Wednesday's Word -Comfort

    

                                                                                                  Photo by Clipart Library 

According to dictionary.com, comfort means to soothe console, and reassure; (verb), a feeling of relief or consolation (noun).

Comfort is one of those words that has a different meaning for everyone; maybe it is associated with an image.

When we first got married, some friends of ours gave us a big overstuffed chair.  It was awesome to curl up and watch a movie or read a good book.

Comfort gives me a sense of peace.  No matter what is going on around me, if I can just close my eyes for a minute, then I can go on and deal with the ordeal at hand.

John 14:26 (KIV) says; 

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the FATHER will send in my name, HE shall teach you all things,  and bring all things to your remeberance, whoever I said unto you."

It should come as no surprise that GOD HIMSELF is the best comforter of all.

John 16:6-8 (NIV) tells us:

"Rather you are filled with grief because I have said theses things.  But very truly I tell you these things, it is for your good that I go away.  Unless I go away, the ADVOCATE will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send HIM to you.  When HE comes HE will proove the world to be in the wrong about sind and rightouness and judgement."

A couple of years ago my brother, Luke, tragically lost his oldest son.  I can't even start to imagine what that would feel like.  Luke took it in stride.  I'm sure he struggles every day to get up and live his life but he does it.  I am in complete awe of him.   I pray that he is able to dig down deep and take comfort in what we learned about GOD while we were growing up.

We do not always need to understand why things happen as they do.  In fact, it's probably best that we don't understand why things happen like they do  If we could understand why things happened, we would probably up in a ball and cry.

It's only through the hope, through the comfort, of GOD that we can survive anything at all.

Friday Fall - Gospel of the Candy Corn

  Holy Trinty.pdf

Candy corn is one of my favorite fall treats - probably one of my favorite candies EVER (next to peeps, of course!!!)

The Gospel of the Candy Corn goes like this:

The yellow is the base - GOD the FATHER

The orange represents the JESUS. the SON:  GOD, the FATHER sent JESUS HIS SON to suffer and die for our sins.  HE rose on the 3rd day so that we can live with GOD in Heaven  forever

The white stands for the HOLY SPIRIT:  When JESUS ascended into HEAVEN, HE promised to send a helper, a comforter.   This Comforter is our GUIDE here on earth until it is time for us to live with GOD the FATHER and JESUS the SON .

The TRINTY is made up of GOD the FATHER, JESUS the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT:  they are three different identities, but they make up one BEING. 

 

So next time you're eating candy corn, remember the FATHER, the SPIRIT, and the SON! 

 

THANKFUL FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  John 16:6-8 New Matthew Bible (NMB)

6 But because I have said such things to you, your hearts are full of sorrow. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. 8 And when He is come, he will rebuke the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment"

I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit. I think if I had to chose a "favorite" identity of the trinity, it would be the Holy Spirit.  I think its cool that some versions of the bible refer to Him as "the comforter" because He is God within us: He's the one that calms me when my mind is racing a 3 o'clock  in the morning with a million different thoughts are racing through my mind, or if I've  had issues with Barrett, Dalton or Bobbye Sue. ( with 2 teenager in the house I better have a comforter to keep from killing them.)

I person believe that the Holy spirit is intertwined with our conscious.  I think that If we don't believe God is good, we can't truly know what is wrong.  While unbelievers may know right fro wrong, they may only  know something is wrong because society tells us.  If I don't believe in God and` I kill someone,  I only know that it's wrong because the law dictates it.  However if I'm a believer and murder someone, I'm going to have compassion for the people who I have harm and be remorseful for what I have done.  (I know this is a very broad example.)  

I just think we need the Holy Spirit to help guide us.

DON'T QUENCH THE HOLY SPIRIT -SPEAKING UP

For the past couple of years or so my main focus of study has been on prayer...I read scriptures on prayer, I read books on prayer, I listen to sermons on prayer, and I pray that I will become more effective at praying.  I do believe that praying is a spiritual gift and I believe that God is calling me deeper and deeper into a life of prayer.  I'm absolutely LOVING this!!!  During the last few weeks, something that I've notice that God is telling me not to quench the Holy Spirit.  One of my favorite scripture verses is:

Hebrews 13:2 (NIV) "2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

     I find this super exciting, because, come on, who wouldn't want to meet and entertain an angel???  But, this verse can also be terrifying.  What is God going to ask me to do?  I really want to obey you, God, as long as you don't call me out of my "comfort zone".  We all have our "comfort" zone.  I love to encourage people; I do believe it's one of my spiritual gifts.  I'll email you, I'll text you, I'll like and comment on your Facebook  posts and pictures.  However, they're a very few people that I'll actually converse with, and even fewer that I will strike a conversation with.  I do say "hello", "how are you?",  "please" and "thank you",  etc.  I never really know how people (who don't know me) are going to react to my speaking,  plus it seams like as I age my speech is getting harder and harder to understand.

     That being sad, God had asked me twice this week to step out of my "comfort" zone and speak to people.  UGH!  The first was a lady whose husband came to our church to speak about the Gideons.  There was just something about this lady.  She was a little more mature than I am.  An inner beauty and her love for God just flowed from her .  Not only did I toughly enjoy talking with her, I also felt the urge to give her my phone number and email address.  Then on Monday, I felt the urge to approach a young couple with a couple with a new born baby.

     The Great Commission bids us to go to all the ends of the earth and tell about Jesus.  Part of telling others about Jesus, perhaps the first part, is showing His love tor them.

    I know the closer I grow in my relationship with Christ the more He will ask me to do things out of my "comfort" zone and I pray that I will not quench the Holy Spirit.