Daily Inspirations

  Good morning. Paul then gives the Corinthians a little nudge. He reminds them that they were the first (they liked to be first in everything) to desire to send an offering to Jerusalem. He wanted them to finish what they had started. Some people are very quick to start things, but then too many times they fail to complete them. They wanted it to be the “perfect“ offering. He tells them that it’s OK if they didn’t have a lot of money. It’s the desire to give that matters. But this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality - at this present time your abundance being a supply for their needs, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality. Show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you. Instead of condemning them, Paul again puts a positive spin on his request for them to give. Father thank You for all that You have done for us this past year. Help us to seek for and to do Your...

  Good morning. Speaking of collecting money for the saints: I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. Paul does not scold them or try to shame them into giving. By telling how the Macedonians not only gave, but did so with joy and liberality, he hoped to invoke the same attitude in the Corinthians. Giving with the wrong attitude might benefit the ones who receive the gift, but it does not benefit the ones who give the gift. Speaking of the ultimate Giver: for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. He willingly gave up everything for us. He was God (rich) and became man (poor). He not only became poor by becoming a man, He also became one of the poorest of mankind. Luke talks about when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to offer a sacrifice for her cleansing after the birth of Jesus, they co...

  Good morning. Paul then talks about how the churches of Macedonia had “taken up an offering“ to send to Jerusalem. In a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. A lot of times we give special offerings because everything is going great, and we have a little extra money. For the Macedonians, it was just the opposite. According to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. Sometimes today Christians give money to some special offering because they are “trying to buy indulgences” for the bad things they have done or that they want to do. Now Paul turns his attention to the Corinthians. Just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in thi...

 Good morning. Paul tells the Corinthians to make room for him in their hearts. He talks about when he came into Macedonia that he was afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus. We don’t ever think about Paul being depressed or needing reassurances about the people in some church, but apparently he was. Titus reassured Paul about the Corinthians’ love for him. Though I caused you sorrow by my letter (possibly talking about the one who had his father’s wife), I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. Apparently he meant that by his letter they saw that it was wrong to allow this man to continue, and repented. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvat...

  Good morning. Continuing where we left off about not being unequally yoked with unbelievers: or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God has said, “ I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate… And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me.” Of course it went over most peoples’ heads when God said “I will dwell in them”. That was absurd; God actually dwelling in humans? And so they dismissed or tried to explain away what was said. What should our response be? Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. That is what our response should be. Remember that God‘s holiness can have no place with unrig...

  Good morning. And working together with Him , we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain - for He says, “at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you”. Behold, now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. Christmas is the “acceptable time” and the “day” that salvation came to earth. Paul mentions a bunch of hardships that he went through. Do not be bound/unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Of course the most common application of this by preachers is that a believer should not marry an unbeliever; but it could also be in other areas. When you have a team of animals pulling a wagon/carriage/sled, they are yoked together in pairs. If one is stronger/faster/wants to go in a different direction than their partner, it can create an imbalance, and it makes it hard for smooth travel. The same is true with humans. If a...

 Good morning.  So God has committed to us the word of reconciliation; therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Ambassadors represent a country/kingdom. They speak on behalf of the leader/monarch. When they speak, it is as if the leader/monarch is speaking. There is an interesting observation about Paul saying “we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God“. Since Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, one would assume that he is writing to believers. Why would he be begging believers to be reconciled to God? We now come to another interesting verse. The word “sin“ can be either a noun or a verb. In this verse both times that it is translated “sin“ it is a noun. He made Him who knew no sin “to be” (these words were inserted by the translators so that we would not think that the next use of “sin“ was a verb; that is, that God made Jesus to commit sin) sin, so that we...

Good morning. Another favorite verse: therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature/creation. It’s not that he/she is new like a baby of some species that already exists; it is like they are a brand new species that has never existed before. When God came to earth as baby Jesus, He was a brand new “species” too. As such we should not be acting like our old selves. The old things passed away; behold new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. When two people have disagreements/arguments with one another, even refusing to speak to the other person, they need to be reconciled. They could both be at fault. Even when there is “peace“ restored between them, the one offended may still hold a grudge - but not so with God. Wi...

Good morning. For the love of Christ controls us (we can’t help ourselves – His love is suppose to be in control of our actions), having concluded this that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Jesus did not die for us so that we could live any old way that we wanted. He loved us so much that He was willing to die for us; we should love Him so much that we are willing to live for Him. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh (what one is in the natural, means nothing in the spiritual world); even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer (we know Christ in the Spirit). The margin of my Bible says that the phrase “known according to the flesh“ means “by what he is in the flesh”. Father help this weekend to be a time of reflection about all that You have done for us in sending Your...

Good morning. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. Why did he say “knowing the fear of the Lord“? Was it because of the last verse we covered yesterday which said that “each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad“? Is that why he persuaded men? We are not again commending ourselves to you (I am not telling you that I do this because I want you to think I am such a good guy) but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance (false prophets and teachers were ostentatious, trying to make people think they were the real deal) and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. Father go with the reader and help him/her get everything ready for what’s coming.

Good morning. Continuing with “while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord“: we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Paul is definitely saying that this life is not the end. When the real “we“ leaves this earth suit, we will be at home with the Lord. There is debate about exactly what will happen between death and resurrection. Even Revelation talks about during the Great Tribulation the souls of those martyred being under the altar and asking the Lord “how long will You refrain from avenging our blood?” Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. He has a “naughty or nice“ list. So be good for goodness sake 

Good morning. Continuing: for indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. The groaning and being burdened could be just physical; but most likely it is spiritual in nature. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. We talked about the word pledge in chapter 1. It would be easy to get discouraged with this groaning and burdening, but Paul says: therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord - for we walk by faith, not by sight. Some have taken this out of context and applied it to the Christian life in general. While we do live our lives as Christians trusting in God to take care of things, even though we can’t see it happening, in context this is talking about trusting in God that we will one day be with Him. Father thank You that one day we...

Good morning. Continuing with the theme that things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal: for we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. A tent is a temporary thing, while a house is an “eternal“ one. The tent of course represents our earthly body; the building represents our resurrected one. The tabernacle of Moses was temporary, while the temple of Solomon was “permanent”. Both contained the Ark of the covenant with the tablets of God. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. It is easy to damage or destroy a tent (just like our body), it is much more difficult to damage or destroy a building. Just like astronauts wear a space suit, someone has compared that to our body being our “earth suit“. Astronauts need space suits to exist and opera...

Good morning. Therefore we do not lose heart (how can he say that after all that he has been through?), but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man (the real us) is being renewed day by day. It is hard to do, but we need to keep that in mind. What happens to our physical body is “inconsequential“. Notice the contrast in the following verse. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. The affliction is momentary and light (though it may not seem like it), while the glory is eternal and heavy (like gold). While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. We have to look at beyond the now. As we used to joke about the verse that says “and it came to pass” - thank goodness it didn’t come to stay. We have all heard it said about someone, “he/she is so heavenly minded, they are no earthly good”...

Good morning. Paul then mentions bad things that have happened to him, but he has not given up. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. It did not matter what happened to Paul, it would not turn him away from doing what was best for the Lord and them. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke.“ we also believe, therefore we also speak (he couldn’t help but speak), knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. Do we have that kind of faith, or would we let bad things happening to us deter us from speaking the truth of God? All things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may...

Good morning. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “light shall shine out of darkness (let there be light),“ is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (who is the image of God). There was darkness in our hearts until God said “let there be light“. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. According to my Bible, it was customary to conceal treasure in clay jars, which had little value or beauty and did not attracted attention to themselves and their precious contents. The same is true of us. We are but “clay jars“ with a precious content, the glory of Christ, within us. It is not our “beauty“ that attracts others to God, but God Himself within us. Father help us to remember that we are not the “main attraction“ but rather You Yourself...

Good morning. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (back to the veil) and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Remember that he said earlier that whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. It is not veiled to everyone, but only to those who are not born again. In whose case the god of this world (the devil) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. In Luke, speaking of Jesus with the disciples in the upper room, “then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures“. Until that point, they too could not understand the Scriptures. To me this references what John talks abou...

Good morning. Completing the discussion about the veil: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Remember that the veil was on the face of Moses upon whom the glory shown, because he had been in the presence of God. “Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord“: go to the bathroom sink and look in the mirror. What do you see? You see your reflection. So when you behold the glory of the Lord in a mirror, you are seeing that glory upon yourself. It’s as if you are seeing the Lord standing there instead of yourself. We are being transformed into that image - of the Lord. So that when the devil and his minions look at us, they should be seeing the glory of the Lord. In other words, they shouldn’t be able to tell us apart. The word translated transformed is the same one in the verse that says “do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the...

Good morning. Continuing with the veil: but their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. Whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Then one of our favorite verses: now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty/freedom. We sing about it; dance to it; but do we really live our lives by it? Remember that the Spirit gives us life, and this life gives us freedom. But it is not a freedom to do just anything we want. Jesus was free to do anything He wanted; but He still went to the cross because of the Spirit. Jesus did things that were unlawful according to the Pharisees. He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. We have two main campuses. When I came here 30 years ago, the math department had many rules and regulations. About 10 years ago, the two campuses kind...

Good morning. Continuing: For if the ministry of condemnation (The law could only condemn you for not obeying it; it could not help you to obey it.) has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. Moses would go into the tent of meeting to talk with God. When he came out, his face would be glowing after being in the presence of the glory of God. Everyone would be amazed. But after a while, the glow would fade away (which symbolized the eventual fading away of the law of Moses). To keep them from seeing the glow fade away, Moses would put a veil over his face until the glow ...

Good morning. Continuing with “our adequacy is from God“: who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Now the 10 Commandments were written by God on tablets of stone; but the law of Moses was written with ink on parchment. Throughout the centuries, the priests’ job was to make sure that everyone obeyed “the letter of the law“. One can obey the law outwardly while despising it inwardly. The law does not invoke life in the doer of the law. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stone, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? The law in itself could not give life, but could only show you how you did not measure up. Father help us to allow Your Spirit to control all that we say or do.

  Good morning. But in actuality, Paul did have a letter. You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Letters are nice, but they are not permanent. Ink can fade or run, and paper/parchment can be torn or destroyed. What is written can only be seen by those people with whom you share the writing. But what is written on the heart by the Holy Spirit lasts forever and can be seen by all people that you come in contact with, whether or not you desire for them to see it. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. Father thank You for another beautiful day. Help us to show what You wrote on our hearts to those around us.

Good morning. For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. The word peddling invokes the imagery of a movie about the old west where you have a man in a wagon traveling from town to town selling various items to people. These so-called preachers would travel from town to town “selling“ the word of God to people in the churches. Do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? Apparently these peddlers of the word as they went from town to town would get someone from the church in the town to write a letter of recommendation that they could take with them to the next town. By the time that person discovered the truth about the “preachers”, it was too late, they had already bilked the people in the next town out of their money. Paul said “I don’t need no stinking letter“, I’ve got you as my letter of recommendation to others. Father go with the reader and help him/her to have a great ...

  Good morning. Skipping some verses: but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph (my Bible says that the imagery is that of a Roman triumph in which the victorious general would lead his soldiers and the captives they had taken in festive procession, while the people watched and applauded and the air was filled with the sweet smell released by the burning of spices in the streets) in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? So non-Christians are the “walking dead“, with toe tags on their feet; while Christians are “walking bags of potpourri”, bringing a sweet smell wherever they go. Father help us to bring the sweet smell of Christ wherever we go.

Good morning. It is possible that the “sorrow“ that Paul was talking about was from First Corinthians where he talked about someone having his father’s wife (stepmother), and them being complacent about it. He scolded them and said that he had already judged him, and had decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Continuing where we left off in Second Corinthians: if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote (this makes it seem like the writing we talked about yesterday was First Corinthians instead of some unknown letter), so that I might put you to the test,...

  Good morning. Just a few verses before, Paul had been saying he was not vacillating about coming to see them. To spare you, I did not come again to Corinth. I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. It sounds like that on a previous visit to Corinth there had been sorrow connected with the occasion. My Bible says that if so, it is an unknown visit. For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I come, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. There is debate as to whether the “l wrote you” Paul was talking about was First Corinthians, or a separate letter that we don’t have a copy of. We will continue this next time. Father continue to go with the reader and his/her family, giving them wisdom and understanding in all that they encounter.

Good morning. In addition to God establishing us in Christ and anointing us: who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. The word sealed means to stamp (as with a signet ring) for security or preservation, and the form of the verb denotes a special interest of the sealer in His act. My Bible says that a pledge is a part given as a guarantee that the whole will be forthcoming. The part is of the same kind as the whole. According to Vine’s, it is the same word in modern Greek that is used for an engagement ring. The Holy Spirit in our hearts is our engagement ring from God. What could our wedding band be but our resurrected body? Father thank You that You sealed us and gave us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is ours to come. Help us to be conscious of that every day.

Good morning. Paul had told them that he wanted to come; but he had been prevented. But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. He was saying “I am not wishy-washy and neither is Christ”. For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. You can believe what God has promised us. He is not going to take it back. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God. God is the one who establishes us, not we ourselves. We cooperate with Him; but we are not the ones who do the establishing. Some preachers try to “stir up” an anointing; but if there is none there, they can not create one on their own. Father thank You that Your promises are yes and Amen. We can stake our lives and our souls on them. Give the reader energy for the tasks ahead.

Good morning. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Sometimes we have to get to the point where there is no hope for us to trust in God. Even if we don’t make it, God will “raise us from the dead” in the end. Who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us. He in whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us. We can be confident in Him. For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. No matter what bad things people may say about him, Paul knew that he had done nothing wrong. For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end. Paul said what he meant, and meant what he said. Father go with the reader. Help him/her to remember the good ti...

Good morning. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. That’s easy for you to say Paul. We always think of Paul as being above the fray and not afraid of anything. But the following says something a little different. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burden excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Bummer! Paul, don’t you know that you are more than a conqueror? Of course he did. It just shows how even the best of the best can let things get them down. And if that happens to them, it can happen to us. Remember, if you get knocked down, get back up. It is only when you don’t get back up that you lose. Fath...

Good morning. Today we begin second Corinthians. Paul begins with his usual greetings to churches. And then some verses that are appropriate to your situation. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. While Paul was talking about being afflicted because of their faith, it also applies to our every day life. God comforts us in our time of need, not just for our sakes, but also that we may give comfort to those around us when they are in horrible situations. Jesus went through much more than we ever will, with His Father even turning His back on Him, so He knows what we have need of in any situation. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. Farther help the reader to have words of comfort.