Our Daily Bread Devotional for Sunday 19th November 2023
Welcome!!! Read Our Daily Bread Today’s Devotional for Sunday. The word of God is food to the spirit man. Read and digest the word of the Lord for today and see how powerfully it will impact you.
Our Daily Bread Ministries is a Christian organization founded by Dr. Martin De Haan in 1938. It is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with over 600 employees. It produces several devotional publications, including Our Daily Bread. Read More Daily Devotional Message on DAILYDEVOTIONAL
Today’s Topic: Gathering Strength in God
Bible Verse: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. – 2 Corinthians 12:9
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 11–13; James 1
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:2–10
INSIGHT – 19TH NOVEMBER 2023 OUR DAILY BREAD:
Paul deliberately boasted about his many spectacular visions (2 Corinthians 12:1–7; see Acts 9:1–9; 16:6–10) to refute false teachers who said he wasn’t a genuine apostle because he didn’t have ecstatic spiritual experiences. Although such boasting was distasteful to him (2 Corinthians 12:1, 5), he believed it was necessary to deal with the misguided spirituality and pride of his opponents. He was given a “thorn in [his] flesh” (v. 7) so Christ’s power might be proclaimed (vv. 5–10). The word thorn was used for anything pointed, such as a stake, the pointed end of a fishhook, or a splinter. This implied that Paul had endured severe pain. We don’t know what the thorn was. Some think he had an eye affliction (see Galatians 4:15; 6:11) or a chronic ailment. But we know its intent: to keep him humble on account of his “surpassingly great revelations” (2 Corinthians 12:7). By: K. T. Sim
ODB 19 NOVEMBER 2023 (SUNDAY MESSAGE)
Grainger McKoy is an artist who studies and sculpts birds, capturing their grace, vulnerability, and power. One of his pieces is titled Recovery. It shows the single right wing of a pintail duck, stretched high in a vertical position. Below, a plaque describes the bird’s recovery stroke as “the moment of the bird’s greatest weakness in flight, yet also the moment when it gathers strength for the journey ahead.” Grainger includes this verse: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
The apostle Paul wrote these words to the church at Corinth. Enduring a season when he was overwhelmed with personal struggle, Paul begged God to remove what he described as “a thorn in my flesh” (v. 7). His affliction might have been a physical ailment or spiritual opposition. Like Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion (Luke 22:39–44), Paul repeatedly asked God to remove his suffering. The Holy Spirit responded by assuring him that He’d provide the strength needed. Paul learned, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Oh, the thorns we experience in this life! Like a bird gathering its strength for the journey ahead, we can gather up God’s strength for what we’re facing. In His strength, we find our own. By: Elisa Morgan
Today’s Reflection & Prayer
Where are you experiencing weakness today? How can you—in that exact weakness—gather God’s strength for your journey?
