Comfort Slap

The Lord has been reminding me about the need for us to comfort one another. People around me seem to be going through really hard times, not just financially but with health and family issues. There seems to be this unsettledness in my spirit and with people in general. We all need to hear encouraging words and to know that someone is not only listening but cares about us. 

On the other hand sometimes I'm so focused on others I forget to make sure my own family is getting the comfort they may be needing. I'm trying to make that a priority right now.

My grandson Anthony plays soccer. I remember when he was 4 and just started playing my kids and I were at his game and of course cheering for Anthony and his team. When we weren't yelling for him personally we would be yelling “GO GREEN” cause that was his teams color that day. 

As the game went on Green starting scoring quite a few goals and the black team had none. The children on the black team were getting discouraged and needed some comforting so my daughter and I started cheering for them too.

My grandson heard us yell “GO BLACK” and he stopped playing, turned and looked at me with a very stern look and stormed off the field over to where we sat. He looked at me and said “Nanna what are you doing!?" 

We are Green stop saying go black!” We laughed, behind his back of course, because he was dead serious and he let us know we were not to cheer for the wrong team. 

He's 7 now so when I'm going to encourage or comfort the other team I yell the number on the jersey so he won't know what I'm up to. 

Sometimes being an encourager for the “wrong team” is not what I feel like doing. Let me explain. The other night I wanted to beat up a homeless woman. Yea you read that right but hear me out.

I was helping to feed the homeless like any other Tuesday night making sure everyone has enough food and drink and helping the moms with small children. There was a woman with her son about 4 years old sitting at a table in front of me. Like most 4 year olds he was squirming around and ended up sliding off his chair. Without missing a beat the mom grabbed him before he totally hit the ground. I thought to myself nice save. 

I wasn't prepared for what happened next. She pretty much threw the child into the chair and started slapping him. She was yelling at him in Spanish so I didn't know what she was saying but I could tell by the look on her face it was mean. At first I just kind of froze in my spot, then I started walking toward her. By now the boy was trying to lay his head on her lap and she kept pushing him off her in disgust. 

Four times he tried to lay on her and she pushed him away. 

It all happened really quick and I remember saying “Lord do something cause I'm gonna pounce on her.” I was ready for a fight and made my way through the tables toward her. Just as I got behind her and reached my arm out she got up and walked away. I'm telling you it was God because only His timing could be that exact.

I looked down at the little boy and asked if he was OK. Seriously Gems this boy had the face of an angel with a head full of curly red locks. His face was swollen from crying and he looked like he hadn't bathed in a while. I just wanted to pick him up and take him home. I comforted him and asked again if he was OK and he shook his head yes. I then did what any mom would do, I asked if he wanted a cookie.

I talked to him for a few minutes and then the strangest thing happened. The Lord told me to go find his mom and comfort her.

Are you kidding me! I want to slap her not comfort her. The Lord reminded me that if I got in her face she would only take her anger out on the boy. If she behaved that way in public how much worse would it be in private. I took a deep breath and walked toward her. I came up behind her, grabbed a bat, just kidding, and touched her arm. I asked her if I could give her some fruit and cookies for her son. She said he already had a cookie but I handed her the bag anyway. 

Then because of my obedience the grace of God came through. I told her that I was proud of her for making sure she and her son were there to have a hot meal. I went on to say I know how hard it is to raise a child and the challenges of doing it alone. I followed her back to her chair and asked her if she wanted me to pray for her. Her whole demeanor changed from an angry woman to someone in need of comfort. I prayed for her and just talked for a few minutes, hugged them both and walked away. 

Gems it was easy for me to be judgmental toward this woman and I'm not condoning her behavior but I know what it's like to be a mom on the edge and go off on my kids. 

The Lord wanted me to comfort her with the same comfort He gave me. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

This woman was so focused on her circumstances she was forgetting to comfort her team or in this case her son. Maybe if we obeyed this verse more often people would be less stressed and be kinder to one another. 

The King James Bible uses some form of the word comfort 119 times. It started in 

Genesis 5:29 He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.”

Obviously God knew we were going to need comfort. 

Definition of Comfort - to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to. 

Many times we relate giving comfort to someone who just had a loss or is dealing with sickness but if we look at what Webster says it also means to reassure or bring cheer to. We need comfort when we are stressed or concerned about something in our life that are out of our control or just new to us. 

This week as we prepare for Thanksgiving I challenge you Gems to ask your family members if they need comfort in any area of their life. I also challenge you to reach out to someone you may want to slap and offer comfort to them as well. 

Isaiah 40:1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

 Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

Isaiah 66:13As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” 

Jeremiah 31:13Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort!

I wish you all A Very Happy and Comforting Thanksgiving!!

Dedication to Ezra Matthews

I'm sure a lot of you know about Ezra Matthews and his parents Kyle and Robyn. For those of you that don't Ezra is a 2 year old boy who has been battling neuroblastoma (a rare form of cancer) for over half of his life. I started following their story about 2 months ago when I joined the internship program at grace family church. We have an hour devotion time at 9 each morning. Well about 3 weeks ago while I was home getting ready to go to the church I just really felt God putting Ezra on my heart. I had the most urgent feeling that I needed to start praying for him, so I just started to pray in the spirit as I finished getting ready and drove to the church. When I got there I put on some music got down on my face and just started praying for this little boy and his family. In the song Hosanna there's a verse that says “show me how to love like you have loved me” and that has been something thats been on my heart and that I've been praying for lately. While I was on my knees begging God to heal this child He began to just fill my heart with this supernatural love for Ezra. I began to feel so much love for this child that I had never even met and I just started crying asking God to please please heal him of his cancer. Then I thought if I can love someone that I've never met, this much then how much more does the God who created him love him. I knew God was showing me his heart. In that moment I have never prayed so hard and with all I have more than i did then and I just wanted so badly for him to be healed and I know that God wanted that too. I emailed Kyle after that telling him of my experience and he told me that that was the day the doctors told them that Ezra was going to die. He ended up recovering from that and little by little started to improve. I was so hopeful and I just thanked God for the work he was doing in Ezra. Well yesterday morning at 2:45 A.M baby Ezra passed away. When I heard the news I just started weeping. I was hurt and confused. I had no idea why this happened. I'm not mad at God for what happened and I'm not going to lose faith over it I just don't understand it, but then again I can't see the big picture that he sees. I know just in my life Ezra's 2 years here has made such an impact. Through him God taught me how to love others like He loves me, he taught me what it truly means to pray and fast and petition God daily for a miracle to happen. Through Kyle and Robyn he taught me what it is to stand by God no matter what, to trust him wholeheartedly even when it gets hard and painful and ugly. I will always look to them as an example when I go through my own hard times and I will always remember baby Ezra and the love I was given for him. I know Ezra is in a better place now a place where there is no more pain or death or tears, but it still hurts and it still breaks my heart. Through it all I still know the God we serve is a merciful and loving God and that even though we may not be able to see how, he does work all things for good and for his glory. I cant wait to meet this amazing child of God in the arms of our Father.
By Nathanael Duran 11/2010

Justice And Mercy

A few weeks ago my youngest son was asked to dress up like the devil and stand at the entrance to our church holding a sign telling people not to go to church. I'm talking the whole devil outfit, red horns, pitchfork and I think a tail may have been involved.
For those of you who know Nathanael you can imagine how far out of his comfort zone he was.
Of course he didn't tell those closest to him so I didn't get any pictures to use against him at a later date. The Pastor was going to use this to make a point in his teaching on spiritual warfare.
The interesting thing to me was the number of people that drove by him and flicked him off or yelled something mean to him. Some yelled Jesus loves you BUT no one actually stopped and tried to talk to him. They were in a hurry to get to church and missed an opportunity to minister.
I think most people thought he was a whack job and just ignored him but I wonder how many of them don't believe there is actually a devil.
This of course got me to thinking about Heaven and Hell. It amazes me how people live their lives without any real thought of where they will spend eternity.
God is the God of mercy and love but He is also a God of justice.
Let's see what the Bible has to say about it. We'll look at Romans where Paul is speaking.
Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Paul is emphasizing the power of God and how He saves everyone who has faith in Him.
We know the most memorized verse in the Bible is John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(Mercy)
We cling to these verses and we praise God for his love and rightly so however where does the “justice” God come into play?
This is the part most people including me don't like to talk about but it's just as important.
Back to Romans 2.(Justice) We read in verses 6 & 7 God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Verse 8 reads BUT for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; (Justice)
(Mercy) 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11For God does not show favoritism.
Another well known verse is Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.
So we know everyone is a sinner and we know we can be saved from that sin through our faith in Jesus Christ (Mercy) BUT saved from what?
(Justice)2 Peter 2:4-10 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.
People don't think they need a Savior because they don't think they need to be saved. Part of the reason for that (in my opinion) is they only hear the mercy part of God and not the justice part. I know some of you reading this jewel don't believe there is a hell so again what would you need to be saved from?
I remember in my partying days when I would go to bars, if you were still there when the bar closed all the lights would come on. Yes I'm sorry to say there were nights I was still there. These lights were called “the ugly lights” because everyone looked better in the dim lighting. Some of you know what I'm talking about....
I guess when I relate that to the spiritual world I feel like it's the same thing. It's last call and the ugly lights are getting ready to come on and Gems for some people it's going to get real ugly!
I'm well aware that no one knows when Christ will return, I just have a sense of urgency to let everyone I know realize that they need a Savior. The Savior, the son of God, Jesus Christ to save us from going to a very real place called hell!
Hell is a place where you are completely cut off from the presence of God. I don't know where that is and I don't want to find out. If that scares you, good.
I want to share part of a story from Luke 16, Gena translation of course.
There was this really rich dude who had all the name brand clothes and lived in the lap of luxury everyday. At the gate of his place was this bum named Lazarus. Lazarus was pretty gross. He was covered with sores and starving. He would have been happy to eat the food thrown out by the rich guy.
One day the beggar dies and the angels carried him to Heaven where he meets up with Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried but he ends up in hell where he is being tormented. One day the rich guy looks up and could see far away into Heaven and he sees Abraham with Lazarus next to him.
I'll let the Bible tell you the rest of the story.
Luke 16:25-31 He calls to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
That's a tough story to read (justice) BUT the good news is someone did rise from the dead, Jesus and he is calling out to you because He loves you and it's God's desire that non should perish and go to hell.
That decision is up to you because whether you want to hear it or not the same merciful God that sent his son to die for YOU is also a justice God and when the ugly lights come on you will spend eternity somewhere.
The devil may not be dressed in a red suit with a tail and a pitch fork but he's definitely real and hoping you won't believe in him or God.
Jesus did die, He will return and God will judge. I pray you will see the true light and know there is more to God than mercy.