II Thessalonians 2:16 “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.”
In a life’s world that is so often darkened with discouragement, disappointment, sorrow, pain, and even fear; we must remember that it is “our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us”! Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians is both a good pattern for our prayers and a blessed comfort to us as we reflect upon our Lord’s “great love wherewith he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18); yet we also know that “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5:2). The “born again” (John 3:1-8) Children of God inherently know and grieve over their sinful condition in this world, but at the same time they are graciously granted great joy and peace knowing that our Loving Lord “hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Timothy 1:9). Furthermore, we know that our Loving Lord “will not leave” us “comfortless” (John 14:18). Even in the very face of dark times, He will give us “everlasting consolation and good hope through grace”. And, He will surely “Comfort” our “hearts, and stablish” us “in every good word and work”!