Tag: Satan's designs
Forgiveness Applied!
Scripture reading for July 30: 2 Corinthians 2
“For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” 2 Corinthians 2:6-10
Paul had worked with the Corinthian believers and church leaders through a difficult case requiring church discipline. (1 Corinthians 5) Evidently, this person who had been given over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh was now repentant. Paul urges the church to forgive him as Christ has already forgiven us. Withholding forgiveness can cause excessive sorrow and unnecessary division in Christ’s church. Forgiveness is not saying what was done was now accepted. Forgiveness says that a repentant heart receives grace from God and as God’s family, we also must give grace as Christ gave us grace.
Paul tells how he personally had to forgive members of the church there that had turned against him and spoken critically of his ministry and motives. Paul pointed them to Satan’s designs to cause hatred and distrust and division in Christ’s church. When we forgive, we defuse Satan’s designs and plans. These truths help all of Christ’s followers to see how to operate against a cunning enemy. Forgiveness is a choice that springs from the heart of our Lord Jesus Himself and the Holy Spirit living in us.
Have you ever found it difficult to forgive someone who has hurt you deeply? How does this instruction to the Corinthian church help you to be aware of Satan’s devices against you and the church? Have you ever been repentant but not found forgiveness from the one you wronged, in spite of asking?
Prayer: Father God, I admit that I have struggled to forgive those in the church that have turn against me or falsely accused me. Thank You for leading me to repentance for my attitudes and helping me to be aware of Satan’s devices. Please pour out Your grace on Your church enabling forgiveness. Amen.
Restoring the repentant sinner!
Scripture reading for September 17th: 2nd Corinthians 2
Key Scriptures: 2nd Corinthians 2:4-9 “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure–not to put it too severely–to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether your are obedient in everything.”
Paul had instructed the church in Corinth in his first letter about how to deal with a man in the church who was living in sexual sin. They were to confront and remove him from the church fellowship and deliver him over to Satan. (1st Corinthians 5:1-5) The goal of this was the saving of his soul. Now Paul was writing the church that this man had repented and was ready to be restored to fellowship. He must be forgiven and now comforted and received back into the fellowship of the believers. Their love for him must be reaffirmed to keep him from excessive sorrow and condemnation. Why? Because we are not ignorant of Satan’s designs to keep people bound by unforgiveness and under shame and condemnation.
2nd Corinthians 2:10-11 “Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”
Faith confession and prayer: Father God, thank You for Your great mercy and redemptive purposes to be worked out by those who believe. Help me to carefully follow Your instructions in discipline of those caught in sin and in restoration of the repentant. By the Holy Spirit, illuminate my heart and mind to the designs of Satan and helping those in the church to escape Satan’s traps. May others smell ‘the aroma of Christ’ coming from my life!
2nd Corinthians 2:14-16 “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?”