EXPAND TO READ: 2 CORINTHIANS 11 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 3): This is a very interesting way of putting this that I never thought of. Just as Eve was deceived into disobeying God (sinning), our minds may also be seduced into not giving ourselves completely into pure devotion to Christ. This is essentially how I have been living my entire life since coming to faith. I have easily been seduced and deceived into not giving my all to Christ. I’m not proud of this, but it is the truth. Please forgive me for my lack of maturity, commitment, and strength in my faith, Father. Forgive me for often giving into these temptations, sometimes rather easily. Help me to be stronger at resisting these temptations, so that when they do come to me I can easily repel them with Your strength.
PROMISE (verse 13): There will always be people speaking a good word to our ears, but we have to be able to embrace and practice spiritual discernment. The promise You make us here is on this topic as You say that there will always be false apostles who are deceitful workers and disguise themselves as apostles of Christ just as Satan disguises himself as many things that are pleasing to us. This is a bold promise because it means to me that there’s a possibility that even those that appear and sound the most righteous in this life could potentially be false apostles. Have I fallen to false apostles in my life since coming to faith, Father? Are there deceitful workers around me now that I should be aware of? Please teach me the proper ways of righteous discernment, Father, so that I may be better at deterring my mind from giving into the words of any false apostles.
ATTITUDE (verse 17): I do often struggle with the attitude of self-righteousness and humility. I often try to speak to others, in some respects, as-if I am speaking on God’s behalf and speaking as the Lord would (as Paul says here). This is foolish and boasting. In no way does this embrace an attitude of humility that glorifies You, Father. Help me to be better at humility in my life, but also please help me to be better at conveying Your message in a way that glorifies You and only You. Help me to no longer do or say things in a way that seems boastful as I do not want to take credit for Your great works in this life, Father.
COMMAND (verses 3-4, 14): In these verses, You are commanding us to guard our minds and hearts, but also to be aware of Satan’s deceptive practices that are all around us. He is very cunning in the ways he tries to deceive us and we need to be aware of those deceptions. If we are not always on guard and remaining under God’s wings of protection, then we will easily be deceived and manipulated into doing Satan’s will for us and not God’s will. Help me to follow this command, Father, so that I remain in Your will for my life. Help me to always keep my mind and heart protected by Your wings of protection, so that I am not as easily deceived as I have been in the past.
EXAMPLE (verse 30): This single verse is such a huge example. He says that if boasting is a necessity, then he will boast about his weaknesses. What an amazing flip of the script on the topic of boasting! If I’m going to boast because I feel it is necessary, then I should boast only about my weaknesses. If I do then I am not being prideful and I am not lacking humility. Instead, I am exposing my inner self to others in the hopes of healing for both myself and them so that God is glorified through all. If God can use Paul’s weaknesses as a way to glorify His kingdom, then I should be able to share mine with others as well for His glory.
*DAILY NOTE: When Paul gets on a rant, he really goes full force and I love it! The lessons You have provided me through Paul’s writings to Corinth have been absolutely amazing. I only have a couple more days’ worth of quiet times in Corinthians, unfortunately, but the time I have had with You in Corinthians has been amazing. In today’s lesson I kind of see Paul getting frustrated with Corinth a bit and going on a bit of a rant in his letter to them at this point. The words that are produced through his rant give such a great example to me of how I should be living in humility. I should not boast my accomplishments, but instead maybe I should boast more about my weaknesses. I should always boast in a way that glorifies You and not myself. Help me to be better at this, Father. Help me to also be better at righteous discernment, as You have spoken about false apostles in this life that Satan places all around us to preach false scriptures and false truth for the purpose of deceiving us. He is a very strong deceiver and I need to ensure that I am always equipping Your armor on a daily basis to ensure that with You by my side I can take on anything Satan tries to throw into my path.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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