Devotional Thoughts

1  Corinthians 2:14-16     “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know   them,   because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” It was important to Paul that we understand the natural man’s inability to grasp spiritual things. The natural man does not consider the things of the Spirit of God and then reject them: he does not receive the things of the Spirit to begin with. The word translated as “not” here is defined as the “absolutely negative adverb (see Strong’s).” Not even one little particle of spiritual understanding belongs to the natural man. Most of us have had the experience of someone asking why we did not reply to an email or invitation and realize that we did not reply because we did not...

Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...

1  Corinthians 2:12-13    “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” There is often immediacy in the scriptures that we seem to overlook. Paul is not teaching about something that is out in some distant future. There is something we  have   not  received  now  and something we  have  received  now  concerning revelation from God (see 1Co 2:9-10). In considering these things, we have not received the spirit of the world. We were born with the spirit of the world; shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin (Psa 51:5). Until we are born of the Spirit of God, the wisdom of the world and spirit of the world is all we know. The fruit of the spirit of this world is “adultery, f...

Psalm 87:1-7    A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah. "His foundation is in the holy mountains.  (2)  The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.  (3)  Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.  (4)  I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.  (5)  And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.  (6)  The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.  (7)  As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee." This Psalm speaks of the blessings of the Church. The immediate thought is concerning the city of Jerusalem where the temple worship took place. But as we look at it today, we can see the blessings of being in the New Testament Church of the ...

1 Corinthians 2:9-11    “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed   them   unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” In the book of the prophet Isaiah we find these words: “For since the beginning of the world  men  have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee,  what  he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him (Isa 64:4).” As Paul has been writing about the inability of the wisdom of man to know the wisdom of God, he turns to the scripture to support what he has been telling the church at Corinth. Mankind (see Strong’s definition of the word rendered here as “man”...