~
Finding Comfort for Sorrow ~ Part II ~ How ~
It
is a help to know why suffering is allowed,
but is there a way to
be victorious in it?
As we have written before, we do not have all
the answers,
but are simply sharing what we
have found to be
a help, only and always from the BIBLE
– the Word of
God.
“There is a place of quiet rest, near to
the heart of God.
A place where sin cannot molest ~ near to the
heart of God.
Oh Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of
God,
Draw us, who wait before you, near to the heart of
God.”
(Author unknown.)
REPEATING
SOME WAYS OF FINDING COMPORT FOR SORROW.
[See
‘Comfort for sorrow’ ~ Part I ~ ‘WHY’.]
1. There is MEANING ~ answers to ‘Why’.
2. There are real REASONS ~ but only in the Bible, the Word of God.
3. There can be PURPOSE ~ if we accept the reasons God gives us.
4. There is HOPE and even REWARDS ~ because GOD is LOVE!
GOD
NOT ONLY ALLOWS SUFFERING ~ HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT.
God
actually allows suffering.
a.
It is part of being human.
We have
already explained this. It is because He kept true to His decision to
give us and allow us to use our ‘free will’. Sin has been
the freely chosen way of every human being, which as a whole human
race has been infected with this terrible disease and the
consequences. So many innocent people suffer along with every other
human person, sometimes, in some ways.
b.
It is part of being in God’s Royal
Family. [Some of these thoughts are in ‘Part I’]
Yet
it often seems that those who are closest to God, and have tried to
serve Him well, suffer the most. There are many reasons for this.
Maybe by denying themselves of needed rest, or food or other
essentials, even living in a climate they were not suited for, like
many a servant of God who has gone to a different country to take the
message of God’s Word. ‘Unseen’ people like
Mothers, Family members, and those who care for other people, (such
as children or handicapped, sick, deprived or elderly). Pastors,
Leaders -as ‘ministers of truth’, are among these who
suffer often.
Many servants of God from the early Apostles and
Believers in New Testament times right up to the present time, know
about suffering and sorrow.
(In Part I we
quoted from a letter in which an Arab Christian Leader in the
Middle East, included verses from 2 Corinthians 6: 3- 10 written by
the Jewish missionary, Paul!) It seems there are more servants
of God in the world today who have suffered in extreme ways, even
persecution, as Paul wrote about in his defence of unjust criticism
by the Corinthian Christians, in his 2nd letter, chapter 11: 13 –29
but fewer people in Western countries. However just being
known as a ‘Christian’/ Believer can bring its own
difficulties. If the sorrows you feel are real to you, no matter what
others say, just believe that God “understands your thoughts
afar off.” (Psalm 139; 2, KJV.) “No throb nor throe
that our hearts can know, but HE feels them above.”
So God
shares all your sorrows with you and is with you in them all.
Remembering these facts can help us to be victorious even
through them!
SOME
STEPS TO COPING WITH OUR SORROWS.
In
Romans 12:2 Paul speaks clearly about the importance of being
“transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you
will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- [even
suffering or sorrow] –His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When you think about it, -all the letters of the New Testament
were written to explain how to cope with problems, from wrong
teaching to painful persecution and to encourage those distressed
because their times were very hard and changing. Just like
today!
Simply stopping what we are doing
and reading wonderful parts of Scripture is the very best help for
sorrow – like the 1st 6 chapters of 2 Corinthians!
So
sitting down to think about what is happening and why, and how
to meet the needs and challenges by “the renewing of our
minds”, can be very helpful!
Here is our
suggestion: practice your “A, B, C, D.”
(Apologies
if English is not your main language.)
A>
Acknowledge the facts.
There
are two parts to this; we could call them ‘an honest
assessment’.
FIRST
–Acknowledge Who GOD IS!
This can be the
most beautiful part of all life, including our times of
difficulty.
We can look away from ourselves and
like the Psalmist, “Be still, and know that I AM GOD.”
(Psalm 46: 10.) One great way to do this is to study God’s
Names by which He has made Himself known. If you know Hebrew this
will be even more precious!
Beside His great, special Name, ‘YHVH’
-which we do not know how to pronounce, but use the word ADONAI or
LORD, for, are the names which are associated with it. They are –
Jireh –Provider, Shalom -Peace, Rophe –Healer, Rehi
–Shepherd, Nissi – Banner, Nakah –Guide, Tsidkenu
–Righteousness, Gemulah –Reward, and bringing them all
together in the wonderful Name, Shammah –‘The LORD is
There.’
When we remind ourselves of these, or the names
Yeshua/ Jesus/ Isa Maseeh gave for Himself, we can be so re-assured;
our sorrows will seem so much smaller.
You will remember He said
“I AM – the Bread of Life, The Way, the Truth and the
Life, the Gate, the Good Shepherd, the Light of the world, and the
Resurrection!”
In the face of sorrow, pain,
poverty, hunger, darkness, cruelty, even death, we have a great GOD
and a loving SAVIOUR -WHO CARES! [Reading the Bible is such an
important way to know what God has done for people and His feelings
for us!]
SECOND
–Acknowledge your real problems- honestly!
So
often people will tell you, wrongly- “Oh don’t worry,
everything will be alright.”
Or, “But you haven’t
anything to feel sad or bad about…” (When you know you
have.)
“Never mind, it is all part of life, it will soon go
away -time heals.” (Only partly true.)
So
you need to be honest with yourself! (You must never lie to
yourself at all!) This is most important, to really look at
your sorrow or problem. If you are sick, or very poor, or someone you
love has left you, or you are being badly treated, you need to
honestly face the truth. The only danger is to spend too much time
in it and even making it worse by ‘lying down in your
sorrow’ and not taking the next step.
Acknowledge and
Accept that you are in need! Someone wrote “In acceptance
lies peace. It is a big step for finding the comfort you long
for.
B> Believe
God has Blessings for you!
God’s
promises in His Word are like a large BANK! For most
people, when you decide you need more money, you can go to your Bank.
Some of us have very little money in our Bank, (including the writer
of these notes) but we are very grateful we do have somewhere to go.
How much more wonderful it is that we can go to the ‘Bank
of the WORD of God’! It seems there are about 3000 promises of
God, -(Who would never tell a lie), which we can count on. Do you
know that before He died, Yeshua/ Jesus said about Himself, “He
had to be put to death; but that after three days, He had to rise
again. He spoke very plainly about it.” J.N.T.
emphasises this in the translation of Mark 8:31, 32. Even His enemies
remembered, as Matthew 27: 63 says, “Sir, we remember
that that ‘Deceiver’ said while He was still alive,
‘after three days I will be raised.’ “ And
He told them that they would see Him again. (John 16: 16.)
Do
you know anyone who could make this kind of promise? I don’t!
So this is a wonderful reminder of how Yeshua keeps His
promises – though like His disciples we ‘forget’,
so the Angel reminded them, “He is not here, because He has
been raised- just as He said! Try to remember this -that
if God as our Risen Saviour could keep such a wonderful promise –
we know He will keep them all! But although the ‘Bank of
God’s Promises’ is full and adequate to meet our every
need, we have to do our part – like ‘cashing a cheque’!
For every sorrow there is a promise for us to count on.
C>
Confess, or Commit or Count on God for His
help!
You will realise that just as we have different
sorrows and needs, so we need different ways to ‘cash the
cheque’. We ask for the help we need specifically.
If our sorrow is because of our sins the ‘cheque we need to cash’ is confessing our sins. Do you wish you could talk it over with God? He says you can! (In Isaiah 1:18.) “ ‘Come now and let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’.” There are many other lovely promises that you can claim. God’s forgiveness through His Son taking the punishment for all our sins is complete/ total!
If our sorrow is poverty or sickness, or any other kind of pain, we can count on God to help us, especially as we commit ourselves to accept what He gives. This includes wanting His Honour and glory, more than our own enjoyment. There is no room for selfishness. This could be a reason we do not always get exactly what we want. God is more interested in what we need and what will be a blessing through us to others. The subject of “PRAYER” is a big one, but we have just given some reasons to expect the answers to our cry for help! It is important to count on a specific promise, even learn it off by memory- and writing it out so you can see it often! If you look up the word ‘suffer’ in the Bible you will find wonderful things!
If
God allows a sorrow in our lives, we can turn it into an investment
in His Kingdom by following these ‘rules’ of acceptance
and commitment to Him alone. This is also called consecration
which leads us to the last step.
D>
Dedicate yourself – and the
experience – the answers to your prayers, -to God!
Anyone
who has ever had any kind of trouble or sorrow or suffering and has
found the answers in God’s love and in His Word becomes a
special person because of the experience… There is an
amazing verse that says that it is part of our work for God, -to
suffer! But in Romans 5: 3 it even says, “we can rejoice in
our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance…
character… and hope.” It is not wasted in
this life and wins a reward in the next Life, with our Father
God!
Best of all it brings us closer to our Loving LORD.
Romans 8: 17 reminds us that “if we share in His suffering
we may also share in His GLORY!” Yeshua/ Jesus spoke a lot
about ‘glory’ in his special last prayer for us in John
17. Part of this glory is to be able to “comfort those in
any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God…”
part of wonderful verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
So
you could imagine that these A –B –C –D steps are a
good ‘Healing Recipe’.
After some
time it can be better than packets of pills and as easy to take. Try
it!
Acknowledge – Believe – Confess or Commit -
& Dedicate…
However it can be
helpful to understand more.
THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF ‘SORROW’ & ‘SUFFERING’.
USING
SOME MEDICAL TERMS TO HELP US.
Diagnosis.
In most medical situations the first need is to decide what is
the ‘problem’, and so all kinds of equipment and skills
can be called on to make sure of the actual condition. Not knowing,
can often make the problem seem worse! That is a kind of suffering in
itself. This can be a first step in finding the help for our
sorrow.
Cause. This is
part of the diagnosis and is often a big step towards finding the
treatment that will lead to a cure. Again, in the area of sorrow we
can seek to know what is the cause, and find God’s treatment.
[Maybe see Part I of this study.]
Treatment.
“Yes there is comfort for sorrow” is the line of the song
we quoted, before. We also suggested that understanding why
God has allowed all kinds of terrible sorrow and suffering in the
world is a form of comfort in itself.
But there are
‘treatments’ even blessing in our sorrow that can only
be found in God and His Word. There has to be a relationship
between the ‘doctor’ and the ‘patient’; that
is between God and me. We have that relationship through the + sign
of God’s great suffering on the cross –the means of
Yeshua/ Jesus suffering to death for us.
In the spiritual realm,
we need to go to God as needy sinners, and ask for His help,
whether our sorrow is physical, mental or spiritual. We have three
parts to each one of us, and every part needs God’s
health and healing. This does not mean if we are
suffering in our bodies it is because of our minds or spirit, (but
there can be a link.)
Applying
the treatments. There are many people, who in their hearts
often know why they are sorrowful and perhaps -because of God’s
gift of a conscience - know they could find help in God, but do not
do so for many reasons. This is why some of us feel such an agony,
that so few people even want to know God or the help they can
find in His Word. F.W.Faber, a very godly man wrote this in a song,
“Souls of men why will you scatter like a crowd of
frightened sheep? Foolish hearts! Why will you wander from a love so
true and deep.”
Even God expresses this in the
Bible, especially about His chosen Jewish people. Through the prophet
Isaiah (48: 17) God said, “This is what the LORD your God
says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I AM the
LORD your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you
in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My
commands, your peace would have been like a river…”
There are other Scriptures which say the same thing.
EXAMINING
SOME HEALING FOR THE GREATEST SORROW; TEMPTATIONS.
Satan
really wants to ‘hurt’ our LORD -so he tries to wound Him
by making us sin.
Because Satan knows our hearts
and our weaknesses he knows how to tempt us.
This can cause us
enormous pain and sorrow, just facing the temptations and even
more if and when we choose to go into them. If we were really
honest, we do not ‘fall’ into temptation, but James,
Yeshua/ Jesus’ brother wrote in his letter, (1: 13 & 14),
“No one, being tempted should say, ‘ I am being
tempting by God’. For God cannot be tempted by evil and God
Himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is being tempted whenever
he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire.”
[J.N.T.]
Bringing our
‘temptations/ desire to sin’, to our basic
understanding.
Many years ago I was greatly
helped to realise that all temptations could be narrowed down, to a
few basic desires within all of us, which helps our understanding of
their source and their cure -so much!
a.
They are all related to the entrance of SIN into the world. (Look at
Genesis 3.)
b. Our
Lord Yeshua/ Jesus faced each one Himself victoriously! (Matthew 4:
1-11.)
There are three
universal basic desires, and we can see the way to respond to
them.
These are seen so clearly in the temptations
Yeshua/ Jesus/Isa Himself, faced! Matthew chapter 4: “Then
Yeshua/ Jesus was led by the Spirit,” [notice that!]
“To
be tempted by the devil.” Even Jesus,“suffered,
being tempted”.
1.
PLEASE YOURSELF. “After
fasting 40 days and 40 nights He was hungry. The Tempter came to Him
and said, ‘’IF You are the Son of God, tell these stones
to become bread.’ The temptation was for Yeshua/ Jesus to
deny Himself and His calling. For us -it is not ‘if’
you are in God’s Royal Family, it is ‘now that you
are, will you be noble enough to act unselfishly as a child of
God should?’ Do I deny myself?
“Please
yourself” is often, related to food. Maybe it is not food, (or
maybe it is being greedy or eating wrong foods). Maybe it is some
other perfectly natural desire, but for us it comes to looking at the
motive behind it. “Jesus answered, ‘it is
written man does not live by bread alone, but on every Word that
comes from the mouth of God.’ “ You do not need
us to press the point – we simply need to ask, “will this
please God and be obedient to His given Word, which is so clear.”
The problem is often, not, ‘what is God’s will?’
It is often, ‘can I find God’s strength to do His will
and glorify Him?’ There is a great need for us to be
balanced in our desires: food, sleep, rest, sex, sport, good
work, exercise, enjoying a ‘hobby’, (reading, watching
good pictures, good music, making things with our hands, spending
time with family and friends).
All of these are good at
the right times, in the right amounts, for the right reasons. We
should not get a guilt complex if we do not need to. But if we
are honest -it seems so much easier to ‘just give in’ and
‘please ourselves’ often, -whether it is sinful or hurts
ourselves or someone else. This includes taking drugs, alcohol, wrong
sex, or gambling, or losing our tempers. The answer is always in
using God’s Word as a shield!
2.
SHOW OFF YOURSELF! “Then
the devil took [Yeshua] to the holy City and had Him stand on the
highest point of the Temple.” This could be a corner of the
Temple Mount area which is part of the Southern wall, below which
were wide steps up to the Temple courts through the ‘Huldah’
gates, which can still be seen outlined, although walled up. Huge
crowds were often there – (which was also true at the time of
Peter’s sermon on the Day of ‘Pentecost/Shavuot’.)
So there would be a great audience to see what Satan wanted
Yeshua/ Isa to do – to ‘show off’ how great He was,
by jumping off this high place –(90 Feet above the ground
below). Satan even quoted part of a Scripture! “ ‘IF
You are the Son of God’, he said, ‘throw yourself down.
For it is written, “He will command His angels concerning You,
and they will lift you up in their hands so that You will not strike
Your foot against as stone.’ “ (Notice Satan did not
quote the next piece that says, “You, [meaning
Yeshua/ Jesus/ Isa], will tread upon the Lion and the cobra, You will
trample the great lion and the Serpent!” That was to be the
fulfillment of Genesis 3: 15 against Satan but he tried to be clever
and leave that part out!)
[There are many false prophets these
days, who proudly twist God’s Word, still.]
You will know
that Satan’s great sin was pride, and he loves
-more than any other sin for us to give into this one!
(But notice it is not always being humble, not to speak up for the
truth when we should– something young people and women can
struggle with.) Pride can keep mouths shut – or open! We need
to look at our motives and attitudes.
Yeshua/ Jesus answered
again, using the Word of God, “It is also written, ’do
not put the LORD your God to the test.” How humble our
Lord, Who is God, was! For us too,
true humility takes God at
His Word and trusts Him to demonstrate His love and power through
weak people like us! This is why He even allows great physical
injuries, or illnesses, sometimes and many saints have glorified God
through great suffering and sorrow. Many brave Christians are
suffering persecution yet staying true to God.
3.
SAVE YOURSELF!
“Again the devil took Yeshua/ Jesus to a very high
mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world –and
their splendour. ‘All this I will give you… IF
You bow down and worship me.” Always, always throughout the
centuries of time Satan has tried to get Believers to just nod, -
just say a few words- like “Ceasar is Lord”. Satan uses
our fear of other people or the imagined ‘cost’ of
submitting to God’s will, so we try to save ourselves from
embarrassment, or trouble. More often, by simply ignoring
God’s great offer of loving forgiveness people have ‘turned
their backs’ – [some would say ‘thumbed their
noses’] on God and His Word. By this they vote for Satan’s
rule in the world, which is why we have so much sorrow! Satan was
saying to Yeshua/ Jesus, “don’t go to the execution stake
to win the world- I can give it all to you – if you give
me the worship I long for.”
When the Anti-christ
or False-messiah comes, he will insist on being worshipped by
people –or face a death penalty! We have outlined these
‘temptations’ to warn you.
The temptation to
save ourselves from effort, from embarrassment, from losing
friends, from being disciplined, are all temptations we face every
day. Yet although Yeshua/ Jesus said “take up your cross,
every day and follow Me,” He was not trying to put a heavy
burden on us, because as He also said, “Take My yoke upon
you and learn of Me for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
He knew better than anyone did (because He made us), that by
following Him, even sacrificially – we would often ‘save
ourselves’ in a better way. We would live a wholesome life, and
one day receive a great reward of Love for walking “the Calvary
road” of self-denial, instead of giving in to the temptation to
‘save ourselves’. This also explains Yeshua/ Jesus’
words, “If anyone wants to save his life, he must lose it…”
FOCUSING
ON SOME OTHER KINDS OF SORROW.
There
are some Counsellors who have made a list of various kinds of sorrows
or ‘stress factors’, going from ‘the worst’
to the less serious ones. But we would remind you that if the sorrow
is real to you it is real, -you need to acknowledge that, no
matter what other people might say. All sin and sorrow and
suffering is real in God’s eyes, and He sees and is
there to help and heal! But because we are human we do think of some
sorrows as especially hard, or worse than some other kinds of
trouble.
DEATH. It is true death
is a ‘part of life’, but that is not a help when we are
facing death ourselves or in others, especially if they are close to
us. These days there are very many people who have what seem
comforting thoughts about death, (which we can’t give here) but
they are based on lies. There is no Biblical truth to the idea of
re-incarnation. Neither is there any truth in annihilation. Also we
can not agree with those who say that life after death is
dependent on only living a good life here. The only true answers
about death are in the Bible. We can only touch briefly on them.
1.
Every person is made up of a physical body, a soul and
a spirit. (See 1 Thes. 5:23.)
2.
The human body is the part that dies and returns to the dust.
(See Eccl. 3: 20.)
3. The
soul is the real person, (who has an ability to think,
to love and to choose), and it goes on existing,
according to the choices that person/soul made in their life.
4.
The spirit is the spiritual part, which is either in agreement
with God’s Truth, (Yeshua/ Jesus), or not. Anyone not in
‘agreement’ with God’s Truth is in ‘agreement’
with Satan, even by ignorance. We are either in God’s Family by
trust in His Son, the Saviour, or we are not. If we do not have God’s
Spirit in our spirit we are ‘lost’ and will die
spiritually because of our sins. (See Romans 8:13.)
5.
Unborn babies, and children (or mentally handicapped), who do not
know the difference between right and wrong, we believe, will be
cared for by God’s Love.
6.
Those who have chosen to ignore the TRUTH will go to a place
called ‘Hades’ in the Bible; a place of departed spirits.
It is not Purgatory, nor is it Hell. At the end of the Millennial
reign of Yeshua/Jesus they will be resurrected, (united with their
bodies) and judged as it says in Revelation 20: 12. “And
I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the Throne and the
Books were opened… The dead were judged according to what they
had done as recorded in the Books… Each person was judged
according to what he had done… If anyone’s name was not
found in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the Lake of Fire.”
We have omitted a few words –so it is good if you can
read these for yourself. Now, maybe you will know why we want to warn
people and plead with them to choose to believe in Yeshua/ Jesus to
have all their wrong-doings – sins forgiven and make sure they
are written in “the Book of Life’. Is your name written
there? It can be as soon as you trust in Isa/ Yeshua/ Jesus death for
your sins and repent of them, making Yeshua/ Jesus/ Isa Maseeh your
Saviour and LORD of your life. Please do this now.
7.
But all those who have chosen to trust in God’s way of
salvation will be sure of going to be with Jesus – not in the
full glory of Heaven, yet, but what Jesus called ‘Paradise’,
when he talked to the thief who was dying beside Him.
8.
So this means that we Believers do not need to“grieve like
the rest of men who have no hope!” For ourselves or for our
loved ones who are Believers we can find real comfort for sorrow in a
time of death. This doesn’t mean that we are not very sad at
being left alone, or losing a child or someone who meant a lot to us.
The shortest verse in the Bible is, “Yeshua/ Jesus /Isa
wept!” It is not wrong to cry.
9.
But ONE DAY – as we write about in our other articles we will
be with Our Lord in Glory, joy, peace, freedom from all pain and
sorrow forever!
SEPARATION. Some
people would feel this was even a harder sorrow than losing someone
who loved you, by death. When a person who has been close to you,
rejects you and leaves you, wife, husband, child or friend it is very
sad, and brings great sorrow. Only the knowledge that even God knows
how it feels when people choose to reject His love, that can
bring you some comfort. Again, you can dedicate this experience to be
a comforter to others. Be careful that you are not the one, who for
the wrong reasons separates yourself from someone, because you cannot
forgive.
God hates divorce –
but He understands it. See Hosea chapters 1 –6, and I
Corinthians chapter 7. www.christiananswers.net
has good help on these subjects.
SUICIDE.
This is a sadness many Christians know about, yet for a Believer in
God and His Word it is the final act of unbelief, saying (in our own
way) “God can’t help me, and I am not going to let Him!”
Unbelief is the only sin God cannot forgive if it is not repented
of. It is THE ‘unpardonable sin’. ”Anyone
who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
The only unforgivable ‘blasphemy’ is unbelief, so
even though your troubles are terrible, somewhere, God will give you
the grace to call on Him for help. Psalms (like 18, and 139) –
almost all of them can help you to believe!
For some very good
help, please see, www.godtest.com
or www.gospelnet.com
SICKNESS OR PHYSICAL PROBLEMS.
This is a big subject for many books and sermons, but we believe it
is simply an opportunity to realise the reality of God’s help
in the ways we have outlined. Nothing can touch you that God does
not allow. (Read Job 1.) God does not send trouble and
sorrow on individuals; He allows it for ‘good’.
Acceptance
of God’s will, (and the medical help that may be available to
you) is very important. God has given people scientific and caring
skills to help us -accept them!
Belief
in His loving promises and purposes;
Claiming
His grace to honour God even through suffering; and
Dedicating
the experience – even to dying victoriously, is your
privilege. I knew of a famous Christian sportsman who suddenly
was given 2 weeks to live because of cancer. Instead of pleading to
be healed, he was able to tell everyone on T.V. about his faith in
His Saviour, and that he knew he would go to be with Him. This
honoured God, more than another who told everyone including his
doctors that God would heal him. This was not God’s will, so
(sadly), he missed his opportunity to honour God…
THERE
ARE MANY OTHER KINDS OF SUFFERING, BUT THE BIBLE HELPS
ALL.
Lonesomeness, persecution for your Faith, no
opportunities for education or employment, misunderstanding or even
cruelty by others, poverty and loss, and more…
Perhaps
we have written enough for you to be able to find your way into God’s
‘Waiting room for sufferers”. If we can help more you can
contact us, but perhaps our ‘F.A.Question’ section can
give you some helpful advice. It is because we know some forms of
suffering ourselves, and expect that many more people will face
suffering in persecution and End Time disasters, that we felt we
would like to offer these 2 studies. But really, it is for you, in
your relationship with God and His Word that alone, can be a
blessing. Be sure our prayers are for all readers of this site.
We
close with the last 2 verses of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
“May our Lord Yeshua/ Jesus
Messiah/ Isa Maseeh HIMSELF ~
And God our Father, Who loved us
~
And by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good HOPE
~
Encourage YOUR hearts and strengthen/comfort you ~
In every
good deed and word!”
In
His Name we say, ‘AMEN’.