2 CORINTHIANS 1

Heart Issues
My favorite part about this chapter is Paul’s discussion of how we stand firm. Verse 21 shows us that it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ. Then later in the final verse he says that it is by faith that we stand firm. Both are so true. Only God can make us stand firm, not our own efforts. God causes us to walk in His ways, but at the same time we have to be putting our faith in Him to allow Him to do that. This is such a beautiful picture of God doing it all, cause only He can, but allowing us the choice to trust Him or go it alone. Another awesome part of this chapter is knowing that God will comfort us in the hard times and that we are never alone in our struggles/sufferings. Finally, another awesome thing to me is that the Holy Spirit is a deposit in our lives, guaranteeing what is to come. It is awesome to know that the Holy Spirit lives within us and makes the power and presence of God available to us now, but that is a deposit guaranteeing the awesomeness of heaven.

Notes
-This first chapter is a defense by Paul of His plans and apostleship. He starts off with notating his apostleship by the “will of God.”
-God comforts us in all our troubles. This is so encouraging to know that God is there through it all. We are told that we will have troubles, but we can find comfort in them. We as Christians will share in sufferings and comfort. Both are meaningless without someone to go through them with. Loneliness with suffering is terrible, just like comfort and good times alone are meaningless.
-Paul and at least Timothy if not more went through some really hard times that made them want to die. This caused them to rely on God more than ever and through this He gave them a greater sense of hope and trust in God.
-The false teachers in Corinth were going against Paul and saying that he was fickle and did not care about the Corinthians. He said he would come to Corinth, but he didn’t. Paul defends this by saying that God changed His plans and that the reason for it was to spare them not to avoid them.