14 day plan

Faith Stories with Naomi Reed

Day 1 of 14

NIV

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Series Introduction

We all have our ‘go-to’ Bible verses — wonderful truths that point us back to God’s answers in Christ, and his promise to be with us in everything. We need them! My favourite verses are underlined and memorised and re-read on all the days when I feel weary or confused or full of questions. Recently, I’ve also had the joy of asking hundreds of people about their faith journeys and their favourite Bible verses, as I’ve been writing ‘Faith Stories’ for the Bible Society. It’s been so encouraging, especially hearing the range of ways that God’s truth is changing us and compelling us, at work, at home, in hospital, and in our communities. Over the next two weeks, I’d love to share some of these Bible truths with you.

Reflection:

It seems holy and wonderful to me that God meets us in our need, and our weariness. He understands what we’re going through. God himself came to this world, in the person of the Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ life and ministry, he felt the ground rough and uncertain beneath his feet. He experienced distress and weariness, in both his body, and his soul. And then he carried our pain and burdens, on the cross. Because of that, he is able to comfort us and shape us, daily, through his Spirit and his word. I love the reminder that God is a God of all comfort. The words imply that we need it. Wherever we live, in the Himalayas or a modern city or an outback town, we experience deep discomfort. But God is a God of comfort … and we experience it most profoundly when we ache. As God comforts us, we are gently equipped to comfort others.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for your comfort, today. Help me to rely on your presence, your word, your promises. And help me to be someone who comforts others with the comfort I have received from you.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

Days

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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

2 Corinthians 1:1-24

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 13For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

23I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.