Consolation In Christ

Focus: 2 Corinthians 1:5 - KJV

5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

When Christ was on earth, He made it clear that He came not to send peace on earth but to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law. This He said to show that those who will be believers would be set at cross purposes against them that believe in the tradition of the fathers and the tendency is for the believer to be hated and afflicted for it, just like Christ Himself was hated and killed despite bringing the message of the truth of the person of God. Hence, for everyone who is of God and a carrier of the glory to come, the world hates him and would afflict him sore just like Christ. Nonetheless, since Christ got the victory over the earth, like Him, every believer that endures the torment and stands firm to the end without giving in to the devil shall also overcome, like Christ.

Many of the early Christians caught the truth of how to overcome and did not count their lives any precious to want to save it but laid it down for the sake of the Gospel. Stephen saw the mob that was gathering momentum against him when he testified of Christ and could have kept quiet just to escape the mob but did not stop and continued to say what he saw. Even when he was stoned, no hatred protruded from him. Rather, he prayed for the mob that was killing him knowing that the believer that must overcome must operate in love through and through. The disciples were warned not to preach in the name of Christ any more. They refused to be deterred and stuck to their faith and preferred to be flogged openly for Christ’s sake, than be left to go by conceding to stopping in their faith.

There is no following Christ without tribulation or challenges. It is not just that Job became an experiment because he was a mere servant of God. No one is more Son of God than Christ Himself. If Christ was faced with tribulation and He says to us that a servant is not greater than his master, there is no believer that is immune against the kind of tribulations Christ went through. We however have solace in the fact that, as the father never forsook the Son in His challenges, He will not forsake us also, and like Him, we shall overcome in the end, if we faint. That is, if we do not deny God.

Please pray:

Father, I thank you for the example you gave us in Jesus Christ. From now on, please give us the strength to be overcomers indeed, as we reject and repel every luring of the devil to sin, by your power, in Jesus’ name. Put an end to every power of tribulation operating over our lives, homes, businesses and ministries, in Jesus’ name. Let every yoke of darkness be destroyed today, in Jesus’ name. No matter what the enemy brings any of our ways, give us the total victory by the blood of Jesus, in Jesus’ name. We receive strength to withstand and to overcome the devil, now in Jesus’ name.

Please share with others. God bless you.