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NewsDay

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Devotion: Be comforted

Columnists
For soccer enthusiasts Orange Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals 2012 have come and gone. Maybe you are still celebrating the win of your team or you are still wiping away tears because your team got a baptism of fire and made an unceremonious early exit or it held on to the last, but was […]

For soccer enthusiasts Orange Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals 2012 have come and gone.

Maybe you are still celebrating the win of your team or you are still wiping away tears because your team got a baptism of fire and made an unceremonious early exit or it held on to the last, but was not tactical enough and crumbled where it mattered most. Some of you lost money, cars and houses through betting and there is chaos in your life.

The wife and kids have left and you are now squatting with a friend. I am not going to discuss gambling, you already know it is unbiblical.

I am neither a soccer enthusiast nor a supporter of a soccer club for the simple reason that I hate the “we” part when truthfully I am not part of the “we”. You hear people saying:

We will beat you. We are rich; we pay the highest in the league.” Are you really that rich? Some of the emotions are way too overboard. Men go to bed without taking supper because “their” team lost, but meanwhile the players are in the pub enjoying their appearance fees. Get my disclaimer! Soccer is good and God given.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone for those that believe in it. Some of you got that relationship breakthrough while others are counting costs.

Maybe you bought that expensive red dress or outfit on credit and you strolled down the streets and no one noticed you.

You even went aimlessly to the supermarket or ordered food in the restaurant that you did not even have appetite for in order to attract potential suitors, but the guys seemed not to notice.

This has left you in severe depression. The credit store has taken off their installment and you are left with inadequate money for rentals.

Some of you are crying because Valentine’s Day led you to discover your husband has a mistress and worse still a five-year old son and this came to you as a shock.

Today I am writing to someone in severe pain and agony.

You are probably reading this at a funeral or you are starring at the rat poison or other drugs you have just bought to commit suicide because you are going through a painful and traumatic second divorce.

May God interrupt you and cancel the spirit of suicide.

I also want to reach out to those that have just failed their examinations, those that have been fired, retrenched, demoted or lost an election.

Maybe you had bought the paper to look for a room to rent for which you do not have enough rent plus deposit.

Your company is about to collapse, you can’t pay workers and the messenger of court is at your doorstep.

Whether you are reading this in the park with no hope at all or in a jail cell, however complex and inexplicable your situation is; God has decided to visit you today. Against this backdrop of extreme gloom and foreboding, I reach out to you today.

Writing during the final onslaught of Israel’s northern kingdom by Assyria and austere conditions in the southern kingdom, Isaiah was sent by God and said this in 40:1-2 (Message Bible):

“Comfort, oh comfort my people,” says your God.

“Speak softly and tenderly to Jerusalem, but also make it very clear that she has served her sentence, that her sin is taken care of—forgiven! She’s been punished enough and more than enough, and now it’s over and done with.”

It is helpful to receive the Word of God by faith and not logic and rationale. Be comforted and receive healing and soothing of the heart from God. You better jump and begin to enjoy life. He goes further and says in Isaiah 52:9:

“Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.” Get up and rejoice, and again I say rejoice.

If you have accepted Jesus and you are going through the above, know for sure He is on your side and will make a way.

The adversity only came so that it passes away. May the presence of God enter your life and let the dark cloud disperse. Be comforted, encouraged and be lifted up by Psalm 112:4:

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.” If you are not yet born again, this is an opportunity; accept Jesus Christ and He will lift that burden. Do not be hopeless, be hopeful. He will neither leave nor forsake you. It is just a passing phase, you are going somewhere.

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

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