“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” 1 Thess. 5:11
I was having a particularly challenging morning. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had had an amazing week in ministry, and most importantly had had a beautiful week in my personal relationship with the Lord. I had been in awe of what He was doing through my ministry work, of the lives both near and far He was reaching for Himself, so no wonder the enemy the devil was coming especially hard at me from an array of different directions. Not to mention the Lord seemed to be testing me to see if I would actually do what I had been studying in His Word and preaching to others in my writing and streets ministry work. The Lord reminded me in the thick of it all of something vitally important.
When facing the devil’s attacks and/or God’s testing, not only should we as our highest priority go to the Lord and His Word to
receive His strength, wisdom, discernment, and direction, as the Lord is essentially our commander in chief, but we can go to Christ’s Body, our fellow Christ followers, our fellow sheep, who are like our fellow soldiers in the battlefield of life. We can express to our fellow soldiers our needs so they can pray for us, encourage us, comfort us, help us with studying and living by God’s Word, give us specific scriptures the Lord leads them to give us, counsel us with godly wisdom, hug us, share their experiences with us, and most of all love us with the love of Christ. Even when we are not in a battle, or we don’t have the sense we’re in the midst of major testing from God, God wants us in fellowship with His followers and we can find opportunities to love and be there for others.
That morning I had spent my usual time with the Lord and in His Word, praised, prayed, sung to Him, worshiped Him, sought Him, and listened to Him. When I recognized the day would be challenging, I sought the Lord for help – and reached out to Christ’s Body to share my need for prayer. I was not alone on the battlefield, nor alone in God’s testing as He ever conforms me to Himself.
The Lord did not create us to live by ourselves, but to repent and give our lives to Christ and walk in His forever fellowship and in loving unity and mutual support with our fellow travelers on the highway to forever with the Lord!