God's Word For Every Day

The kingdom of God is a power. Paul tells us, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power" (1 Corinthians 4:20). It is the power of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, breaking into our lives and transforming them. "The race of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Corinthians 13:14). This is the blessing of God's kingdom. It's a blessing which is more than mere words. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit - these are not just religious words. They are spiritual realities, the power of God at work in our live, the power of God which brings the forgiveness of sins, the power of God which brings new life, the power of God which gives us a foretaste of heavenly glory. A foretaste of heavenly glory - This is what the kingdom of God is in our present experience. God's future breaks into our present experience. Here and now, we have begun to ex...

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). In these words, Paul is encouraging us to draw back the curtain and catch a glimpse of a bigger and better world than this world,  which is passing away. Draw back the curtain - and catch a glimpse of glory - the glory of God. Paul's  encouraging us to see our life with the eyes of faith, hope and love. He speaks about two different kinds of seeing - " For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). When we're  learning to look at life with the eyes of faith, hope and love, we're catching a glimpse of what lies beyond the curtain - " And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith, hope and love - these are the things that remain. May God help us to keep these eternal thing...

"On the last day, that great  day  of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.   38  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said,   out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”   39  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given ,  because Jesus was not yet  glorified" (John 7:37-39). What a great day it was when Jesus spoke these wonderful words. What an even greater day it was when the Holy Spirit came in power on the Day of Pentecost. There were "rivers of living water" that day! The Spirit was moving in power. He was bringing many people to faith in Christ. That was a day of great blessing - but it was only the beginning of even greater things. In every generation, the Holy Spirit has been doing the work that only He can do. He's been bringing people to the Saviour. Without the...

"For  He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin  to be  sin for us, that we might become  the righteousness of God in Him (Christ)" (2 Corinthians 5:21). These words are too much for the mind to take in - but they bring joy to the heart. What joy comes to us when we think of how wonderful a Saviour we have! Praise arises in the heart when we look, with faith, at Jesus Christ, crucified for us. From the Cross, we hear His words, "It is finished!" - and we rejoice that our Saviour has done what needed to be done for us to be saved. "Hallelujah! What a Saviour!" --- The words "Hallelujah! What a Saviour!" are taken from the hymn, "Man of Sorrows." Here's a link to the words and music -  Hymn: Man of Sorrows, what a name .

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  These are tremendous words of faith. They lift our eyes above “our light and momentary troubles.” They set our eyes on the “eternal glory.” When we see our times of suffering in this eternal perspective, our hearts are encouraged in the Lord. Our suffering isn’t the last word. God’s eternal glory is – and we will share in His eternal glory – “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! … Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be li...

2 Corinthians 7:2-8:7 We may face difficult circumstances. We may experience much suffering. In all of this there is one thing we must never forget: ‘God… comforts the downcast’(7:6). He lifts us up when we are down. He enables us to ‘excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, in love, in giving’(8:7). How are we to excel in everything? We must ‘give ourselves to the Lord’(8:5). Everything else flows from this. We are to ‘give ourselves in devoted service to others’(12; 8:4-5). Where does this spirit of ‘rich generosity’ come from? It comes from God, from ‘the grace that God has given’ to us (8:1-2). It comes to us as we give ourselves to Him. Before we can ‘excel in this grace of giving’, we must receive ‘from His fullness, grace upon grace’(8:7; John 1:16). 2 Corinthians 8:8-9:15 How are we to be ‘cheerful’ in giving ourselves to the Lord (9:7)? How are we to be confident that ‘God is able to provide us with every blessing in...

2 Corinthians 2:12-3:18 How do we react when things don’t seem to be going very well? We all need the encouragement of God’s Word: ‘Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph’(2:14). When everything seems to be going wrong, we need to be reminded of God’s Word: ‘In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us’(Romans 8:37). When we feel so weak, we receive strength ‘from God’. We are strengthened by ‘the Spirit of the living God’(3:5,3). We must learn to look beyond our circumstances to our Saviour. In Him, we see ‘the surpassing glory’. As we look upon ‘the glory of the Lord’, we are ‘changed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory’(3:18). In life’s many hard times, may God help us to see what He is doing in our lives and not only what we think is happening to us.

2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10 God has called us to salvation- ‘God has shone in our hearts…’(4:6). He has called us to service- ‘having this ministry by the mercy of God’(4:1). We receive salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’(Acts 16:31). We are not to keep our faith to ourselves. We ‘believe’. We are to ‘speak’. This is God’s way of reaching ‘more and more people’ with His ‘grace’(13-15). Our experience of salvation and our empowering for service are both grounded in one great gift from God: ‘God… has given us the Spirit’(5:5). We fail our Lord often. Our faith is weak. Our witness seems so ineffective. When you feel such a failure, remember the Spirit. He will not fail you. He is our ‘guarantee of heavenly and eternal glory’(4:16-5:5). 2 Corinthians 5:11-7:1 ‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation’. Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him’. We are ‘not to accept the...

2 Corinthians 5:11-7:1 ‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation’. Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him’. We are ‘not to accept the grace of God in vain’ by living for ourselves. We are to be ‘ambassadors for Christ’. We must proclaim the urgent message of salvation - ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation’. We must call men and women to respond to God’s message of salvation: ‘Be reconciled to God’(5:18-6:2). If we are to be effective ‘ambassadors for Christ’, we must dedicate our lives to Him: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves… and make holiness perfect in the fear of God’(7:1). Without this heartfelt commitment to godly living, we cannot really serve the Lord at all. Our wrong lives will drown out our ‘right’ words. We need true lives as well as ‘true’ words.

2 Corinthians 10:1-11:15 We are engaged in warfare. Is it ‘worldly war’? Do we use ‘worldly weapons’? No! It is spiritual warfare. God has given us His weapons (10:3-4). Our enemy is ‘Satan’- ‘the god of this world’(11:13-15; 4:4). We face him with ‘the whole armour of God’, with ‘the Gospel of peace’(Ephesians 6:11,13,15). We are not fighting for ourselves. We are not fighting in our own strength. The battle is the Lord’s. He is our Strength. Without Him, we fail. With Him, there is victory. Everything is centred upon the Lord. We are to have, ‘a sincere and pure devotion to Christ’(11:13). We are to ‘boast of the Lord’(10:17). We are to seek the Lord’s commendation (10:18). Be devoted to the Lord. Give glory to Him. Seek His approval. These are the things that really matter, the things we must never forget.

2 Corinthians 12:11-13:14 ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all’(13:14). We have often heard these words spoken. Here, we are reading them in the Word of God. How often do we think about these words? What do they mean? These are life-changing words. Through ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ’, we become ‘rich’- ‘blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing’(8:9, Ephesians 1:3). ‘In love God has destined us to be His sons through Jesus Christ’(Ephesians 1:5). How do these blessings become ours? How do we become God’s children? We hear the Word of truth, the Gospel of our salvation. We believe in Christ. We are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Such great blessing - ‘the Spirit is poured upon us from on high (Isaiah 32:15)!

2 Corinthians 1:1-2:11 Times of trouble can turn out to be times of great blessing - ‘God… comforts us in all our affliction’(1:3-4). Whether good things or bad things are happening to you, don’t forget this: God loves you. His Word is ‘not Yes and No’- ‘Yes, I love you. No, I don’t love you’. In Christ, His Word is ‘always Yes’(1:19). How do we know that God loves us? - ‘God showed His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’(Romans 5:8). Whatever may happen to us, nothing can change this great fact: Christ died for us. This is the great fact of God’s love. Life is not easy. There is ‘Satan’, always seeking ‘to gain the advantage over us’(2:11). We do not stand alone in our battle against Satan. God ‘has given us His Spirit in our hearts’. He is the ‘guarantee’ of our final victory (1:22).

2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10 ‘My grace is sufficient for you’(9). These are tremendous words! Believe them. Apply them to yourself. Let the strength of the Lord come to you as you reflect on these great words. God is speaking His Word to you. Whatever is going on in your life, whatever difficulties you are facing, God’s Word is still the same: ‘My grace is sufficient for you’. Do you think God will let you down? Don’t believe it - not even for a moment! It is a lie of the devil. It’s ‘as old as the hills’. Way back in Genesis 3:1, Satan was spreading doubt: ‘Did God say?’. God says, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’. Satan comes along and says ‘Surely you don’t believe that!’. ‘When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail’(Redemption Hymnal, 261). Did God say? - Yes! He did say!

“We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). There are two ways of looking at life. We can look with our physical eyes - and we can see the world. We can look with the eyes of faith - and we can see the Lord. Some will tell us that there’s nothing more than the world. Others tell us something very different - without the Lord, there would be no world. Who are we to believe?  “I have decided to follow Jesus.    If no joins me, still I will follow.” When we follow Jesus, everything looks very different. Where we saw only the world, now - we see God, the Creator of the world. We see his love - and we say.  “Thank you.  Lord.”

Tomorrow, next week, next month ... More quickly than we would like, next month becomes next week, and next week becomes tomorrow ... Here's a deadline that's more urgent than any of these deadlines: " Now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). What makes "the day of salvation" so urgent? - We may not have a tomorrow, a next week, a next month, a next year ... We can do a lot of planning for our earthly future. What about our eternal future? Today is the time for planning for our eternal future. When Christ comes to us, He calls us to trust in him and receive from him the gift of his salvation. He calls for our immediate response: " Today , if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).   

We're creatures of habit. We have our daily routines. What are we to say about this? - Take care that you don't get stuck in a rut! If we are serious about our commitment to Jesus Christ, we must be ready for change. Jesus doesn't leave us the way that he finds us. He changes us. In him, we become "a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Change that comes from the Lord is good change. It's change that comes as a result of being "transformed by the renewal of our minds" (Romans 12:2). Jesus changes our way of thinking - and he changes our way of living. This change in our way of thinking and our way of living begins with a change in our attitude towards him. Our thinking and our living are to be shaped by the attitude of gratitude. We learn to see how much Jesus loves us and how much he has done for us - and we are thankful. When we begin to give thanks to our Saviour, we cannot remain the same as we were before we came to see how much he has loved us....

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). Anything good that comes from us has come to us from the Lord. The power comes from Him  - and the praise goes to Him.

"T herefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18  while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). The eternal dimension - this is what we must not lose. When the going gets tough, we must learn to look above, to look to the Lord, to see that He is there with us - in the hard times as well as the happy times.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6 "the gentleness and graciousness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:1);  "the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). What's the connection between the two? - We learn to obey Christ, as we learn to love Him. We learn to love Him, as we learn how much He loves us. "What a Friend we have in Jesus" - He's not a far away God who doesn't care about us. He's our best Friend. When we learn to see Jesus as our best Friend, we will not find it a burden to live in obedience to Him. Beyond the obligation of obedience, there is the privilege of obedience.

2 Corinthians 4:1-18 Note 2 Corinthians 4:6 - The light of God shows us that we are in darkness, and it calls us out of the darkness, and into the light. Where do we see the light of God? - In Christ. His light is the light of love and the light of life. Love reaches us. It leads us to the light. The light guides us, and changes our way of living. The light says, 'There's something better than the life you're living.' The new life is eternal life (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). In the Old Testament - Beyond the wilderness, there's the promised land. God has a great purpose for us. He changes us here-and-now, and He's preparing us for His eternal glory - (a) I saw the light; (b) I'm walking in the light; (c) I'm looking forward to the light (Revelation 22:5).