2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (AMP) Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

The true function of comfort is to propel us to go on. You will not find permission to comfort yourself. The devil wants us to run for comfort and cover to places outside of our calling. To keep us comfortable (in dysfunction, in busyness, in hiding, etc.) so you will never see our destinies come to pass.

Comfort can be dysfunctional when it comes from the wrong places. He is the God of my comfort. When we think of comfort we want to be taken out of suffering, but He comes along side of us to comfort us during the trial. Not after! Could it be our search for comfort be keeping us from our calling? God I want you, but I don’t want to be uncomfortable.

When I told God that I had a desire for more, I invited Him to take me out of the dysfunction of seeking comfort. I invited Him to make me uncomfortable. Reading this entire letter, in 2 Corinthians, you can tell Paul was uncomfortable. How?

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (AMP)  Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me.  So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].

I don’t know about you, but a thorn is painful. A thorn is small. A thorn can be a minor irritation or a big one depending on if you focus on it. Since walking into my calling, I have discovered a thorn. It did not show up right away. Everything was going great and then the thorn was revealed. I have prayed at different times for God to remove it, but instead He removed what I loved. He is telling me my grace is sufficient. He is telling me that I need to grow in grace where my thorn is concerned. His power is perfected when I am uncomfortable, because it is Him doing the change and not me.

I have changed my prayer. I am praising God for that thorn. That thorn is helping me grow in grace and mercy. That thorn is helping me seek His perspective above mine. That thorn is helping me focus on Jesus. That thorn reminds me to think on whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute (Philippians 4:8). That thorn makes me look to Him for my comfort. When that thorn starts to torment me, seek Him more. That thorn helps in desiring for more of Him!

Remember Jesus wore a crown of thorns…we may have just one! Kind of puts a different perspective on “Jesus had you on His mind while He was on the cross.”