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.—2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)
Compassionate and
Comforting Father God,
I give You praise for the compassion with which You receive me and the comfort that You pour over me—when I draw near to You with a heart filled with love for You.
Help me not to come to You
with wrong motives—believing that just because I come to You, that You should
cause all my troubles to dissolve away—which might leave me only coming to You
for pain relief, rather than coming to You purely motivated by my love for You.
Help me to love You enough
to trust Your love for me and understand that the comfort You give me in my
distress may only be the consolation and encouragement that I need to push
through my troubles—dealing with them in Your strength—rather than the removal
of the pain.
Help me to believe and be
encouraged that through my experience of Your example of compassion and comfort
to me, You are equipping me to show that same compassion and give that same
comfort to others.
Help me accept that if I never
had troubles or hardships, if I never had pain, I could never know the comfort
and compassion that You give to me and how to live out that compassion toward
others in pain and be able to comfort them—through Christ—in their times of
trouble and hardship.
I give You praise for the compassion with which You receive me and the comfort that You pour over me—when I draw near to You with a heart filled with love for You.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen.
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