Daily Devotion

Thank God for giving us the Holy Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 NASB95

and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5] so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Paul preached about Jesus and Him being crucified. The Jews could not accept Jesus as Lord, and the Gentiles thought the gospel was too simple-minded to save anyone (1 Corinthians 1:18–31). Paul was beaten and jailed in Philippi, run out of Berea and Thessalonica, and laughed at in Athens because he preached about Jesus living sinless, dying for our sins, being buried, and resurrected, so all believers in Him are given eternal life. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he preached the same gospel message, used the same sermon preparation, and used the same sermon delivery. Yet the Corinthians believed in salvation through Jesus, and their lives had changed.

Paul reminds us who believe in Jesus to thank God for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made the difference between the people in Corinth and those in Athens, Thessalonica, Beara, and Phillipi (1 Corinthians 2:3–5; 10–12). You can hear my words but do not know what I am thinking. God gives us His Spirit, so we have the mind of Christ to understand God's words as He intends.

Dear gracious, merciful Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me the mind of Christ so that I understand my sinful plight and Jesus' forgiving and the Holy Spirit's regenerating and recreating power. Thank You, Lord, for teaching me that "... a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. [15] But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. [16] For who HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).

In Jesus' gracious and precious name, amen.