Mornings With Jesus

‘The 18-Inch War’
by Joshua Scott Zeitz

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) KJV

Nicodemus, was as the Bible described him, a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee. Now the Pharisees were quite devout and devoted to their cause, stringent followers of the law, or at least the law their particular sect laid out.

In other words, they relied heavily on their own traditions and precepts as to what was right and wrong. 

Jesus had many run-ins with the Pharisees and religious rulers of His day because rather than relying on the Word of God to interpret itself, the religious peoples liked to set their own standards of conduct, to exert their own power and prowess amongst themselves and their underlings. 

Listen, the Bible says, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, but when we are led not by the Spirit, but rather by our own rules, standards, and traditions, our own moral code, this only serves to bring about condemnation and confusion. 

In John chapter 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night and says to Him, “Teacher, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

I want to point out a couple of things here. 

First, notice how Nicodemus calls Jesus a teacher twice. He is attempting to exert his power on Jesus, letting him know just who they think he is.

Second, notice how Nicodemus says, we know…

Again, perhaps trying to exert authority using his position in the Pharisees, trying to skirt full responsibility. Either way, Nicodemus isn’t speaking for himself alone or from a place of total personal honesty.

Thirdly, I just want to point out that Nicodemus doesn’t really know who Jesus is, calling Him a man that God is with…

It is clear at this point that Nicodemus is curious, but also ignorant, relying on his position and pre-conceived notions.

I love how Jesus responds! 

He has such an awesome way of cutting right to the heart of the matter while also keeping it so personal!

He says to Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

In other words, Nicodemus, you think you know who I am, but had you truly known, you would know that I AM! 
 
And until you get born again, born from above, from the Spirit of God, you will never truly know who I am nor truly see the kingdom of God!

You see, Nicodemus knew about Jesus from the things he heard Jesus was doing. 

He heard about the miracles and it made him curious enough to come to Jesus by night to press Him further.

But He didn’t really know who Jesus was.

I want to stop right here for a moment, before we conclude, and talk for a brief moment about the 18-inch war. 

Many people sadly will miss Heaven by the space of 18 inches!

It may not seem like a huge distance, and it may also seem like quite the random or obtuse number, but in fact it makes all the difference in the world. It makes all the difference for eternity!

18 inches, is approximately the distance between the head and the heart. Or in more grim, but truthful terms, 18 inches is what separates us from Heaven and Hell.

Jesus is not a feeling, movement, or goosebump. He is a person. He is real. He is God and has always been God. 

It’s not enough to simply know about Him in our heads, we must know Him in our hearts and this happens when we get born-again.

The Bible says even the demons believe in God and shudder. (See James 2:19)

It’s not enough to simply believe there is a God or believe that Jesus is God. 

We must believe in Him and on Him, placin

‘One of Them Days’
by Joshua Scott Zeitz

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18) KJV

You ever heard the expression, “When it rains, it pours?!”

This is usually closely prefaced or proceeded by some tale of woe where the main character is bombarded with some seemingly catastrophic event and then another and perhaps another until is seems like the person in question is simply doomed to misfortune!

I have certainly had days like these myself. For instance, some time ago while working as a delivery driver, I was having one of those days!

I arrived at work, and things were running well behind schedule. After finally receiving my packages for the day, I began to haul them out to the van. As I was loading them, I dropped one of them. Except it didn’t just hit the ground, it rolled off the side of the embankment. I was parked near a hill. It was like a scene from a comical movie skit!

The package hit the embankment, hit the ground, and then proceeded to roll all the way down the hill, before finally coming to a crash at the bottom! 

All I could do is watch in horror and then the sinking feeling hit me: I have to tell my supervisor about this!

I did and after some time, they sent someone to the bottom of the hill to retrieve the package. It was more than worse for wear and completely undeliverable. Not only did I have a late start to my route that day, but I had to endure the humiliation of it all.

In hindsight of course, the entire occurence is quite funny. However, at the time, I can assure you, I wasn’t thrilled. 

In our Christian journey’s, there are certainly times when life seems overwhelming, and the circumstances we are facing, insurmountable. 

And for good reason at times, especially when dealing with things like tragedy, loss of work, or a wayward family member. 

But I want to encourage you today!

No matter what you may be facing, have faced, or will face in the future, God is an ever present help in time of trouble!

He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

And we can take that promise to the bank!
 
God is not a man that He should lie. 

Listen, the storms of life come to us all, but as born again believers, we have a blessed hope!

We can and should possess joy in the very midst of fiery trials.

Why because Jesus is in the fire with us!

The Bible never said we wouldn’t be tried, but rather to rejoice when we are!

Why? Because if we will just hold on, keeping our trust on the Word of God and eyes on Jesus, we will come out stronger, cleaner, and closer to God than ever before!

I want to encourage us all today!

This starts right now, by filling up on the Word of God. 

We don’t have to be caught off guard or ignorant of the devil’s devices. 

The clouds can give way and the rain can come, but it doesn’t have to wreak havoc in our lives!

We can rest safely in the ark of God’s promises knowing right well that this storm will pass and we will come across to the other side!

With Jesus in our boat, we don’t have to fret!

With Jesus at the helm, we don’t have to worry!

With Jesus as the captain and bishop of our souls, we don’t have to be discouraged, but rather we can be the ones encouraging those around us!

Is it one of them days?

Be encouraged! His mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness!

There is coming a day when we shall see Jesus!

He will not just be the Jesus from sunday school either!

He will be the same Jesus who spoke to the sea and commanded it to be still!

The same Jesus who cast the demons out of the deranged man!

The same Jesus who called Lazerus from the grave!

The same Jesus who walked on water, walked through walls, walked through crowds both angry and praising Him!

The same Jesus who took my punishment, took my cross, took my beating, took my nails, took my death, took my sin!!!

The same Jesus who split wide the grave, snatched the keys to death, Hell, & the grave from the wicked one, and ascended into Heaven!

The same Jesus who was, is, and ever will be the Only One worthy to open the book or even look upon it!!

The same Jesus who will one day split wide the Heavens riding victoriously and galliantly on a white horse and the brightness of His coming will cause all those who deny and reject Him to be vanquished in a moment!!!

The same Jesus who will one day beckon each believer to Himself, to His throne, and it is there where we will be in awe of His majesty, of His beauty, of His magnificence!!

It’s there where we will be humbled, broken, and comforted!

Where He will wipe the tears from our eyes, place our hands in His side, His hands and feet, reminding us once more the price He paid for us!

It is there where we will be face
to face with our Savior, our Lord, our King!

It is here where we will receive the rewards for the things we did on the earth in His name, through His power, for His glory!

The soul winner’s crown will be placed on the heads of those who boldly shared the gospel, who in the face of opposition, told the truth anyway, gave hope anyway!

The soul winner’s crown!

The symbol for all eternity given to those who couldn’t wait to give away what they had so freely received!

The soul winner’s crown!

The prize for all eternity given to those who realized their goodness waned supremely in the face of the Most Holy!

Jesus!

The Lamb of God!

The Lion of the tribe of Judah!

The alpha, omega, first, last, beginning, and end!!!

The only way, truth, and life, the only One who laid down His life for me, for you!

He will place that crown upon my head and I will be so happy, so full of joy, so thankful to have shared Him with others, to have been given the honor of sharing Him with others!!

What an honor! What a delight! What a thrill!

To place the hand of another into the hand of Jesus!!!

To see the eyes of a sinner receive light!

To watch as chains fall and hope comes alive!

What an honor!

The soul winner’s crown!

There is nothing on earth that compares!

No trophy, accolade, or certificate can match it or even come close!

Man’s prowess, praise, and promotion falls
so fall short, it’s not even in the same category, the same universe!

To hear the words of Jesus, Well Done! 

What a joy! What a sight to behold!

What an honor!

The soul winner’s crown, the symbol for all eternity given to those who dedicated their lives to sharing the Good News! 

Not for rewards, not to be seen, not
for promotion!

From a heart won over by the Master!

Changed by the Master!

Beckoned by the Master!

Humbled and broken, laid bare before the King of kings and Lord of lords! 

Rescued and redeemed!

An act of worship, to give away what you have freely been given!

A heart alligned with the heart of the Father!

To see others as He sees them!

To be burdened with the hopelessness of others, to see them as

‘He Tuk Tuk His Sin Away!’
by joshua scott zeitz

While on a mission trip in Honduras, I had the honor of walking the streets of a village with Pastor Mark Simpson and Brad Weink! 

On our way back to the local church, a young man drove up in a tuk tuk, a motorcycle of sorts used to give people rides.

We flagged him down and greeted him, “Hola!”

We handed him a small piece of literature that shared the gospel in Spanish.

Pastor Mark loved on him, and invited him to the church service we were having that night.

We began to walk on and the Lord impressed upon me to speak with him some more.

I asked Pastor Mark, (who is awesomely fluent in Spanish and was serving as the interpreter for us) let’s go back and talk some more with this man.

We did.

As we began to speak with him, another young man and woman approached the vehicle wanting a ride.

We waved them away for a moment so we could finish speaking with the man.

They graciously gave us the time!

I shared with him the gospel!

I told him, “You are out here giving people rides, and that is very nice of you!l

“We are out here offering you a ride to Heaven through Jesus Christ!”

I told him what Jesus did for him, how Jesus suffered and died for him!

Then I said, “I want to play a game with you!”

“Let’s pretend you stole this tuk tuk.”

“You know you took it!”

“We know you took it!”

“The police know you took it!”

“They are here now and they are about to arrest you.” 

“How great would you feel, if I stepped in and said arrest me instead?!”

“Jesus did that for you and me!”

“He took our punishment!”

That young man said yes to Jesus on a dirt road in a village in Honduras, sitting in a tuk tuk!

Jesus is alive! 

He still saves, heals, and delivers!

He tuk tuk that man’s sin away! 

Before leaving the young man, Pastor Mark loved on him some more and gave him a large tip!

He told the man, “You were gracious to give us your time and listen to us, so we wanted to give you this money!”

The man was visibly moved!

Right as we were leaving the young man and woman who originally wanted a ride came and got a ride!

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

‘The Missionary’s Burden’
by joshua scott zeitz

Seeing an extreme need, watching people line up to receive bags of food and clothing, watching them run up hoping they can get anything at all we might have left over…

Having to turn people away because the food has run out…

Hearing children ask, “Can you take me home with you?!”

Watching grown men stumble down the street, drooling, eyes glazed from drug abuse…

Hearing stories of how mothers have their children sniff shoe glue to quiet them, to stave off their hunger pangs…

To watch women sob uncontrollably while receiving hugs knowing right well they haven’t been extended this show of affection perhaps in their entire lives!

Listening to the heart cries of men and women as they pray for their families, and their villages, crying out to God!

Watching the transformation of a heart before your very eyes, seeing joy come alive in them for the first time after hearing and accepting the good news of what Jesus did for them!

Listening to a person proclaim, “Jesus left me!”

Seeing the look of despair and hopelessness in the eyes of beggars, mothers, and children…

Watching a young girl draw water from an outdoor basin of rain to rinse off for church…

Seeing the passion and zeal of the Lord in the eyes of pastors and church leaders who desperately need help but have received very little!

To sit and be served food by ladies in a village knowing they have very little to offer!

To see so much need and so few workers!

To watch as men, women, and children worship the Lord with all their hearts, lifting their hands and dancing before Him!

To hear the gratitude and see the beaming smiles of people as they receive whatever they are given!

To feel the weight of the call of God, 

To be emboldened with might to proclaim His Word only to weep moments later humbled in His presence as He asks for another piece of your heart!

To cry, to laugh, to sing, to be bold, to be quiet, to be broken, to be poured out, to be filled up…

To be overlooked, to be forgotten, to be praised, to be recognized, and to not…

Come what may, the missionary’s burden remains,

To go!

To go!

To go…

The Gift of Jesus!
“The Gospel in a nutshell”
by Joshua Scott Zeitz


Jesus is God.

He has always been God.

He created us in His image and likeness.

He placed us in the garden to tend and to keep it, with one stipulation, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We ate it.

Sin entered our world, but more importantly, our hearts.

That sin brought death; separation.

Sin separated us from God. 

God came from Heaven to Earth, through the virgin Mary.

He was given the name Jesus, as prophesied in scripture.

He was fully man and fully God.

He came for one main purpose, to lay down His life for the sin in our hearts, the sin we committed.

But first, He grew in wisdom and stature before God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and mankind.

He was tempted at every point we are but did not sin.

Because He committed no sin, He was able to take our punishment, to take our sin upon Himself, on the cross.

He was beaten beyond recognition.

After the excruciating torture He endured for us, He was hung on a cross to die.

The Bible says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”

He became a curse for us.

He did this for the joy set before Him, for us, to buy us back from sin. 

He so loves us!

We have all sinned.

That sin separates us from God.

Jesus paid the price for our sin.

He shed His blood for us.

He died.

After He died, He went into the heart of the Earth, into a place called paradise or Abraham’s bosom.

After three days and three nights, because He was there illegally, because He committed no sin, but was merely paying the price for our sin, God raised Him from the dead!

With His mighty right hand, He pulled Jesus out of Hell and as Jesus came up, He brought all those in paradise with Him.

He led captivity captive!

He then came and showed Himself alive to over 500 eyewitnesses, including His own disciples. 

He even allowed Thomas to place his hands in the nail prints and the hole in His side from the spear He took on the cross.

After this, He ascended into Heaven, while His disciples looked on.

Before leaving, He told them to wait for the promise of the Father in Jerusalem.

The promise was the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus did a tag team handoff with the Holy Spirit, who came to reside within the disciples and all believers, to empower them and to be with them, to be their God!

We are now officially bought back from sin, should we choose to accept the gift Jesus died to give us.

The Bible calls this gift eternal life, to know Him intimately and personally, to have our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, to be forgiven of sin, to be given a new heart, to be adopted into the family of God!

He then comes to reside with us and in us and will never leave us nor forsake us!

He is coming back. 

Soon.

Are you ready?

He so loves you!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

The One Day Challenge!

Have you ever caught yourself saying or thinking something along these lines, “One day I will…”

Fill in the blanks.

Perhaps, “One day I will lose weight!”

“One day I will write a book!”

or, “One day I will run a marathon!”

These three are just for examples, but honestly, these are three examples that hit home for me personally!

If one could earn a living by procrastinating, I suppose I would be quite the wealthy man!

Listen, we all have coulda, shoulda, woulda’s, but if we are being completely honest with ourselves many of the regrets in our lives can be equated to saying or thinking along the lines, “One day I will…”

Be encouraged and challenged today!

Rather than, “One day I will,” let’s begin by taking the One Day Challenge, and as the name implies, begin today!

Begin today by taking the necessary steps to reach the goals and fulfill the vision the Lord has given you!

Don’t have a vision?

Don’t fret.

Simply spend some one-on-one time with Him today, and ask Him, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

Granted this can seem to be a daunting task, but take heart, the Bible says, “The steps of a good man or woman or child are ordered by the Lord.”

God isn’t in the business of overwhelming His children.

But He does ask us to do things at times outside of our comfort zone, outside the parameters oftentimes we set for ourselves and for Him.

Why?

Because He so loves us and wants to see us grow, thrive, and get better, to be more like Jesus!

He longs to bring us life and it more abundantly and this begins by surrendering our steps to Him, our day to Him.

How?

Just as it sounds, by starting small, one day at a time.

Rather than falling back on the norm, “One day I will,” let’s begin taking the one day at a time challenge and begin today doing the steps He provides!

When God commands, He empowers!

He isn’t going to ask you to do something He hasn’t already given you the strength and resources to complete. 

Granted you may not see them yet!

You may not feel strong, but the Bible says, “Let the weak say they are strong!”

In other words, because He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, we can trust Him. 

We can take a step out of that boat and trust that although we may not see or feel His provision, it is there!

His grace is sufficient!

Have you ever heard the saying, “how do you eat an elephant?”

The answer: One bite at a time!

Listen, writing a book or running a marathon may or may not seem insurmountable to you, but know this: it takes persistence, patience, and practice to accomplish these tasks or whatever other tasks the Lord has laid in front of us.

One step at a time!

One day at a time!

What do you say, saints? Let’s stop making excuses and begin taking steps!

Let’s stop saying, “One day I will,”

and begin today! 

You ever felt like you were living your life on the sidelines? Like everyone else was passing you by and you were just helpless to watch…

If so, be encouraged! 

You are not alone!

Today I want to draw our attention to a lady in the Bible who suffered with an issue of blood for twelve years!

Think about that for a moment.

Talk about someone who not only felt her life was on the sidelines, she was, discarded by society, an outcast and to top it off she had this issue of blood that caused her to be quite ill.

The Bible said she had exhausted all her efforts and monies in doctors.

That means that she really wanted to be free from her malady but couldn’t.

She was stuck.

I am sure her illness caused all manner of horrible side effects, both physical and mental.

By the time Jesus showed up on the scene, this woman was in a state of absolute desperation and thought to herself, “If I can just touch the hem of His garmet, I will be healed!”

Now if you remember the last devotional about the man whom Jesus cast the demons out of, he went into the whole area spreading news of Jesus, of His amazing power, and this woman, I am sure, heard all the winderful things!

She was expectant!

She had, what I like to call, her expectacles on!

She was ready to receive of the awesome power she had been hearing of and whats more, she needn’t bother Jesus, but only to touch His garments!

What faith!

What desire!

What gusto!

We could all do to get just a fraction of that gusto!

Listen, in our walks with the Lord there are going to be many times when our lives feel as though they are on the sidelines, like everyone else is prospering and we are simply stuck.

Dare I say it even, there may be times when our lives feel useless, pointless, and simply a burden to live…

Be encouraged today!

It’s in these moments when we, like the woman, need to draw close to Jesus like never before! 

We need to come with our expectacles on to recieve of His amazing grace, His power, His strength, His courage, His peace!

We cannot empty Jesus of His power, we can’t drain Him! 

He loves to be interrupted!

In the story above, He stopped, and in the very midst of all those people about Him, pushing, pulling, and vying for position, He felt power leave Him, He felt someone coming not to simply be seen or heard but to recieve!

God is a giver and He loves to bless His children!

“Jesus Sent Him Away…”
by Joshua Scott Zeitz

Luke 8:38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,
39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

God sees the end from the beginning. (See Isaiah 46:10, Revelation 22:13)

He is the great I AM! (See John 8:58)

He never changes! (See Hebrews 13:8)

What does all this mean? 

He is not bound by time like we are. He created time, the moon, the sun, and the stars!

He supersedes time!

That is awesome news for us as believers. 

Why?

Because He is able to see into our future, keeping us from danger and also providing opportunities for us, that should we obey Him, will benefit us greatly!

Don’t misunderstand however, God is not some genie in the sky, nor is He a fortune teller or soothsayer.

He is however, Almighty! 

And because He supersedes times and loves us, He so desires to bring opportunities our way to obey Him and reap the benefits!

The opening passage of scripture mentioned above recounts the man with whom Jesus cast the demons out of into the herd of swine. 

Before doing so, Jesus asked the demon what its name was and the demon responded, “Legion.” 

The man had many demons within him!

It was a miraculous and marvellous feat that Jesus did to be sure. 

Later on the man is said to have come to Jesus, wanting to follow Him, to be with Him, like the disciples were with Him, but Jesus said no!

Have you ever heard God say no to you about something?

Listen, when God says no, it’s not that He wants to be a control freak over your life or because He is some cosmic kill-joy!

Rather, it’s because He is trying to protect you and more often than not, trying to get something to you!

Remember the Israelites? 

They begged God for a king. Time and again, they begged Him, desiring to be like their surrounding nations. 

God wanted to be their king however and told them no. 

He warned them what having a man for a king would bring them, nothing but trouble and a lifetime of servitude, but they wouldn’t listen.

So God gave them what they wanted. 

They forfeited the blessing of God for a counterfeit, for less than God’s best for them!

When Jesus told that man no to following Him, He didn’t just leave him there. Instead He followed the no with a yes!

Yes, do go back and tell all that has happened to you!

Jesus gave him a ministry. He gave him something that He knew would be far more beneficial for the man and all those the man would impact after. 

The man could have gotten hurt or offended, went home and wallowed in self pity, but instead, He took Jesus at His word, trusted Him, and obeyed!

The Bible says that when Jesus returned to that city later on, all the people were ready to receive him!

Why? 

Because the man obeyed Jesus and went and told all that had happened to him.

This was the same city where the Bible tells the amazing story of Jairus’ daughter being raised from the dead and the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years being miraculously healed!

Had that man followed Jesus instead of getting busy obeying Jesus, that town would not have been near as receptive and perhaps none of these things would have occurred.

Life is connected and God sees the end from the beginning.

Remember, His no is not like our no.

His no is not like the other no’s we have heard in our lives.

“No, you can’t have this job.”

“No, you aren’t qual

‘E = MC Christmas’
“dealing with loss during the holidays”

by joshua scott zeitz

Seeing things from a different perspective is not always the easiest thing to do.

I remember several years ago, I bought my wife a camera for Christmas. It was one of those big fancy cameras with a big fancy lens.

I told my wife and children at the time, to make sure no one touches the lens because if you do, it could damage the camera and it will be very difficult to clean.

I really didn’t know much about cameras, I was more concerned with protecting my investment and didn’t want to see the thing get wrecked!

The next morning I awoke early and grabbed the camera.

I was excited to show it off to my wife by taking some pictures.

I took the lens cap off and was just about ready to start snapping pics of the family when I was dumbfounded!

The shock quickly turned to anger which quickly turned to me going on a rant, asking who it was that touched the lens in the camera after I specifically told everyone not to!

Everyone denied touching the lens.

I was more than a bit upset now and decided to go into the other room to cool off.

It couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds later before the revelation hit me like a ton of bricks and I hurried back into the room where my family was to grovel at their feet, begging for their forgiveness!

You see I had not yet put on my contacts that day and therefore the reason for the so-called foggy lens became abundantly clear!!!

I was a jerk and worse yet, I was dead wrong and a jerk!

I was so sure I was right, but I was sadly mistaken!

In our Christian walk, it can become easy to get blinded by things we are so sure about…

The topic I want to discuss today is loss.

Have you ever lost a loved one? 

Have you experienced that first birthday without that special someone?

That first Christmas?

A memory, a smell, a thought triggers you to think about the last moments you spent with that special someone, and it rips at your heart like a sharp dagger!

Losing a loved one hurts!

and grief is not a one size fits all event!

We all grieve in different ways and for differing lengths of time.

And if we aren’t careful, it can be tempting to think that someone else is going to have the same response as us…

This can be especially difficult within many of our church circles.

Perhaps the pastor teaches a message on grief, loss, or heartache and provides an easy 3-step process for getting over whatever it is that is weighing us down…

We take the message to heart applying the steps with fervency and getting over our issue.

We then run into a friend or a colleague from work dealing with a similar issue and we think they should be able to benefit from what we learned so we share quite passionately our 3-step process only to find out that it doesn’t work for the person, in the same manner, causing them and us to become quite discouraged!

Sadly within our church circles, it is all too often easy to spout regurgitated formulas in an attempt to fix the people around us and miss opportunities to love on and share Jesus with these same people!

When we look at how Jesus handled various situations within the Bible, He didn’t employ a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather took time to meet individuals intimately and uniquely!

Whether He was drawing a line in the sand, or placing mud and spittle on a man’s eyes, or having a personal meeting at night with a religious leader He was doing everything led not by emotion or formulas, but rather guided by Love, by His Father!

The Holy Spirit will do the same in our lives if we let Him!

He will comfort us so that we c