EXPAND TO READ: 2 CORINTHIANS 2 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 5): I have caused much pain to many people throughout my life, Father, even since coming to faith. The one I am focused on and that You immediately brought to my heart when I read this passage is my wife. I have been lazy, mean, disrespectful, and arrogant to her many times in my life mostly because I was stuck in my own selfish and sinful mindset and didn’t want to release any of that. I would harbor wrongs for a long time, never truly releasing them and then taking them out on her. Please forgive me for this, Father. It still pains me even to this day the ”butthole” I’ve been to her for so many years since falling into depression and such. Heal our relationship of the pain I’ve caused and help me to move past my own disappointment, anger, and resentment towards myself for the way I’ve behaved in my relationship with her for so long.
PROMISE (verse 3): Such a simple yet great promise that I have failed to truly accept in my heart for so long. You promise that joy will be ours. Help me to better understand and accept the joy in my life, my heart, my soul, and my mind that only You can bring to me, Father. Fill me with Your joy so that I can pour it out to those around me consistently. I have experienced Your joy so many times in my life since coming to faith, yet for some reason I still maintain a rebellious attitude towards Your joy and refuse to accept it at times. Continue Your works in me to soften my heart and be better at accepting the joy that You have to offer me, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 7-8): There have been many times that I have held onto the pain that someone else has inflicted onto me or to those that I love, which has led to a lot of built-up anger, irritability, depression, and just flat-out sadness in general. This is not what You expect of me. You expect an attitude of forgiveness from me and I pray that I will continue to allow You to develop and mold my heart and mind to truly embrace this attitude of forgiveness in my life. You have forgiven me for so many wrongs, yet for some reason I always find myself harboring unforgiveness in my life. Help me to be better, Father. I am a work-in-progress, but I know that the more I lean on You, the more work is done on my heart so please continue to remind me to lean on You more in those moments that I am weak.
COMMAND (verses 8-11): I do struggle quite often with showing love to those that have wronged me. In these verses, You command us to reaffirm our love to those who have wronged us, to forgive them. We do this not for our own benefit, but to fight against Satan so that we are not easily taken advantage of and so we are not ignorant to his schemes. Satan is ALWAYS scheming against us and we have to always maintain awareness of this. If we truly love each other, as You have commanded us to do, then a reaffirmation of that love constantly to all but especially to those that have wronged us would be like a dagger to Satan’s heart I would think. Help me to wield and use these daggers, Father, so that I can remain vigilant against Satan’s schemes in my life.
EXAMPLE (verse 17): In this last verse, You give such a great example of the difference between true followers and those that follow for profit. You tell us that we should live and speak in sincerity with Christ, not for our own profit. All that we say, think, and do should be from God and before God, not from, by, or for this world. Help me to be better at following this example, Father, so that I do not do anything in my faith for my own profit, but for Your glory and praise. Keep me focused on what is right in my faith and do not let me get distracted or led astray by the many incorrect “followers” that I see in this life.
*DAILY NOTE: Love and forgiveness are two extremely powerful attitudes and actions You have given us that I far too often neglect to embrace in my life, Father. In this chapter, however, You emphasized the importance of both of these in our faith. We are to show and reaffirm love to all, even those that wronged us, because You have continued to love us no matter how many times we have sinned against You. We are to show forgiveness to all, even those that wronged us, because You have forgiven us of all of our sins even the ones we haven’t committed, yet. Thank You for Your truly pure and everlasting example of love and forgiveness, Father. Help me to embrace these thoroughly throughout my life far more than I ever have. I know I will struggle at times, but I also know that if I lean on You more that those struggles will become less extreme and far less often.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
Comments