Your New Favorite Book

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”

2 Corinthians 13:14

I had to laugh at myself this morning as I was about to write, “this is my favorite book in the bible” because like most people who study and or teach the Bible, once we begin to read the current book we are reading or teaching from seems to speak to us right where we are at in that moment. How often we forget our Bible is not like any other book as the Bible is the voice of God and when we read it, God speaks to us, plain and simple.

I like how one pastor put it regarding God’s Word, “you don’t read the Bible, the Bible reads you” and it’s true. The writer of Hebrews put it this way, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 55:11 of another benefit to us each time we open the bible, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” I love knowing God’s Word always accomplishes what He desires it to do.

One of the reasons the book of 2 Corinthians means so much to me is due to the fact that I have probably spent more time in this particular book over the last fifteen years than any other single book in all the Bible. The Lord has used 2 Corinthians over and over to minister to me and through me as the Holy Spirit has led me to this book to comfort and encourage others in their time of need.

Do you need help today, loved one? Do you need encouragement or comfort? Are you struggling trying to make the right choices in your life today? Do you need a perspective that is faithful and true? All this and so much more is ours today as we read the Word of God and receive the counsel that God offers us. My prayer for you today is that the book of 2 Corinthians will speak to you like it does to me. Here are just a few of my favorite passages that I have highlighted and that I read and reread all the time.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

2 Corinthians 2:8, “Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love.”

2 Corinthians 3:2-3, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 5:6-8, “So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”


And last but definitely not least is my all time favorite passage from the book, 2 Corinthians 8:24, which says “Therefore show to them, and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.”

My hope and my joy today for you is that as you read these passages from 2 Corinthians that in doing so it will lead you to want to read the entire book for yourself and that in your reading you too will say, “this is my new favorite book of the Bible.” The good news today is that no matter what book of the Bible you read today you can know this, the God of heaven will be speaking directly to you! That’s what makes any book of the Bible worth reading and most likely why whatever Bible book you are reading is your new favorite too.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17

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