Tag: Devotion

2 Corinthians 12:1-2 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

The Apostle Paul narrated the account of a man who was taken to heaven. He was imparting the knowledge that heaven is a real place. And this man who is a believer in Christ was taken to behold the splendour of heaven fourteen years ago. He did not use the first person to share this personal testimony (2 Corin. 6:7). There is a place of heavenly rest for God’s people after the tribuluation of life on earth. He speaks of the Christian’s hope.

It was a testimony that enables those listening to sit up and take stock of this man’s words. He speaks of the eternal and transcendent matters that comes by the revelation of God. He was a witness to the truth of the heavenly vision. He is therefore not telling fables but proclaiming the truth. And because it is the truth, he was willing to endure all suffering to bear witness of it.

2 Corinthians 12:1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

The Apostle Paul had shared concerning his sufferings in the course of walking with his Lord. You recall after our Lord’s resurrection, He showed His hands the print of the nails and Thomas was asked by the Lord in John 20:27 … Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

What was Thomas’ response? John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. He believed, he trusted in the resurrected Christ and Jesus said to him Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. A message for us of its veracity. Truly, Jesus is the Christ, triumphant over sin and death – 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

2 Corinthians 11:32-33 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

This incident of his near capture in Damascus was cited by the Apostle Paul. What was the reason? For preaching the gospel. In the initial days of his preaching there was a curious interest but later, he was hounded by the unbelieving Jews. The authorities were contacted, the governor and his guards came after him. It was a precarious moment when the disciples had let him down by the wall of the city. He escaped.

2 Corinthians 11:30-31 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. 31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

The Apostle Paul makes a solemn declaration in the Name of God that his life with God is vibrant and real. He was gloriously saved, humiliated, on the road to Damascus when Jesus met him by a bright light that blinded him. He was a persecuter of Christians. He did not believe that Jesus is the Christ. He was wrong! He had to admit it. God helped him regain his sight. He might have thought life ends with his blindness! It was not so. God gave him spiritual sight and physical sight. He was commissioned by Jesus to be a torch-bearer for the gospel. What a restimony.

God manifest himself true and real to the Apostle Paul. Through all his weakness in the course of his ministry, Christ power was with him to triumph. It was not him but the Christ in Him that he sought to declare. Therefore, he said, “I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.” He was merely God’s human instrument for righteousness. He had no power to change hearts and convert souls. It was all of his Lord. He understood this. He is not lying to make that statement if we have understood what went on in his life.

2 Corinthians 11:30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

The Apostle Paul speaks about his weakness and suffering as a testimony of the grace of God in his life. It is the Lord who enabled him to endure the scourges of persecution by which the gospel advances.

Jesus assures His disciples by which also the Apostle Paul takes comfort and find strength – Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

It is with rejoicing that he speaks of his infirmities. By these, the Lord showed Himself able. Often, impossible obstacles, great impasse yet all things are possible with God. He experiences it and testifies of the goodness and greatness and gift of God toward him to go through suffering and triumph with rejoicing and exceeding gladness. He looks forward to his reward in heaven. What a glorious prospect.

2 Corinthians 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

The Apostle Paul was closely in touch with the happenings in the lives of God’s people. There feels for them as they go through life and what life has brought before them. When he first shared the gospel with them leading to their conversion and faith in Jesus Christ, it became his God-given mission to care for them, to pray for them. to uphold them in the faith.

When they are offended, he could feel their hurt. What they are upset, he understood their anger. His heart was given over to their welfare and well-being. When any was in affliction, he was at hand to render helpful. He encouraged the churches in Macedonia to raise the help for the saint in Jerusalem. He understood the severity of the persecution there and the hurt that the saints were going through for the gospel’s sake. He was given over for the cause of the gospel. As such, his emotions, as it were, were very much tagged with the believers in the many churches that were established as a result of the Lord’s grace.

2 Corinthians 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

The Apostle Paul acknowledges his weakness, a weakness borne out of self-awareness and yet how that weakness became a strength in his life. Jesus said it well in Matthew 5:3-6 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. These were the underpinnings of his self-apprasial. He understood that in himself was nothing good.

He was speaking for himself and yet not for himself. He was speaking as an ambassador for his Lord Jesus Christ. And he was speaking of the manifold blessings that he received as a result of following his good Lord. It enabled him to suffer without flinching because there was a strength that his Lord imparted to him. And there was a message that he could impart, that is, his transformed life in Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

The Apostle Paul’s daily care was centred upon the believers that has come to faith in Jesus Christ, whom he had preached the gospel and the Lord had gloriously saved. These souls were gathered together to form local church congregations all over Asia Minor and also into Europe. The vast geographical distance made it forbidding for him to travel and meet these churches.

2 Corinthians 11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

The Apostle Paul faced much external opposition in the course of the gospel work. He was prepared of the Lord to weather these hardships in the strength of the Lord. The joy of the Lord was with him to encourage his heart to focus upon the fruit of the gospel labour, souls won to Christ’s kingdom and nurtured for eternal glory.

The sufferings that the Apostle Paul seemed not to have defeated his spirit of service for his Master but have energised him with a strength that he had not known within himself – Isaiah 40:28-31 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

God’s work cannot fail. His weary servants shall be given strength so that they will not faint nor grow weary.

2 Corinthians 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

The Apostle Paul experienced physical depravation when the weather is cold and he had little clothing to keep himself warm. In such a state, the body is weakened and one can fall sick easily, catching a cold. He was faced with such physical challenges as he pressed on with the gospel work. He could have continued enjoying his life in the comforts of his home country. But he did not. He was energized by a strength that enables him to overcome such adverse physical torment.

There seemed to be a hidden strength that enabled him to not crumble. We recall the presence of God with him, counselling him, directing him, protecting him and comforting him. He was not alone in his mission. Jesus promised His disciples, “Lo, I am with you alway.” (Matthew 28:20).

We are reminded of the Great Commission – Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, evenunto the end of the world. Amen.