On the Fence: Mirror Reflection (ft. Dylan Suber)

God Gold of the day

Take time to step back and reflect. Come to God, in His Word, in prayer, He will remove the veil from your eyes and allow you to see your true reflection in the mirror.

You want to be able to reflect on these questions; “Where have I been? Where am I currently? And where am I going?”

If we don’t take time to be still and come to God, we will be blinded by the busyness of life and not able to see who we are and who we are becoming risking the chance of one day looking back to not even recognize the person staring back at you in the mirror.

What goal should our vision be set to and focused on when reflecting? Being transformed more into the image of Christ daily! It’s our ultimate goal in life, as we walk through this process of following Christ, the process takes moments of reflection to check ourselves in the mirror to see if we are becoming more like that of Christ. Are you taking time to reflect on the daily?

If not start by stepping back and coming to the Lord, He will remove the blinders from your eyes and show you where you’ve been slack, what lessons are to be learned that He’s placed right in front of you and how to not only learn from those lessons but apply them to your life moving forward as you begin to look more and more like Jesus! That is the goal, to get there, we have to take time to step back, look in the mirror and reflect!

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.’

2 Corinthians 3:16-18

Goodbye Old and Hello New

God Gold of the day

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭

Road Gold

God Gold of the day

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. ‘

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

It’s Not About Me

God Gold of the day

‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. (Verse 3)

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. ‘ (Verse 4-5)

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Tuesday on the God Gold we took a look at some big-time truth! We learned, as it states in verse 3, God is the source of all comfort. We saw areas in our lives where we seek out comfort in the other options the world offers us, in “things.” We took inventory of those “things” we seek for comfort and see when compared to the comfort God gives us, these “things” we use for comfort horizontally in this world are no match to the One whom we seek after vertically which is God. Thank the Lord for giving us Himself, the greatest and only source of true, everlasting comfort in our lives.

Today, we see “why does God comfort us?”

The answer is simple, it’s the same reason we endure suffering for the name of Christ. OTHERS!!!!

I know, it doesn’t sound too appealing right? I thought God was here to comfort us in our troubles solely for “ME.” Well, that’s just not true. Our comfort comes from God so it is never ours in the first place. We receive God’s comfort as we go through different trials and struggles in our daily lives not just so we can have a comfortable life, a “blessed” life. God is always up to so much more than we could ever imagine, God is always at work in our lives to the beat of His drum and not our own. God is simply doing more through our lives than we can see in the current moment. What we see as a struggle in our life, others see the same thing because they too face struggles. If you’re a breathing human being on this earth, chances are certain that you are struggling with something or going through some kind of trouble.

When others see you struggling, they can relate. BUT…..when others seeing you struggling and facing troubles in your life, and you handle them all with such peace and grace. Others see you getting hit by a storm but there you are swimming right through it with a smile on your face filled with joy. So others ask, “how can that be?” It’s odd to see someone handling tough circumstances so smoothly, the only answer to that is GOD!!!!

Out of all the tough situations and troubles I’ve been through, God has given me such comfort in knowing Him personally. God has comforted me in ways that I don’t deserve, but what I fail to realize a lot of the time is this comfort I receive isn’t God blessing me and me alone. What I’ve learned from these verses and what I hope will add some value to your life today is God opening up an opportunity. God shows here that. yes, we are going to suffer more and more as we live our lives for Christ. yes, He is always going to be there to comfort me, but what’s bigger than all of this is what God shows us as; The purpose in the pain.

There is purpose in our pain. When we go through things that are bigger than what we can handle, we have no choice but to lean on God and there He is, arms wide open there to comfort us through it all. But that’s not the extent of God’s purpose for our pain. God’s has a purpose in all that takes place in our lives, ALL for the purpose of pointing others to Him. That’s it! That’s the purpose in the pain. That is why God allows us to go through what we go through and takes care of us the way He does because He is working a bigger plan together that impacts so many more lives for the His Kingdom than what we only see in our little “ME Bubble.”

God’s purpose in your pain, God’s purpose in showing you His comfort in the pain, it’s not all for you, it’s for the ones He’s placed around you. So when you go through something hard and God delivers you, provides for you and gets you through it, it’s bigger than you. That is God opening the door for you to use those moments to impact other’s lives in a BIG way, a God sized way! Those moments God gives us the chance to explain and share with others, “yeah this is really hard but it’s only because of God and His comforting presence in my life that I am still here smiling and standing upright.” If we know others around us are facing battles with trouble too, do you see the opportunity to be had?!?!? God is giving you the chance to show them that this same God that came into your life, met you so mercifully in the midst of your storm and provided His faithful and loving hand of comfort, this is the same God that can do the same in your life.

It hurts to think of all these opportunities I’ve wasted worrying about ME getting through, and what does this mean for ME. Take a look around, there is druggies walking the streets, addicts looking for their next fix, people in our lives chasing so many comforts for their problems and here we stand with the greatest solution to their comfort issue. God has given us such a great opportunity to share with others that there is another way, these ways you’ve been trying that aren’t working, that have you feeling trapped and defeated, the ways of this world and the things we try aren’t the only option. There is a better option, the greatest option, the ONLY option that will fill your comfort need the way you are seeking, His name is Jesus and this is what He’s done in my life.

Move aside from thinking it’s all about you today and walk in the awesome opportunities God has given you to point the hurting people all around you to Him. He has called us for more than having personal comfort in Him. He’s given us a mission and a purpose in all we face and do to share with others the only way to find true comfort in this life. And that way is Jesus.

What Comfort Option do you Invest in?

God Gold of the Day

‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. “

2 Corinthians 1:3

It just blows my mind, wow, God is so daggum cool!!! Hearing this verse today has been exactly what I needed to hear and I pray it can be the same for you!

I’ve spent a lot of years searching for “comfort,” in this world in so many different avenues but all of those ways never seem to bring the comfort that I’m truly in need of. I mean think about it, how many things in your life do you seek to find comfort in, that really good feeling that makes you feel secure and safe? My guess is, A LOT, mainly because we have a lot of “comfort” options out there.

My comfort go-to options, that morning cup of hot coffee to start the day, sitting down to watch a nice movie or ballgame after a long day of work, or eating “comfort food” that tastes really really good but isn’t usually the healthiest of options. (Sorry Taco Bell.) What are your comfort options? What things do you seek to find comfort in? It could be a wide variety of things, I know for my wife, she finds comfort in prepping. She sets up all of her stuff for the day ahead, clothes, lunch, bag for work, and even her bottle of water. She finds comfort in knowing she just has to grab her stuff and go because she’s ready! That’s actually something I wish I had more comfort in because that would be very helpful for me. I say that to show that these comfort options can be found in the smallest and simplest of things in our lives and even big things but at the end of the day, do these comfort options we find horizontally in this world really bring us the everlasting, fullness of comfort that we are in need of? (***These questions in bold are for you to answer and take honest inventory of your life.)

What I’ve been learning lately more than ever and what these pieces of Scripture hit on directly is the truth that looking for comfort in any thing or way from this world will always leave your comfort level on empty.

BUT……The comfort options we’ve always invested in or have so many opportunities to invest in now, these ways aren’t are only option. We can invest a lot of our time and money searching for comfort and investing in this comfort of the world but there is this other option to find comfort that can’t be found on a shelf at a retail or grocery store, it can’t be found anywhere in our lives, only can it be found in God.

This verse in 2 Corinthians says it clearly, God is the source of all comfort. And this comfort that’s found in God can’t be bought like we buy our worldly comforts. I noticed right before this part of the verse, Paul makes this statement; “God is our merciful Father.” Mercy from God is not what we deserve in the least and it’s not something we can ever earn or pay for in our lives. But that is what makes God’s comfort so beautiful. He freely gives us Himself and all of Himself, so as we come to know God personally, how powerful and in comtrol He is. How loving and constantly faithful He is, we come to learn that our only and BEST source of comfort is found in God. Like I mentioned, God’s comfort can’t be bought or earned, by His mercy He freely gives it but how can we find comfort in God? How can we make God the source of all our comfort?

Just like we invest so much money and time in all these other comfort options that don’t even work, to find comfort in God, it takes another type of investment. It takes investing our time. Making intentional time to spend with God. Investing our focus. During this intentional time, focusing on His Word and letting go of all the other distractions around us. It also takes investing our lives. As we come to spend intentional time with God and focus on Him above the noise, that takes giving up our lives to do so. In this time spent with God, we move aside all of self gain and we only seek Him. We seek to learn more of who God is and how He feels about us. As we come to know God more deeply and invest ourselves fully to Him, we come to find an abundance of comfort in Him because He’s our merciful Father who loves us constantly and is always faithful to be with us, help us, guide us, deliver us, and protect us. In so many other ways God brings comfort in our lives but as we come to know Him deeper, we learn more and more of just how He is the source of all comfort. God is the source of all we need.

So what comfort options are you investing in?

Are they in things found in this world?

Or are you investing your time, focus, and even more so your lives in God and coming to know Him more deeply?

Can you see areas of your life where God has shown you He is the source of all comfort?

Where will you seek comfort now that you know the truth about where all your comfort is found?