Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : DAY 564 - Jesus Comforts Us (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

DAY 564 - Jesus Comforts Us (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

**NEW link for the 15th: 13th 100 days 24 hours prayer campaign (We are going to use this 13th list leads up to the 15th. 13th from March 15 to June 22, 2013. 14th from June 22 to August 31, 2013, 15th from Sept. 1, 2013 to Dec. 9. 2013)

Want to know why I have been writing and recording my blogs and podcast daily since August 10, 2009? Click these three links:

Confirmation from John Stott in 2009:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
My MicroMacro Discipleship, A missing DNA in Discipleship Development: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-micromacro-discipleship.html
Subject Shifting Devotion Method(Inspired by John Stott in 1991: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

Today's Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:1-7

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

.Subject Shifting Devotion.pdf

Please click this link to read 2 Corinthians 1:1-7

English(ESV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2 Corinthians 1&version=ESV

Chinese: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=歌林多後書 1&version=CUV

Bible Study

We come to 2 Corinthians today. Paul starts this book with a key word - comfort. How does this word means to you?

Bishop N.T. Wright says ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :

The word Paul uses is a bit more many-sided than 'comfort'. It can mean 'to call someone to come near', "to make a strong appeal or exhortation', or 'to treat in an inviting or friendly way'. The whole idea of the word is that one person is being with another, speaking words which change their mood and situation, giving them courage, new hope, new direction, new insights which will alter the way they face the next moment, the next day, the rest of their life…
At the heart of this prayer, and of the gospel, is the fact that what is true of the Messiah becomes true of his people. This is a central principle for Paul, not simply as a powerful idea and belief but as a fact of experience. The letter returns to this again and again, in what some have called a pattern of 'interchange': the Messiah died, so his people die in him, sharing his sufferings; the Messiah rose again, so his people rise again in him, knowing the power of the resurrection to comfort and heal, already in the present time, and cherishing the hope that one day they will be given new, resurrection bodies like the one the Messiah himself now has. This is basic to a good deal of the letter.

N.T. Wright. Paul for Everyone:2 Corinthians. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p.4.

Have you been comforted by some people during your sufferings? Have you been comforted by Jesus during your sufferings? Have you comforted some people during their sufferings?

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

What I heard from Jesus today is: Jesus comforts us

What I got from Jesus today is a comfort and assurance that no matter what we are going to face we are going to be blessed. If Jesus allows suffering to happen to our lives, there must be a reason. The reason Paul gives here is for us to learn from our sufferings so that we can experience the comfort from Jesus personally and is able to comfort other people.

A lot of pictures come in to my soul as the Lord leads me to think of how much He comforted me and Michelle four years ago when she got leukaemia. We were deeply comforted by Jesus and many, many brothers and sisters. Because of that experience, Michelle and I are able to comfort other people in a renewed way.

So, do not feel sad or discourage if you are under suffering. God allows that to happen, there is a reason. You are going to be lifted up to another level to serve Him if you have a total trust in Him.

Dear Lord Jesus,

We give thanks to you for all those sufferings we experienced. Lead us to be able to have a renewed way to comfort more people because of our own sufferings. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.