Comforter (Part 3)

Hebrew 2:18 NIV "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

To offer true comfort to others, we must also intercede for them. How do we learn to intercede for others?
God has a school where he teaches intercession. This school teaches only one course, which is called suffering. No one likes to suffer, but we will all face it in our lifetime. We cannot reject the fact that even the righteous suffer.

We must, in fact, embrace suffering as the means by which we become effective intercessors. Kathryn Kuhlman, who ministered healing to thousands, herself took medicine every day. Her experience of poor health made her able to intercede effectively for others who were sick. I have more sympathy and understanding today for stroke victims and what they go through trying to recover because I am one. I thought I knew how to minister to people who had faced this adversity, but now I really know.

Remember that Jesus Himself helps us in our sufferings because He shared in them according to Hebrews 2:18. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that He suffered as a sinner, though He committed no sin. He does not point His finger down at us from a high pedestal. It is true that Jesus rebukes us, just as He rebuked His disciples for lack of faith in the storm on the Sea of Galilee in Luke 8:24-25. But remember, He was in the same boat with them as He rebuked them. 

The same principle holds for the prophets. Jeremiah warned and rebuked Israel for her sin, but when God's punishment came, Jeremiah did not separate himself from the people, but suffered through the same consequences. When righteous Daniel interceded for his people, he did not refer to "their sin" but "our sin" in Daniel 9:4-19. So if we, though blameless, suffer the same troubles that sinners suffer, we should thank God as Paul said, to the church at Corinth, for He "comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, by the comfort which God has ministered to us."