When our faith is wained from the buffeting onslaught of the adversary, or the loss of something or someone we cherish and love, there is a Comforter in us, there is a promise given to us, and there is a place called the Shadow of the Almighty God where the weary can rest and find encouragement. Thank God for His great love for us in giving us the comfort of His presence. Hebrews 4:4 “There remained therefore a rest for the people of God.”

Comfort Concerning Your Faith

1 Thessalonians 3:1-13
1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
2 And set Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:
7. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:
8. For now we live, if ye stay fast in the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Among the many devices of the devil’s attack on our faith is the very human desire for comfort. We even love to live our lives in our comfort Zone, a place where we feel safe and loved. Jesus even promised to never leave us comfortless, but says, “I will come unto you.” (John 14:18) Amidst the beatitudes of Matthew 5, verse 4 says, “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”

We often quote the 23rd Psalm at funerals, and the 4th verse says, “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. “ In 2 Corinthians 1:4, Our God is called The GOD of all Comfort.” In John 14:26, the Holy Spirit is called, “The Comforter. ”

John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

Acts 9:31
Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

So then, when our faith is wained from the buffeting onslaught of the adversary, or the loss of something or someone we cherish and love, there is a Comforter in us, there is a promise given to us, and there is a place called the Shadow of the Almighty God where the weary can rest and find encouragement. Thank God for His great love for us in giving us the comfort of His presence.

Hebrews 4:4
There remained therefore a rest for the people of God.

Psalms 119:50
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

COMFORTERS

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

It is God’s plan for those who are redeemed to love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, and comfort one another. Some of the things that you have gone through were not for you, but to prepare you to have a testimony to support and encourage someone else who is going through a similar difficulty.

The problem with comfort, as it is with all of God’s blessing, is that the devil will take what God intends for good and pervert it. Satan wants us to learn to run for comfort and cover to places outside our calling, so that he can keep us comfortable in our dysfunction, and so we will never see our Destiny. He is a thief in that he wants to steal the joy and praise of your relationship with Christ. He is a murderer in that he wants to destroy your faith and kill your trust and desire to serve God. You see, the enemy of our souls will help you get so comfortable in your waywardness to the point that it no longer becomes a problem.

The peril of this passivity is that you can go to church with things in your life that you know God s not pleased with , take notes, sing the praise songs and get up and leave just like you came. And service after service forms a habit, insomuch that your dysfunction becomes normal! But I would remind you that Jesus came to confront people who were in bondage, people who were sick, oppressed, and downhearted. He came to confront the chaos in peoples lives. That Samaritan woman at the well had become so comfortable with her chaos, that she had gone through five marriages, and was living with one who was not her husband. The lame man at the gate of the Temple had become so comfortable with his chaos that was the same routine, lay at the gate and beg for alms. The man at the pool of Bethesda was so comfortable that he had laid there for 38 years, every day blaming everybody else for his dysfunction. But they all met JESUS who confronted them in their comfort zone of normalcy, and delivered them by power of His calling and purpose!

Some of us have people in our lives who are good to us, but they are not good for us! Could it be that you are sabotaging the will of God in your live and silencing the voice of your calling, because you love the comfort. Is your comfort keeping you from your calling?

2 Corinthians 1:1-4
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is aat 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 thee comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Not only does God give me comfort for my chaos, but sometimes He will give me chaos to confront my comfort! The Presence of God comes at times when I am most uncomfortable. He comes to confront not to condemn, but that the world through Him might be saved.  (John 3:17)

We don’t often recognize Him when He comes because we don’t understand the reason He came for. Its easy to become so comfortable with a form of godliness, that we don’t recognize the genuine move of God.

Colossians 2:1-3
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ:
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

We are comforted by the Comforter that we might be a comfort.