Daily Encouragement

November 22, 2009 - Comforted To Comfort

God spoke through Paul to encourage the suffering Christians that God was the God of all comfort. God intended to comfort us in all kinds of situation so that we would be able to comfort others. Paul had experienced the comfort of God time and time again in his difficult and dangerous missionary journey. He knew what it meant to be in the most desperate condition. But God had delivered him and he was comforted with the assurance that God will deliver him again in the future. (v. 1-14)

Another great comfort is to know that God's promises are all yes, not yes and no or perhaps. Some Corinthians accused Paul for not keeping his promise to come to Corinth. As God's servant is a representative of God's character and reliability, Paul pointed out to the Corinthians that all God's promises are yes. (v. 20) He did not go to see them was for the reason of sparing them from his discipline. (v. 23) From the later content in this letter, we know that Paul was glad he did not need to face them with harsh judgment. The Corinthian had repented and changed their conduct as a result of his first letter. So Paul turned their earlier accusation into a forum of comfort to know that God's promise will always be true and fulfilled for our advantage.

Do you need God's comfort today? The Holy Spirit, the Comforter will come along side for you as you pray. Hold on to the promise of God. He will fulfill it for you in the most appropriate time. But remember, once you are comforted, you should turn to comfort others who may be around you.

November 23, 2009 - This Perfume Is Not For Sale

Meditation on 2 Corinthians 2

Paul said that He was not peddling the message of God. (v. 17) But with sincerity, he diffused the powerful fragrance of Christ's salvation everywhere. This fragrance was so powerful because it was an aroma of life to those who believed but an aroma of death to those who did not. (v. 14-16) As Paul followed the triumphant procession of Jesus Christ, the general, he would have the sufficiency to enjoy the victory of proclaiming the word of God always.

Paul was so happy that the Corinthians were sorrowful of their problems. After they received God's message through Paul's letter, they dealt with the offending party severely who repented of their sins. Paul asked them to forgive the sinners and restore them into fellowship. Indeed the message of God granted them all victory. (v. 1-11)

There are more lessons we can learn today from this passage. First, we should not use God's words as a means for merchandise to make money. Second, God's message is so powerful that people can smell it. The listeners can smell either life or death. Keep sharing it. That means you have joined Christ's parade of victory.

November 24, 2009 - Can Christians Partners With Non-Christians For God's Work?

Meditation on 2 Corinthians 6

For our spiritual growth to be successful, our ministry to be effective and our church to be pleasing to God, there is a godly principle which we must abide by. Believers cannot be partners together with the unbelievers in God's business. God's work cannot be contaminated with any unclean vessel. For a little sinful leaven leavens the whole lump. (1 Corinthians 5:6) Verses fourteen to sixteen give us six illustrations to show the reasons for this spiritual tenet as follows:

1. For believers and nonbelievers to work together on spiritual ministry is like having two entirely different kinds of animals yoke together to plow a field.

2. A person who has the righteousness of Christ and adheres to the law of Christ cannot have spiritual fellowship (Greek word is “Koinonia” meaning partnership) with a person who is lawless in God's eye and does not follow nor know God's principles.

3. Those in God's kingdom, the believers are in the light but nonbelievers are in darkness belonging to Satan's domain. They are basically exclusive from each other. They cannot share anything in common spiritually.

4. Since Christ has no accord with Satan, the worthless one and destroyer, a believer has no harmony with a nonbeliever in spiritual thing either.

5. The believers and nonbelievers do not have a common spiritual ground. They have opposing ideologies in many matters. How can they work together without agreement?

6. The believers are the temple of the living God. They are not compatible with idol worshipers nor should the temple of God contains any idol at all.

If we want to be useful for God, we must clean church house or get out of a deeply contaminated situation.

November 25, 2009 - Beware Of Another Jesus

Meditation on 2 Corinthians 11

Paul continued to deal with a great problem among some of the Christians in Corinth. They were easily persuaded by the false prophets and preachers of the wrong doctrines. Paul even said this about them, "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it." (v. 4 NKJV)

In another word, they were disloyal not just to Paul, but to Christ Himself like a wife who was not faithful to her husband. Those false teachers were like Satanic servants who acted like angels of light in order to deceive the Corinthians. These false workers were boastful, self exalted and trickery. Paul warned the Corinthians to watch out.

Today, there are all kinds of false teachers and wrong gospels in the world. Indeed many have preached in the name of Jesus. Yet their Jesus is different from the Jesus the Scriptures teach. When you hear anyone who claims that Jesus is not God Himself and is not co-equal with God, you know that he or she is teaching another Jesus. Or if someone comes to tell you that Jesus is not the eternal Son of God who is with God in the beginning, this person is preaching another gospel.

You and I must know who Jesus is. He is Jehovah Himself. (John 12:41) God has manifested Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three are one. (John 1:1, Titus 3:4, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Matthew 28:19)

November 26, 2009 - The Power Of God's Grace

Meditation on Galatians 1

The Galatians had turned away from the Gospel of God's grace. They were influenced by those who insisted on salvation by keeping the law. They did not believe that God's grace was sufficient enough to save them from sin and hell. Paul condemned the false teacher who led them away. (v. 1-10)

Paul himself was saved by grace alone. He was the toughest guy in his days who was against Christians. He prosecuted Christians and forced them to deny Jesus. He was zealous to destroy Christianity and put Christians in jail. Yet he was converted on the road to Damascus. No one could have expected that. Paul said that God had set him apart from his mother's womb and called him by His grace. (v. 15) Can you believe that? God's grace is powerful enough to save the toughest and hardest man, and turned him around to be a preacher of the gospel.

So let us not give up our witnessing to some of hardest souls. God may have chosen them already by His great grace? Never, never give up!

November 27, 2009 - Our Riches In Christ

Meditation on Ephesians 1

The book of Ephesians is such a rich book. It is full of blessings and teachings for Christians. Right after the salutation, we are informed that believers already have possessed every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The list of blessings are so tremendous that we should read them again and again carefully so we can be filled with confidence and praises to our God who loves us so very much.

Especially we should pray to understand several things in our inner eyes as Paul prayed so for the Ephesians:

1. The hope of God's calling,

2. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and

3. What is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

That power is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven places! (v. 18-21)

As a result of our constant prayer for such, our spiritual eyes are opened to see the reality of these blessings we have in Christ. We will have great power and joy in living for Him and serving Him in the church which is His body.

Lord, make us to understand.

November 28, 2009 - Christ, My Life

Meditation on Philippians 1

The central focus for Philippians chapter one is verse twenty one, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (ESV) Paul stated that always he wanted to honor Christ in his body. So to him, Christ was his life. That meant people could see Christ through his life.

Not only Paul could say that. All Christians should be able to say that. For Christian is a Christ Jr. or little Christ according to the composition of the word, “Christ” + “ian”. (ian means junior or little.) A person can be called a Christ Junior only because he has the life of Christ in him. So it should be natural for a Christian to say that, to him, to live is Christ.

When you live for Christ, you pray for others and share with them about Christ in all circumstances. Look at Paul, he prayed for the Philippians all the time. Though he was chained with the body guards of the Roman king, he still preached Christ. As a result, all the imperial guards had a chance to hear the gospel. Though he wanted to leave this world to be with Christ, he rather stayed to live for Christ for the sake of encouraging the Philippians and partnering with them for the gospel. That was a life full of Christ.