06/06/2021
DO NOT LOSE HEART
Begin your devotions with a time of quietness and prayer. Use this reading from Psalm 138 to focus your thoughts.
Psalm 138:1-3
1 I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.
3 On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.
Focus Questions:
- How do you give God “thanks with your whole heart”?
- How does your worship “increase your strength of soul”?
Bible Study: The memory verse for this week is verse 16.
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
13 But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture – “I believed, and so I spoke” – we also believe, and so we speak,
14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.
15 Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,
18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Questions:
The Apostle Paul experienced some very tough and life-threatening moments during his missionary journeys. He believed he was able to deal with anything that came his way because of the love, power and presence of God living within him and working through him. Paul regarded the human body as this precious, yet fragile vessel, that carried within it the glory of God and the truth of salvation in the message of Jesus.
- Have you ever given much thought to your human body being the vehicle that carries within it, the glory of God? How might accepting that fact, of God’s Glory living within you, change the way you “see” your body, and change the way you “see” other people?
- What does Paul mean in verse 16 when he refers to the “outer nature” and the “inner nature”?
- What does the encouragement “do not lose heart” mean for you?
- Read the following verses slowly – what do these words mean for you in terms of your understanding of faith, and in terms of where you find yourself in your life experience at this moment in time?
18 because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
God bless,
Rev. Tim