Our Confidence is in God

We live in such a works-based world that even the way we encourage one another is backwards. We believe that everything we do is based on our own hard work, so we crave the approval of people saying, “Job well done!” But true Biblical encouragement is giving courage that points us to God before we head into the struggle, rather than pointing us back to ourselves after we’ve come through the struggle. If sustained struggle leads to discouragement then it wouldn’t make sense to give words of encouragement at the end. If the point of encouragement is to give courage and avoid discouragement, we should follow God’s example and give courage to our brothers and sisters when they need it most: before heading into battle.  Think about the ramifications of the church making encouragement a priority for their brothers and sisters heading into battle. We would walk onto the spiritual battlefield armed with courage, fearless in our fight, and covered in the armor of God. Imagine a community that notices you’re having a hard time and immediately speaks courage into your life. If we commit to living in this way, we will experience the victory that God can have over every battle we face in our lives. Reflection/Discussion Question: Who do you need to speak courage into in your life right now?

When we are suffering, Satan likes to feed us lies that tell us that we are alone and that our suffering is unique. If we believe these lies, we separate ourselves from other people and close our hearts to what they have to say. When we close ourselves off to community, we stay in the darkness of our suffering. This is why Paul speaks to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 1 about how he experienced God’s comfort personally. He openly talks about his great suffering that is similar to what they are experiencing. He relates to their despair and he shares about the comfort that is available to them from God. He can speak confidently about the God of comfort because he has personally experienced the God of comfort. Second Corinthians 1:4-5 says, “[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ” (NIV). Sure, you may not know someone who has experienced your exact same situation down to the smallest detail, but none of our suffering is new or unique. God has given us people in our lives who have experienced the same sufferings as us and has filled them with his comfort in order to give away to each other. We don’t just receive God’s comfort for our own sufferings, we receive it in order to give away to those who are in need. We get to be the tangible expression of God’s comfort to one another. Reflection/Discussion Question: How can you bring God’s comfort to people in need in your community?