2 Corinthians 12:1-11

After the exchange of sin for righteousness is that of wrath for acceptance. Then comes the exchange of death for life. Christ died for dead men that they might rise to be living men. Paul's happy if somewhat involved testimony makes this clear: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (

It is written that Christ died for our sins, and again it is written that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). These two texts are written of the same company of persons, namely Christians. We dare not compel the first text to invalidate the second. Both are true and one completes the other. The meaning of the two is that since Christ died for our sins if we confess our sins they will be forgiven....

THIS was Paul's estimate of himself: less than the least of all saints, and the chief of sinners. The more we know of ourselves and of Jesus, the more shall we be humbled in the dust before God; and the lower we lie before God, the happier and holier we shall be. Man will, MUST be something; this is his pride and his misery: the Christian is willing to be nothing, that Christ may be all in all. If we daily felt that we are nothing, how many mortifications we should be spared; what admiring...

YOU need look to no other quarter for help, relief, or comfort. Jesus assures you that His grace is sufficient. You are welcome to it. You are exhorted to have it. To be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. It is sufficient to support you under every privation, to help you over every difficulty, to strengthen you for every duty, to mortify every lust, and to fill you with all joy and peace in believing. His grace is almighty, it is free, it is durable, it brings salvation. Look not...

Never was Abraham so strong, as when offering up his beloved Isaac upon the mount; never were the martyrs so courageous, as when in prison they felt their entire weakness, cried to Jesus for strength; and depending on His faithfulness and love, left all and went to the stake. Then they could exclaim, "None but Christ. None but Christ." "Farewell life, welcome the cross of Christ."

Beloved, let us walk by faith, not by feeling; when we feel weakest, the strength of Jesus is nearest, and...

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the LORD for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God.

This is a precious word from our LORD's own lip. It has...

A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God's work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. When God's warrior marches forth to battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall get unto me the victory," defeat is not far distant. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it...

If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has not where to lay his head, who yet can say, "Still will I trust in the Lord;" when we see the pauper starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh! what honour it reflects on the gospel. God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and...

There are verses in the Bible that seem to assign evil actions to God. For example, when Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, "God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem" Qudg. 9:23). In the days of Ahab, Micaiah said to the wicked king, "The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets" (1 King 22:23). Job attributed his losses to the Lord when he said, "What? shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?"...

In almost everyone's life there are things which he never would have chosen, which he would like to be rid of, but which can never be changed. There is the matter of physical impairments or abnormalities. Or it may be a chronic, low-grade illness that will not leave us alone. Again it may be a nervous or emotional disorder that lingers as a most unwelcome guest.

So many live defeated lives, dreaming of what might have been if only. If only they were taller. If only they were better...