WHERE TO GET THE STRENGTH FOR TOUGH TIMES.
"Where to Get the Strength for Tough Times" is
based on the second letter Paul sent to the
church at Corinth about A.D. 55. Quotes are from
the N.I.V. Bible and our comments are in
brackets.
(The letter was sent to Christians and you
become one by genuinely turning from your past
life and trusting Jesus Christ for a new life in
His service. After baptism you need to join a
home church or a denominational church so you
can grow by giving and receiving encouragement
from other believers. Our book, "How to Meet
With God at Home" has details of the former).
May you experience God's undeserved love and
peace. Give praise to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, for He feels for you in your
deepest needs and sufferings and is the God of
all comfort. This equips you to comfort others.
At times you'll be under great pressure as the
sufferings of Christ flow over into your life.
If you are driven to despair it is so that you
might rely on God instead of your own strength.
Set your hope on Him. He will continue to
deliver you.
Have a clear conscience by conducting yourself
as one set apart by God for His use, revealing
His sincerity, undeserved goodness and love.
Christ lives in you in the person of God the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, when He speaks through
you, your word will be trustworthy. Yes will
mean yes and no, no. By faith God the Father
makes you stand firm in Christ. He made you His
own, set His seal of ownership on you and put
His Spirit in your heart, guaranteeing your
future place with Him in heaven.
(Chapter 1)
As one of God's family (a member of a group of
believers who meet regularly) there may be times
when a member, after being correctly punished
for sin, must be forgiven, loved and comforted.
If not, Satan will scheme to destabilise the
group (church).
Thank God that He spreads "the fragrance of the
knowledge" of Christians everywhere through you
as, being sent from God, you speak before Him
with sincerity. Thus God "always leads you in
triumphal procession in Christ." (How different
this is to those who "peddle the word of God for
profit"). (Chapter 2)
To others, you are as a letter from Christ (not
written with ink on paper), but with the Spirit
of the living God written on your heart.
God has made you a competent minister to tell of
a new relationship that's possible between God
and man. A relationship not established by
keeping God's laws but by responding to His life
giving Spirit.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom." And you
"reflect the Lord's glory - being transformed
into His likeness with ever increasing glory
which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
(Chapter 3)
Therefore, as God's minister, don't lose heart
when the going gets tough. No secret, shameful
deceptive ways, no distorting of God's word for
you.
Instead, tell the truth plainly and commend
yourself to every man's conscience in God's
sight. The Good News you spread, that life now
and for eternity, comes through turning from sin
and trusting in Jesus Christ who is the image of
God, will not be accepted by everyone. The
reason for this is that the devil, God's unseen
enemy, the creator of all the world's problems,
has succeeded in blinding the minds of
unbelievers.
Tell others about Jesus Christ as Lord (not
about yourself). Be a servant to them for Jesus'
sake. God has made His light shine in your heart
"to give you the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ."
This treasure is in you, "a jar of clay," to
"show that this all surpassing power is from
God," and not from you. So you may find yourself
hard pressed, pushed, perplexed, persecuted and
struck down. But God won't leave you in despair,
abandoned or allow you to be destroyed. Being
Christ's person involves carrying the death of
Jesus in your body so that His life may also be
revealed in you.
You believe with the Spirit of faith because you
know the one who raised Jesus Christ from death
will raise you with Him and present you before
Him on Judgment Day. This is to your benefit "so
that the grace reaching more and more people may
cause thanksgiving to overflow to God's glory."
So don't lose heart if things get tough. You may
be wasting away outwardly but inwardly God is
renewing you daily. Your light and momentary
troubles are achieving an eternal glory that far
outweighs them all. So fix your eyes not on the
visible temporary things you see, but on unseen
eternal things.
(Chapter 4)
Your present body is temporary like a tent, but
after death you'll get a perfect and eternally
permanent one. Then the mortal you will be
"swallowed up by life." This is God's plan and
He has given you the Holy Spirit "as a deposit
guaranteeing what is to come."
So always be confident, living by faith, not by
sight, with the goal of pleasing God. Finally
you'll appear before Christ's judgment seat and
receive what's due to you "for the things done
while in the body, whether good or bad." This
should give you a healthy respect or fear of
the Lord, that produces positive (not negative)
results,as you try to persuade people to believe
in Christ. Christ's love compels you to do this
because you are convinced that He died for all
to show how fatal sin will be for those who
reject Christ. But as a believer, you should no
longer live for yourself but for Jesus, who died
and was raised to life for you.
Look upon people from this heavenly perspective.
Remember that anyone who truly believes in
Christ is a new creation, the old has gone, the
new has come. God has done this by reconciling
you to Himself through Christ and giving you the
ministry of reconciliation.
So tell people that God was reconciling them to
Himself in Christ, not counting their sins
against them. You are Christ's ambassador, God
is making His appeal through you. Remember that
because the sinless Christ loves you,He paid the
death penalty for your sin. By faith in Him your
sin was exchanged for His right standing with
God the Father. All this was God's initiative.
Your new and eternal life is yours only because
of God's undeserved love.
(Chapter 5)
This should make you act continually to tell
people that to-day is the best day to become a
follower of Christ. Make sure people don't see
anything in your life that would put them off
doing this. Instead show them you are God's
servant by your endurance, purity,
understanding, patience, kindness, control by
the Holy Spirit, sincere love, truthful speech,
exhibition of God's power, use of the "weapons
of righteousness," glory, good report,
genuineness, rejoicing and making many rich in
knowing Christ. Also show them you are God's
servant by the way you handle such things as
trouble, hardship, distress, imprisonment, hard
work, sleepless nights, hunger, dishonour, bad
report, treatment as an impostor, "dying, though
you live on," beatings, sorrow and poverty
(having nothing yet possessing everything).
Do not compromise by accepting the standards of
non believers. There's no way Christ and Satan
can be in harmony. Stay pure, don't be
influenced by such people, after all, you are
"the Temple of the living God."
(chapter 6)
So purify yourself from everything that
contaminates body and spirit, separate yourself
for God's use only, because you want to please
Him. And if you do sin, remember that being
genuinely sorry and asking God's forgiveness
puts you right with God again.
(Chapter 7)
Give yourself to God before you give money for
His work according to His will. Excel in
everything, faith, speech, knowledge,
earnestness,and love,as well as in the grace of
giving. Remember the grace of your Lord Jesus
Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sake He became poor, so as to make you rich
through His poverty. Make sure that in your
giving you do what is right,not only in the eyes
of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.
(Chapter 8)
When you give, do it generously and not
grudgingly, reluctantly or under compulsion, for
the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Remember that
if you sow generously you'll reap generously, so
give what you have decided in your heart to
give. God is able to make His undeserved favour
abound to you, so that "in all things at all
times, having all you need, you will abound in
every good work." God will enable you to be
generous and it will result in thanksgiving to
Him.
Men will praise God for your obedience that
accompanies your confession of the Good News
(Gospel) of Christ. All your giving should be
thanksgiving for God's indescribable gift of
giving Christ, by whose death and resurrection
alone you have life.
(Chapter 9)
Remember that, though you live in the world, you
do not make war as the world does. Your weapons
have divine power to demolish strongholds and
arguments and pretensions against the knowledge
of God. So take captive every thought and make
it obedient to Christ. Remember that the only
approval that counts, is God's.
(Chapter 10)
You are to be as a pure virgin to Christ your
husband. Make sure that your mind is not led
astray from your sincere and pure devotion to
Him. Beware of false teachers and be aware that
Satan, the prince of darkness, masquerades as an
angel of light as do his servants. Their end
will be what their actions deserve.
Identify closely with those to whom you
minister. When they are weak, feel their
weakness, when they sin, burn inwardly for them.
(Chapter 11)
You may have a physical ailment the Lord chooses
not to heal, despite your repeated prayers.
Remember that God's grace is sufficient for you,
His power made perfect in your weakness. For
Christ's sake, delight in your weakness, so that
His power may rest on you.
You'll find that when you don't have the
strength to do God's work, it gives Him the
chance to bless you, by supplying you with His
power.
Be willing to spend everything you have,
including yourself, in spreading the Good News
about Jesus Christ. Let your words be always
spoken as in God's presence so that others are
built up by hearing the words of Jesus Christ
through you. Speak out against impurity, sexual
sin etc. if you find believers who have not
repented (truly turned from) it. Christ who was
crucified in weakness, but now lives by God's
power, will speak and live through you. Ask such
people to examine themselves to see whether they
truly believe, whether Jesus Christ really
dwells in them. Do everything for the truth
(Christ), and pray for the perfection of
believers and for yourself.
Let Christ control your mind, live in peace, and
the God of love and peace be with you. May the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God and the continuing presence of the Holy
Spirit be with you.
(Chapters 12 & 13)
HERE ARE SOME MAIN POINTS FROM 2 CORINTHIANS.
1. The normal Christian life is Christ living
His life through you. You'll suffer, God will
comfort you, and you will comfort others. But
you can only do this with God's strength.
Christ, through you, will invite others to a
new relationship with God established by
responding to the Holy Spirit and not by
keeping God's laws.
2. Your opponent in this mission is the devil.
He has blinded some to Jesus. He will
ceaselessly try to make life tough for you
and so you won't always be successful. But
when things are tough,keep your eyes fixed on
Jesus. Remember that when your present body
wears out you'll get a new "eternally
permanent" one. This will happen when you die
and after you appear before Christ's judgment
seat.
3. God has taken the initiative and reconciled
you to Himself. Now He lives through you to
get others reconciled to Him. To-day is the
best day for them to do it. (To-morrow they
may be in hell). So ask God that when people
are with you they see and hear only Jesus, an
open and generous person. And His ways of
achieving goals are opposite to the worldly
wisdom of the devil. So keep "earthed." Ask
"Is this how Jesus did it in the gospels?" No
slick promotions here. Just lovingly making
the issues of life and death, heaven and hell
clear and leaving people to choose.
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