An extended version of this message was originally shared at Every Home’s 2020 Summit with the global Every Home fellowship.
I want to share with you today from 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 (NLT):
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. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.
We at Every Home have a similar mandate: we go to churches, encouraging them and giving them resources to ensure the Great Commission is accomplished.
I remember the last Summit we attended in America (in 2019). We had all our plans set, and the Oikos Initiative had started. We believed we were truly going to be hitting our targets and making sure we were reaching every home. Like Paul, we had our plans set. We wanted to make sure we would do the work the Lord had assigned to us. But then the pandemic hit, and nobody could ignore it.
I want us to look at this text because it is truly relatable during such a time as this. Paul faced his own troubles. He was a church planter, a missionary, a traveler who went from place to place planting churches and encouraging the saints. We at Every Home have a similar mandate: we go to churches, encouraging them and giving them resources to ensure the Great Commission is accomplished. Of course, 2020 turned out to be a totally different year. I know that we have all been affected by the pandemic. I, too, was overwhelmed. But God is still God, and I believe our mandate has only been accentuated by this pandemic. We need the Lord to comfort us so that we can comfort the church of Jesus — so that they may continue the work of the ministry.
As I looked at this text, I wanted to understand Paul’s perspective on comfort. The word “comfort” really means someone who comes alongside to strengthen and encourage. We might use the word to describe being comfortable: “Everything is going well with me. I have the things I need. My plans are in place, and we feel comfortable.” But Paul is talking about a different kind of comfort. He reminds us that God is the source of all comfort. Though the world looks broken, though the world is disturbed and worried and anxious about all the changes caused by this pandemic, Paul speaks of a comfort that means God still remembers his children. He will not forsake us. The Lord understands our struggles. He knows what we are going through. He knows to what extent the pandemic has had an impact on each of us. And he comes alongside us to give us the strength to continue. He gives us comfort. He gives us support. He brings us into his presence. He comes closer to us so that we are also able to comfort others. It is my encouragement today that we remember who the source of all comfort is: our merciful Father. He has not changed because of the pandemic.
The kind of trouble Paul describes is overwhelming: “We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.” But Paul learns something significant. He says, “But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.” In the midst of his trouble, Paul decides to stop. He stops worrying. He stops grumbling and complaining about all the things outside his control. He stops talking about his fear or anxiety. He stops focusing on his circumstances and how challenging they are. And instead, he, “learned to rely only on God.”
I think we all experienced a moment last year when we were captured by the pandemic — when we were “crushed and overwhelmed” like Paul. I remember early in the pandemic, thinking and telling my husband, “We are going to die. All of our plans — forget it! We will not progress in anything we intended to do.” We prepared our hearts for this to be the end. But time went on, and now it is a new year. And we are still here. We are not dying. So we, like Paul, decided to stop panicking. We stopped worrying. We decided to depend on God. We are giving each day to the Lord, relying only on him.
In this pandemic, we learned to put our confidence in the Lord, to trust in him who can raise the dead. Although the world may be in a chaotic moment, God can still bring order to chaos. The Lord is able to refresh his people, to comfort us, to strengthen us. He does not take away the struggle, but he is with us. He promises to rescue us, and to continue rescuing us. He will rescue us in this pandemic, and he will rescue us again in the future. We simply continue pressing in, pressing on, running the race.
Paul also reminds us that we must continue to pray for each other. He says, “you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.” We must continue to pray for each other, for everyone in this ministry, and for the needs of the world. During this pandemic, I have been grateful for our women’s ministry here in Every Home Africa — the Oikos Wailing Women Network. As women and wives of ministry directors, we are learning to pray for the nations of the world using the Change the World School of Prayer. We are coming together every Saturday morning to pray for the nations, to pray for this work, to pray because we want to see “many people” giving “thanks because God has graciously answered.” We know that God is hearing us, and we are seeing him answer our prayers. Paul reminds us that our prayers matter.
Finally, this text teaches us that this is all continuous. We are comforted so that we can be a comfort. Let us remember others. As a global Every Home family, we do not put our mandate down because of a pandemic. We do not stop the Oikos vision. We press on, and we continue serving as the Lord has mandated. He is faithful, and so we are faithful. He is merciful. He is with us. He is the source of all comfort. We must continue mobilizing more people to be part of this great work. We must make sure the church continues with its mission, and that we are there alongside them, encouraging and strengthening for such a time as this.
May you be encouraged, and may the Lord continue to be with you.
