Today we continue our series “God is faithful!” I was led to 2 Corinthians 4. In this passage, we will look at what it looks like to believe God is faithful. Because of God’s faithfulness towards us, we can withstand and overcome anything!
Yesterday we looked at verse 1. Today we will look at verse 7.
(2 Corinthians 4:1, 7-13, 16-18 TPT)
1 Now, it’s because of God’s mercy that we have been entrusted with the privilege of this new covenant ministry. And we will not quit or faint with weariness.
7 We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
8 Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.
9 We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out.
10 We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
11 We consider living to mean that we are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.
12 So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.
13 We have the same Spirit of faith that is described in the Scriptures when it says, “First I believed, then I spoke in faith.” So we also first believe then speak in faith.
16 So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.
17 We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison,
18 because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.
So what does this mean for you today? Here are a few things about how the Holy Spirit empowers us to withstand and overcome.
(2 Corinthians 4:7 TPT)
We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.
1. God deposited His best down inside of us.
God can use anyone because the power comes from God and not man. Paul said, “We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours” (2 Cor 4:7).
— We are the containers, but God is the content.
— We may house the glory, but we cannot take any credit for the glory God allows us to transport around.
— God put His “super” inside of our “natural.”
— God SENT us His best when He SENT His Son Jesus to die in our place. But God GAVE US His best when He GAVE US His Spirit to live inside of us.
— The same Spirit Adam had in the Garden of Eden when He was dominating the planet, and the same Spirit Jesus had when He was extending heaven to the earth, is the Holy Spirit God gave us when we were Born-Again! So now, what Adam was able to do before the fall and what Jesus was able to do while He was on the earth, is what you are able to do BY THE POWER and PRESENCE of God IN YOU!
— Once you are Born-Again, you have God’s best. You have God’s Spirit down inside of you and His Spirit is your spirit-to-spirit connection to the Father!
2. We have everything we need ALREADY INSIDE of us.
— Paul starts the passage we are studying with this statement: “We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.” Before Paul talks about getting through, over, or past the challenges we will encounter on the road to our destiny, he reminds us that God has deposited His treasure and His power INSIDE of us. Everything we will ever need is already IN us.
— God placed His treasure IN us, the Bible says, “to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.” When you know the power of God is IN you, and you know this power is not FROM you, you come to the realization that there is nothing you cannot do. Why? Because there is nothing God cannot do and He is living on the inside of you.
— Everything God can do is what you can do because God lives INSIDE of you.
— God is living inside of you. He is the treasure. You are simply the container carrying the treasure. You are the container. He is the content. You are not the content. He is the content. You don’t have the power. He has the power. You don’t have the ability. He has the ability. All you have to do is realize that you are carrying God around on the inside of you. When you realize this, it does not matter if you are troubled on every side, you will not be defeated, because God cannot be defeated and He is the one IN YOU!
3. God has placed everything HE IS INSIDE of you!
— God has called us, not to simply die and go to heaven, but to bring heaven to the earth. However, this will never become your reality until you are convinced that God is living on the inside of you.
— God wants us to experience days of heaven on the earth on a daily basis. This is why He deposited His Spirit inside of us. God is a Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our connection to God, Spirit-to-Spirit. He [the Holy Spirit] reveals to us what heaven is like, so we can experience heaven now, while we are on this planet.
— Everything that is in heaven is available to us right now, but we must open our hearts to it. We don’t work for it. We have to believe for it. We could never earn it. We just have to believe for it.
— The day you start believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth that God is in you, that He sees you no less than He did His own Son, and that everything in heaven is available to you NOW, you will start to experience days of heaven on the earth. Furthermore, you will not be moved by trouble, even when you have trouble on every side! You will embrace the grace of God to PRESS THROUGH IT!
— You can withstand and overcome anything when you tap into the power of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing God can’t do. God lives in you! Yield to Him, allow Him to flow through you, and you will be able to do what you could NEVER do without Him! That’s #TheGraceLife
We will stop here. I have given you enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for leading me to LEVEL UP in this season. I LEVEL UP by embracing the fulness of the Holy Spirit. I am like a common clay jar that carries around a glorious treasure within it. I am the container. You are the content. The power and the glory come from You! Your glory attracts opposition. So I may experience trouble on every side. But I am not defeated. When I don’t know what to do, quitting is not an option. When I am persecuted by others, You are always there with me. I may be knocked down, but I am never knocked out! I continually share in the death of Jesus in our own body, so the life of Jesus can be seen, in the earth, through me. I enter this day determined to PRESS THROUGH any challenge that comes my way. Not by my power, but by Your strength. Because You live IN ME! This is how I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
