Daily Grace
Forgive and Comfort
“Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:7-8). A man in the Corinthian church had publicly sinned to the degree that Paul, in his...
God Says “Yes”
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20). God has made many promises that are designed to meet our needs and help us through life. Those promises...
The God of All Comfort
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). It...
A Healthy Believer
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). It would be hard to find a better description of a healthy believer than this one. “Be on your guard” is an expression in Greek culture that referred...
Speak Encouraging Words
“But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). I once received an anonymous note that read, “O foolish Wally. Who has bewitched you? You began in the Spirit; are you now trying to be perfect in your...
Opposition Can’t Stop Us
“But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me” (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). Paul stayed at Ephesus for about two and a half years. His ministry there did prove to be “a great door...
The Power of Sin is the Law
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). There are some Scriptures that are specific benchmarks of our Christian lives. This is one of them for me. It is so tempting to reach back to the Law as a way of life, even though we...
The Tomb is Empty
"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, ‘They have taken the Lord...
Passion Saturday
“Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:59-60). We focus, and rightly so, on Good Friday and...