GOD OF ALL COMFORT

GOD OF ALL COMFORT? Really? Why is life full of discomfort? Our common view of comfort today is based more on emotional results and deliverance than on God Himself. God has Paul write this letter for the church so that we can truly know the One who will come along side us, the GOD OF ALL COMFORT. #2corinthians #2023

Starter

• What do you tend to do when you want to feel comfort? Why?
• What makes you really uncomfortable? Why?

Pray

Thank you God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ that you came from heaven to earth to come along side us and bring us your comfort In All Our Afflictions. Thank you for the comforter the Holy Spirit who lives in us as believers. Lord help us lead one another and lead others thorugh You and to You the GOD OF ALL COMFORT. Amen

Study Questions

Paul, an apostle, is writing God’s word to a church just a few years old that he founded and then left to plant other churches. The church has encountered numerous problems from inside and outside the church. Other self appointed leaders have worked to undermine Paul’s influence and God’s authroity so they could substitute their own. God has Paul write to deal with these issues and help the church deal with the problems they are having like holiness and hardship, generosity and church order, and their testimony to the non‐Christians around them. He wants them to know and cling to the GOD OF ALL COMFORT.

READ: 2 Corinthians 1:1-22

The word comfort God has Paul use is not a feeling or a deliverance from circumstances. It is the word Paraklesis which means to come along side. It is the same root word Jesus uses for the advocate and counselor the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26). God wants to come along side us through life feeling what He feels and becoming more like He is so that we can know and show others the GOD OF ALL COMFORT.

1. Verses 1-2 are Paul’s standard greeting, yet they are filled with theologically significant words, like “grace” and “peace” and “Lord Jesus Christ.”
   1. Why do you think Paul makes it a continual practice to greet his readers this way?
2. How does our wilingness to praise God by faith in the midst of affliction help us in experiencing His deep comfort?
   1. Who have you seen have this kind of Job-like attitude in your life?
3. What kind of comfort (coming along side) do you receive from your faith and daily walk in God?
   1. How might you share the blessing of this kind of comfort with friends, family, or church memebers who are currently suffering?
   2. How can knowing the scriptures bring you and help you bring others to the GOD OF ALL COMFORT?
4. How does facing crisis and affliction help us trust in the LORD and not just in oursleves?
   1. How has a crisis helped your spiritual life?
   2. How does affliction kill our pride and improve our effectiveness as God’s servants?
   3. How do we “share abundantly” in Christ’s sufferings and His comfort?
5. Paul asks people to pray for him. How do the prayers of others effect our comfort both practically and supernaturally?
   1. What has happened in your life or the life of others that has helped you enter into a ministry of intercessory prayer to the GOD OF ALL COMFORT?
6. What does this section teach us about how the GOD OF ALL COMFORT leads us in making decisions?
7. According to verse 22, what does the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives signify?
   1. How does the Spirit unite us to Gods comfort regardless of emotion or circumstances?
8. What is the inherent promise of future blessing for us as believers because in Christ God has strengthened, anointed, and sealed us? How should that be our ultimate comfort?