In Touch Devotional || 23rd January 2024 || The God Who Comforts
You are welcome to Today’s In Touch Daily Devotional written by Dr Charles Stanley and published by In Touch Ministry. Charles F. Stanley is the founder of In Touch Ministries and a New York Times best-selling author. He demonstrates a keen awareness of people’s needs and provides Christ-centered biblically-based principles for everyday life.
Today’s Topic: The God Who Comforts
When pain seems unbearable, ask God to teach you how to rely on His strength.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
IN TOUCH DAILY DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE FOR JANUARY 22ND, 2024
When life gets difficult, how do you respond? Do you begin to doubt God, wondering why He’d let adversity happen? Or do you turn to Him, seeking to better understand His ways and grow stronger in faith?
While in Asia, Paul and Timothy faced hardship and persecution. Today’s passage says they “were burdened excessively, beyond [their] strength” (v. 8). But they chose to put their hope in the Lord and trusted that He would comfort them in their affliction.
Paul writes, “For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” (v. 5). The apostle explained to the Corinthian believers that the trials he and Timothy endured taught them to rely on God’s strength, not their own. Bolstered by God’s faithfulness in the past and the prayers of other believers, they held on to hope.
We will all face difficulty at one point or another. And when that happens, we should try to respond like Paul and Timothy—trusting in the Lord, even though our pain may seem unbearable. Ask the Lord to comfort you. His power is unparalleled and available to every believer.
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