How and who?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. (2Co 1:3-7)

I would ask, How are you comforted and whom do you comfort?

I ask because today I was comforted by a brother who need of comfort is very real and constant.

As a "leader-sheep" we all too often assume we are to be care givers and we forget that we are also care needers.  As we fulfill our calling to care for His sheep we all too often make the mistake of forgetting that we desperately need care as well.

When the Praetorian Guard was established in Rome one question predominated, "Who guards the guardians?"  This is no different from what we as comfort and care givers need to be asking of and for ourselves.

I have come to realize that it is all too easy to think that as a leader-sheep I need to be above the fray.  God has made it plan to me that this is a cruel deception and a very real danger.

Oh, I can feed myself but comforting myself  and doing it well is just not effective if it is even possible.  

I have found that I need others who from the comfort they have found in Him - pass that comfort on to me.  I have found that it is a type of pride to see myself as a giver only and not a needer.

Father,

I thank you for the comfort You sent today through my brother.  I thank you for the tears I shed in thanks and gratitude.  i thank you for the boldness of my brother's prayer the the depth to which it touched needs I has not seen.  

Father, keep this lesson in my ,mind and heart.  Keep me from isolation and pride.  Keep me open to the comfort You have for me from my brothers and sisters - AND enable me to be open and honest about my need and grateful for its being met.

Thank You for establishing Your people and for the comfort You provide from one to another.

Amen

Nothing trivial!

I'm finding myself spending a lot more time in prayer than I have in years.  And I'm beginning to come to a place where I do not think we can ever pray too much and therr is nothing too trivial.

I can remember early in my walk having a smug feeling for folks who prayed for things like parking places, washers, and other common and simple things.  

I've discovered that there is perhaps a bit of, "I don''t need God for this," or "this is too little for God to care about in that old attitude.  Yes, this is a confession that I somehow had it in my head that there was God's sovereignty and providence and then there was ours.  It was an attitude that held that there were just some things God didn't care about - or was too big to exert Himself for.  I've had to examine and evaluate and repent of that - working on it daily.

When Jesus speaks of God's provision and interest in birds and flowers and hairs on our head He makes it plain that nothing is trivial when it comes to His Lordship and love for His creation.  Parking places, cars running well, washers breaking down are perhaps not of as great a concern to Him as they are to us BUT if they can affect His children he is concerned.

I've yet to find a scripture that enjoins me to, "not bother God with this or that."  Indeed, it's quite the opposite.  We are called to take everything --EVERYTHING  - to Him.

Yeah - it may feel silly and we may feel it is a trivial thing but it is the little foxes that spoil the grapes.  It can be the proverbial straw that crushes the camel.  

His love for us is without limit or condition.  His provision for us encompasses everything in our lives, not just what we think of as, "the biggies."  What harm could there be in praying
about everything in our lives.

Just a simple example.  It was a bad day for me  I was struggling.  I was on the way to the 'Bou and began to be bummed that they might be crowded and that parking would be a pain and that I wouldn't get my favorite "spot."  Stupid huh?  Well, I got there and got a good parking place and my "spot" was open.  This was a real "Wow" for me.  I felt blessed.  He heard and said, "Yes."

Am I nutz to think He was acting?  I can't maintain a healthy view of His sovereignty and at the same time engage in considering coincidence.  What may be a small thing in the whole of salvation can be a big thing in the moment.  

Peter writes:

1 Peter 5:6-7 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Question,  What part of "all" do we not get?  "All," means, "ALL."  Right?  

Are we "bothering" God when we take everything to Him?  OOuch - that's a dangerous idea.    

It may seem odd at first but I encourage you to yield to the impulse or desire to pray no matter what the issue.  Take everything to Him - thank Him for everything whether you "prayed for it or not.  Please don't consign Him to being just "the God of what I can't do."  Please don't make Him the Gd, "who only cares about the big stuff."

Let Him be the Gd who cares so much He doesn't just know how much hair you have but has counted and created each and every one of them.

We sing, "Crown Him Lord of all."  Let's take that to heart and expect Him to be the Lord of all.  Nothing is trivial!

Father - let me open my life to yu.  Protect me from the lie that You're not really interested in parking places or favorite tables or old cars, etc.   Let me let loose of coincidence and acknowledge that You are Lord of all and therefore I should, can and may bring it ALL to you.

Amen