Old Testament Scripture Reading: Psalms 119:25 – 32 (KJV)
Psa 119:25 DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
Psa 119:26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
Psa 119:27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
Psa 119:28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Psa 119:29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
Psa 119:30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
Psa 119:31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.
Psa 119:32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
New Testament Scripture Reading: 2Corinthians 10:1 – 18 (KJV)
2Co 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ–I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!
2Co 10:2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
2Co 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2Co 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2Co 10:6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
2Co 10:7 You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.
2Co 10:8 For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,
2Co 10:9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.
2Co 10:10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”
2Co 10:11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.
2Co 10:12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
2Co 10:13 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
2Co 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
2Co 10:15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you,
2Co 10:16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.
2Co 10:17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.
2Co 10:18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
Transforming Spiritual Questions:
1) Why did JESUS weep? (John 11:35 “Jesus wept”)
2) Have I made a realistic evaluation of where I am spiritually according to God’s Word so that I know where I need and what I need to ask God for?
Do I have a higher standard for others than I do for myself?
3) Have I decided to change my direction from trying to do things my way to doing them His way?
4) Have I trusted in the crucified, buried, and risen Jesus Christ entirely for the salvation of MY soul?