Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” Says your God. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned… Isaiah 40:1-2
REFERENCE
Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort is a state of physical ease, well-being and freedom from pain or limitation. It is synonymous with consolation, compensation, succor and encouragement. Comfort depicts the easing or alleviation of a person’s feelings of grief or distress. It could also mean a person or thing that helps to alleviate a difficult situation. For example, Genesis 24:67 records that Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death, when he took Rebekah to be his wife.
One thing I want you to notice in today’s text is the thought, “Her warfare is ended.” Warfare means fighting, struggles and contentions. Continual struggle was the reality of God’s people before the word of comfort came to them. They went through years of hardship, captivity and bondage, but God turned it all around when He brought them comfort on all sides.
Perhaps life has been one big battle for you – you constantly fight to make even a little progress in life; things that come easy to others don’t come easy to you; it takes struggles and contentions for you to get the same ‘basic’ results that others are getting with little sweat. But just like He did for His people, God wants you comforted today. He is the ‘God of all comfort’. Therefore He has the capacity to give you the comfort you need. There are things He wants to accomplish in and through you. There are things that must come out of you, but He knows that it will be impossible as long as you remain in captivity, poverty, joblessness, hopelessness, etc. So you can’t remain in the ashes of despair – He is bringing you comfort, in order for you to fulfill purpose.
Your warfare is ended! Your life will no longer be characterized by constant struggles and warfare. Christ paid the price for your iniquity, and obtained your comfort on the cross. And whatever represents comfort to you is coming your way in Jesus’ name.
SCRIPTURE PHOTO
ADDITIONAL STUDY
Psalm 30:11-12 (ESV), Isaiah 61:1-3 & II Corinthians 1:3-4
CONFESSION
I declare that my warfare is over; the time for my healing is now. I Take God at His Word and receive comfort in place of my former desolation. I receive double blessings in place of my former shame. No more striving to get little, no more struggling to survive. My mistakes are pardoned and I walk in the fullness of my redemptive rights in Christ in Jesus’ name.
