Give As You Have Received   Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:2 - 4

“May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”  

Here appears the powerful greeting and prayer that we find in all of the epistles, or the letters written to the various churches that Paul has established through the goodness of God. Paul prays as you can see that the Corinthian church would be given more and more grace and peace. If you were to peruse the other letters sent to the churches you would find these are always evident, and at times both mercy and love are added as another required staple for running this Christian race. Truly these are the things we need more than anything else! For when it comes to successfully functioning as a part of the body of Christ, the church of the living God it is never a solo endeavour. We are to be people who freely, ‘Give As You Have Received’, from the gracious hand of God Almighty!

Of course we give God all of the praise, honor and glory that are due His holy name because of all that He has done for us through Jesus Christ our Lord to reconcile us to Himself and adopt us as His very own daughters and sons.

Just as the mercies of God are new to us each and every day, we are to be willing to dispense his mercy to others along life’s way. With the same comfort that you and I have received from God, we are to look out for those who are hurting, and think that they are in it all alone. We are called to come alongside of them and share our own story of how God comforted us and ensure them that they are not alone, God is with them, so are we - and they will make it through by the riches of His grace.

Remember that He never leaves any of us alone, but we have been born again by the Spirit of the living God. The Holy Spirit also called the Comforter, the One who is called alongside to help us will fill us to overflowing as we look to God, in order that we too may touch others with His great love!  

Prayer Heavenly Father You truly are the God of all comfort and the God of all grace. Fill me I pray to overflowing, so that as I run the race I will be able to lift up and encourage others in the same way that You do each and every day to me. I commit to this once again today through Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord. Amen.  

Memory Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:27 “____ of you __________ are Christ’s ______, and _____ of you is a _____ of it.”