Friday, March 26, 2021

2 Corinthians 11 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

2 Corinthians 11:14

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

How do you handle attacks? Because they are coming, and most of the time, it’s not gonna be a big flashing sign that says “Attack from the enemy!” Often, it may look right and seem right, but when tested, it proves to be false and not from the Lord!

An attack came to me this morning during prayer: a thought, a hint, a suggestion that sent me spiraling into fear, doubt, and anxiety. A couple words that took me out of His presence and into panic! Forgive me, Lord, and have mercy on me the sinner! How quickly I stumbled, and it’s only by the grace of God that I rebounded as quickly as I did! I know all about these kinds of attacks, but just because I know about them doesn’t mean I can stop them. But I know the One who can!

When we find ourselves in this position, we have to go with what we know is true, and that’s the Word of God! So, I prayed a form and a part of John 16:13, “Holy Spirit, Jesus says You will lead us into all truth, so lead me into all truth. Drive out the lies with Your truth!” Also, a prayer form of Colossians 3:3: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

God has given us Spiritual armor, and the Bible is our sword. The Holy Spirit revealed to me a few weeks ago that a sword is used for both offense and defense, if wielded correctly! I encourage you to get to know your sword; it can both defend and deliver you from these attacks! If our battle was against flesh and blood, then we could use physical weapons, but it’s not; it’s against powers we can’t see and things we can’t defeat on our own, but Jesus Christ is King, and He can! 


 Ephesians 6:12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Pray for me and each other!!!! I love you all! God bless! Glory, Honor, and Praise forever to God Almighty, King Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!

 

2 Corinthians 11:28

Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

 

This verse jumped off the page at me today. It comes right after Paul lays out his laundry list of trials and sufferings for the Gospel, the same Gospel he persecuted some years earlier. It would have been easy for Paul to stop writing after he listed all the bad things that happened to him, but I think he closes it with this to prove a point. The point being that everything he suffered pales in comparison to the weight he feels for God’s people. I believe that his heart was broken and in distress more for the Church than for anything else he had to go through.

 

Church, what if we could be like that? What if instead of worrying about my trials and shipwrecks in life, I was focused on you and helping you get to the Cross or find your way back to the Throne Room? What a body of believers we would be if we could have the same mindset as Christ and worry more about the eternal than the perishing!!! I’m not saying it’s easy or that we can do it without the help of the Holy Spirit, but my question is, do we even try?

 

2020 was a broken year by many accounts, but maybe it was exactly the kind of year we needed to bring more people to Christ and to refocus the Church!!! Let’s lean into Paul’s teaching here, and this is what I think it is: the body as a whole is more important than one member, and we as a body should love each other and carry one another’s burden and thus fulfill the law of Christ!!! If we all bore each other’s burdens, then no one would ever bear them alone!

 

Be encouraged, Be bold, Be vulnerable, Be willing to carry your own Cross, and help your brother carry his!!!

 

I love you all, God bless, and glory to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!

 

 

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