The Best Therapy

Meditations on Second Corinthians

April 11, 2023

The Best Therapy

In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 1:9

Read: 2 Corinthians 1: 8-14

Two of the many truths in this passage caught my attention this morning.

The first was Paul’s testimony of the power of intercessory prayer. “And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.” (v.11) In the past, I have been critical of how some people use prayer chains because I feel the emphasis was on the number of people praying rather than on the goodness and graciousness of God. When our prayers are united with their focus on fidelity to building for the Kingdom of God, God honors the prayers of the faithful.

The second truth is in verse 9 quoted above. In reading this verse, I immediately recalled one of my favorite quotes from Corrie ten Boom,  'You may never know that JESUS is all you need, until JESUS is all you have.' This thought is very similar to what Miles Stanford teaches in his book, Principals of Spiritual Growth: dependence on God comes at the end of dependence on self.

My Takeaway: “To trust in the God who raises the dead, with that faith anchored in the resurrection of Jesus himself, is the best therapy anyone could discover, in the first century, or the twenty-first.” (N.T. Wright)

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.