved us is a miracle and something to be so thankful for. We are not putting our trust in Buddha, or Mohammad, or self, or this new age religion that is so prevalent. We are trusting in TRUTH and TRUTH is Person. He is the Lord! He's real, He knows our needs, hurts and desire to please Him. He does not give up on us when we are ready to give up on ourselves. For that we can lift up His name, exalt HIM higher than our problems, or our failures and praise His Holy Name for what He has done-deliver us, time and time and time again, and for what He has not done-which is forsake us. Glory to His Name! Hallelujah!! He has worked so many miracles, He has parted seas and rivers, He has breathed life into dry bones, He has opened blinded eyes, He has raised what is dead and given it new life! His Word has always been faithful and true. He can take the strong hold of the enemy and reduce it to ruin in seconds with a Word of hope and truth.
He becomes the defense, the strength to those who are weak, though He always has been their defense, now they are made aware of this. Their back is to the wall, they are in a tight place, but He is there. He's an ever present Help because He knows there is an ever present evil that would swallow them up. He's drawn them close to Himself and sheltered them and they are learning by experience He alone is their hiding place. He's their Rock, a solid, unshakable place they can stand when everything around them is being shaken. He will never be moved. He will never be overthrown or caught by surprise. The enemy can never triumph over this glorious God.
The storm has been fierce and it has taken a toll on the people. That word 'poor' is dal (H1800) and it means dangling, weak or thin-barely able to hang on. They have been buffeted hard, they have fought this warfare and they are weary and in great need of help. He's the strength to those who are in need, destitute in a hard place, in real trouble. When I looked up that word distress (H6862) in verse 4, in the original Hebrew it means: They have an adversary who has afflicted them and brought great anguish into their lives, and much tribulation and sorrow. I was amazed. God is their shelter from the storm-and this is a demonic storm. This the flood of demonic activity that causes confusion, torment, sorrow, temptation, and grief. The enemy is sending forth this flood to try to overthrow their faith and sweep them back into darkness. He said in Isa_59:19 when the enemy comes in like a flood, He will lift up a standard against him. The standard is the flag that goes ahead of the army, and who is the Captain of our salvation, Church? The Lord Jesus Christ!
In the dry, desolate place that has been utterly wasted, a heavy toll has been exacted because of the prince of the power of the air who has laid siege to God's people, is determined to steal their faith in God and His promises. He wants you to throw the Book down and believe the lie out of hell that you have had enough that you don't need it anymore! He wants to snuff out the of Christ within you. The blast of the terrible ones-that word 'blast' is an interesting word. (H7307) Both the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance and Strong's Hebrew Definitions agree: It's an attack that comes on the wind, a spiritual attack, as a breath of cool air to try to extinguish faith in God, love for God, and zeal for God. The fiery darts are launched as a barrage as the enemy tries to manipulate your thoughts, provoke your temper and cause you to lose your courage and lose heart. He wants you to be despondent, grief stricken, in despair. This is the blast of the oppressor and it is a terrible, strong, and violent sifting within your mind to try to destroy your faith in God and in His promises. He wants to make you believe the Word of God is a lie and there is no hope and he has you backed up against a wall with no where to go.
Remember, he is the liar and the father of all lies. When you are against a wall, God is that very present help and He is there with you. He said He would never leave you or forsake you.
When Israel was up against a wall, God made a way through the Red Sea and they walked across on dry ground and God had His prophet leading them, and God Himself was their rear guard. He had their back and would not let the Egyptians rush in upon them. No, that fiery cloud was right there, preventing the enemy from following them until it was time-until they were safely across and then God moved to allow the enemy to rush in to their own destruction.
God will bring down the noise of strangers, that strange voice that batters your mind trying to wear you out. Oh what a blessing and encouragement I got as I dug in these words, and examined these Scriptures. The word is H3665 kana, and it means God is going to subdue this uproar and horrible noise of the enemy. The stranger, that profane, foreign stranger-who is the enemy and adversary of our soul, will have to bow his knee in humiliation, vanquished by OUR GOD, and be brought down low in subjection, under the mighty hand of God. He's going to make the enemy give account and answer for what he has done. The Scripture says the branch of the terrible ones will be brought low-(H6030) and it means made to answer or give account. As the heat in a dry place-He, God Almighty is going to dry up this flood. Hallelujah! Be encouraged, church. You really can be strong in the Lord. Has He not commanded us to be strong and of a good courage that we don't have to be afraid or dismayed for He is the Lord OUR GOD and is with us where ever we go! He knows what is coming and He wants you to spend time with Him, in His Word, in prayer, getting fortified, filled up with oil, now, while we can. He is calling us to draw nigh to Him and away from the things that would distract and vex us. He wants us to draw nigh to Him so He can draw nigh to us and comfort us, saints. What an awesome invitation. I pray you come. I encourage you to find a place, at an altar of prayer and be still, knowing you have been invited you will be received, and just understand He is GOD. Think about what that means. HE IS GOD. Nothing escapes His knowledge and He is never without a plan of victory! Hallelujah! Don't listen to the lies of the devil when he tells you that you have failed God that your life hasn't amounted to much. Little is much when God is in it. If he tells you that you are a failure, that means you are succeeding in getting somewhere with God. If you were a failure, he'd be lying to you telling you that you were a great success! He can't tell the truth, so when he tells you that you are a failure, rejoice! He lies!
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