Daily Inspirations

  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...

  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 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...

  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 Your...

  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 ...

  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...

  Merry Christmas! I hope you have a really great one with friends and family. The following is without comment. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee call Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at the statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and...

  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 ...

  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...

  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 gr...

  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 t...

  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 goo...

  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...

  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.

  Good morning. Therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not vain in the Lord. We shouldn’t be wishy-washy. We have a firm foundation, and hope for life after death. We should not keep that to ourselves, but rather share it with those around us. He then talks about collecting for the saints. This money was to be sent to those in Jerusalem. He tells them that if Timothy comes, “see that he is with you without cause to be afraid”. Remember that Paul told Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear/timidity. Perhaps this was an issue with Timothy. Remember we began this book with this statement, “I am of Paul“, “I am of Apollos“. Was there conflict between the two? But concerning Apollos our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren. That does not sound like they had problems with each other. And then some good advice for now just as then: be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like me...

  Good morning. Regardless of when the last trumpet sounds: for this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. This physical body of ours cannot put on immortality; there has to be some kind of change. What will happen when it does? But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?“ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of Adam’s sin, death came into the world. Physically it did not happen until hundreds of years later. Relating it to the Middle East: it was like being stung by a scorpion, but death not coming till some time later. Spiritually, it happened instantaneously. Father thank You that fear of death no longer reigns over us. Help ...

  Good morning. Now we are about to see some of Paul’s most famous verses. Behold, I tell you a mystery (something of God and His doings that was not understood before, but now has been revealed); we will not all sleep (die), but we will all be changed (from this physical body), in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (not some long process like the Egyptians embalming a dead person), at the last trumpet (there are seven trumpets in the book of Revelation, but that does not mean this is referring to the seventh one. Vine’s had something about it being a special trumpet. If it were referring to the seventh trumpet in Revelation, that would mean that there would be six trumpets of very bad things happening. That would create questions about the Rapture being before the Great Tribulation.); for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed. We will continue this next time. Father thank You that everything is going to turn out just the way...

  Good morning. The first man is from the earth, earthy (I guess you could call him a dirt bag); the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. We may need something like Ancestry DNA to find out from whom we are descended physically, but we only need the Bible to find out from whom we are descended spiritually. Now I say this, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Notice that it says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In Luke, when Jesus appeared to the 11, He said, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.“ That can’t be the only difference. After all, Jesus would appear and disappear at will. Father we know that for only ...

  Good morning. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. He then talks about different types of flesh, animals, and heavenly bodies. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. This is all related back to the sewing of a seed, which does not look like the plant that grows. So also it is written, “the first man, Adam, became a living soul.“ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural (like the seed), then the spiritual (like the plant). We will finish his comment next time. Father continue to help the reader and his/her family.

  Good morning. Become sober minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to you shame. Now wait a minute Paul! Did Alexa tattle on us? From what came before and what follows, most likely he was not talking about sinning in general, but about them not believing in the resurrection from the dead. Someone will say, “how are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?“ You fool! (that was harsh. I thought Jesus said to not say that about someone) That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or something else. Possibly they were thinking that if God did raise their body from the dead, that it would be just like their current body only without any frailties, and would simply last forever. Paul is saying concerning plants: what one sows, is not what grows. Similarly, your resurrected body will not be like your physical body...

  Good morning. Why are we also in danger every hour? And then a very familiar verse: I affirm by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. Of course he does not mean that every day he died. However, in the book of Acts we see many times that he faced situations in which he could have been killed. If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? Was he talking about fighting with literal or figurative wild beasts? And then a statement that is the philosophy of most people of the world: if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. If the dead are not raised, then this is it; who cares whether we do the right thing or not? And then a warning which too many Christians do not heed: do not be deceived - Bad company corrupts good morals. That is so true! While we cannot avoid the people of the world, they should not be our BFFs. There are many anecdotes, including myself, where spending time with a...

  Good morning. After Paul’s digression, we return to the thought that the Corinthians were concerned about their friends or relatives who had died earlier. Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? Exactly what is he talking about here - being baptized for the dead? My Bible says that the present tense suggests that at Corinth people were currently being baptized for the dead. But because Paul does not give any more information about the practice, no one knows for sure what he’s talking about. Many attempts have been made to interpret the concept, none of which are for certain. The passage does not say that Paul approved of the practice; just that he was using it to amplify his argument that the dead are raised. Father thank You for all that You have done for us. All we can do is to praise You every day for everything that You have done for us.

  Good morning. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. Is this reigning Paul is talking about happening right now, or is it during the millennium? Of course it does not look like He is reigning right now. For He (the Father) has put all things in subjection under His (the Son’s) feet. But when He says, “all things are put in subjection”, it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. The book of Hebrews also has similar statements. When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all. Just like “wives be subject to your own husbands“, it does not mean that He is a voiceless slave to the Father. Father thank You that there is no fear of death to those who are believers. To quote from the movie The Mummy, “death is only the beginning”. Of course there it was not the beginning of s...

  G ood morning. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. As a side note: Paul is saying that Jesus was not just God, He was also man. There are heresies that say He was not a man. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming. According to the Rapture, all Christians who are already dead will be raised before the Great Tribulation. The verse continues: then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. That comes after the Millennium, i.e., 1000 years after the Tribulation. Father help us to be a great week for the reader. Help this to be a time of relaxation and fun with family.

  Good morning. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. That makes sense. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised. Is your head beginning to swim? For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. From what he says later, they must have had great concern about their friends or relatives who were Christians and had died earlier. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits (The first sheaf of the harvest given to the Lord as a token that all of the harvest belonged to the Lord and would be dedicated to Him) of those who are asleep. Jesus was just the first to be raised from the dead, not the only one. We will see next time tha...