Prayer Works Morning Devotion August 24, 2026
Updated: 3 days ago
A Chapter By Chapter Study Of The Epistles:
2 Corinthians Chapter 13
5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.
A very good morning, a very good morning to you everybody. I pray that you had a wonderful restful night. You were rested and you had a great weekend and we are ready for another week. Let us go to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we come before You. We thank You for Your grace. We thank You for Your love. We thank You Lord for all that You are doing in our lives.
We thank You Lord that You placed us on the earth at this time and You've given us the tools, the strength to survive, to endure and to be whatever You have called us to be for this era.
We thank You Lord that Your love binds us together and that Your love continues to indulge us in everything that we do. We know for a fact that without You we are nothing that is new that we move and have our being.
So as we gather these mornings, continue Lord to highlight to us the things that we might need to change, the things that we need to get better at, the things that we need to be inspired by, to be encouraged, to be motivated, so that we can continuously grow.
We know You're soon to come. And You're coming back to a church that is thriving, that is standing for Christ, that is standing for this gospel, that is standing for Your words. And we want to be part of the number.
So we pray, Lord, that whatever You have us do, that may we always be willing. And whatever You have for us to change, may You always be willing to change.
So we thank You for the love that You have for us and the scriptures that were written thousands of years ago. We wouldn't know what to do or where to go without the words of these letters and scriptures.
So Father, we are grateful that we have a reference point, a book we can go to and find the word of God, the true essence of Your voice. in scripture and in words. So we bless You this morning.
Help us as we look at the Word, help us as we pray, help us as we interact with and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And we pray, Lord, that may Your peace continue to abound in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen.
Well, brothers and sisters, we have come to the end of the 2 book of Corinthians 13. Paul is writing his last words to this church. So we're going to read it and we're going to focus at the very end of this chapter.
This will be my third visit to you. Every matter, every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent.
On my return, I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. So remember the first letter Paul is really kinda harsh, the second letter he is kinda softening his stance and encouraging and inspiring them.
But still, there were some who were demanding proof that Christ is speaking through Paul. So Paul then says, when I come, this third time, I'm not sparing anybody.
Who have either sinned, or who have sinned earlier on, in other words, you sinned earlier on, and then you heard my words, and then you continue to sin, or those who heard my word, but still went on to sin.
He says, I'm not sparing you. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God's power. He's talking about Jesus.
Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God's power we will live with Him in our dealing with Him. He has an instruction for these people, but also for us. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.
Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you, unless of course you fail the test. And I trust that you discover that we have not failed the test.
Now, we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong, not so that people will see that we have stood the test, but so that you will do what is right, even though we may think to have failed.
For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. We are glad whenever we are weak, but you are strong and our prayer is that you may be fully restored.
So that word fully restored means that sometimes you could be restored but not fully, but Paul is saying I want you to be fully restored that's his prayer.
I want you to be fully restored and this is something that we can do for people that we know are in Christ that have been restored but they are not yet fully, that we can pray this prayer, Lord, I pray that so-and-so be fully restored.
This is why I write these things when I'm absent, that when I come, I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority. The authority the Lord gave me for building you up not for tearing you down which means that you could misuse authority.
And when you misuse authority in doing what is wrong it literally destroys people's conscience so Paul is saying that when I come over there, I don't want to be harsh in your presence.
Right now, I can be a little bit, write a letter to you so that you can self-correct. But when I come, I hope we have done away with all those things so that we can fellowship the right way.
Verse number 11. Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, rejoice. Strive for full restoration. Encourage one another. Be of one mind. Live in peace and God of love and peace will be with you.
So if you want the God of love and peace to be with you, rejoice, number one, strive for full restoration, full don't be a believer that is restored but not fully restored then encourage one another be of one mind.
In other words when you make a decision for Christ or whatever you put your mind to do be of one mind, why because a person who is double-minded is unstable in all his ways and that person cannot expect to receive anything from the Lord.
So Paul is saying for in order, when you strive for full restoration, encourage other people but don't be double minded, then live in peace. So these are things that we can do to improve the quality of our life. of our lives, to rejoice in the Lord.
And then to strive for full restoration, it has to be a desire for every believer to be fully and totally restored. Nothing missing, no areas that you're still kind of hiding and dealing with.
It says present everything to the Lord so that you can be fully restored, encourage one another, that we must do. Be of one mind, don't be double-minded. Then live in peace. Live in peace.
Brothers and sisters, especially this part here is really critical. Because when you don't live in peace, that means you're living in conflict and the problem with conflict especially internal conflict is that it makes you double-minded in the way you see the world.
And perceive things that is if you are living in conflict and the reason we need to live in peace is because Jesus remember Jesus says my peace I give you and then the peace of God then Jesus' peace says I give you. What is the peace of God?
The peace of God is that He owns everything, He is in charge, and I don't have to worry. The peace that Jesus gave you is that even when I go through hell, I'm still going to remain peaceful because I know who I belong to.
So he said, live in peace. We have to live in peace, not in conflict. I'm not saying challenges will not come, challenges will come when we experience things. But, as believers, we have to live in peace.
Now, look at what happens when we live in peace. When we live in peace, then Paul says the God of love and peace. Now, remember when I always say, that they are things God has joined together because they are supposed to work together.
Love and peace exist together. You cannot separate them. In fact, you can't just have peace when there is no love. Love and peace work together. In fact, they are more powerful when they are working together.
So in the God of love and peace will be with you. Why is the God of love and peace be with us? Because we have made a choice to live in peace. Greet one another with a holy kiss. In other words, be intimate with one another when you meet.
All God's people here send their greetings. All God's people here send their greetings. Number 14, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
May the grace of God, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to explain something about grace. The grace of God is the everlasting love that He has for you and me.
That God when He looks at humanity, He treats it with love more than anything else because we are his creation. So that's the grace of God that He treats you and I with love in spite of.
I want you to think about this. All the things that we do wrong or that goes against God's searches and values is still yes, but let us live. He allows us to breathe. He allows us to wake up this morning, every morning.
He gives us new mercies in spite of whether we did wrong yesterday or not wrong yesterday. He gives mercy in the morning because He loves us.
That's the grace of God where He allows humanity to live and to show us His love at every turn in spite of the things that we do. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is the unmerited favor that comes with salvation where Jesus chose to die for you and I.
So that we can be reconciled with God so that there is forgiveness of sins and that there is fellowship with his spirit that's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that the connection that we now possess with the Father.
Remember God just loves us but that does not connect you with Him, it's like God owns us by the fact that He created us Jesus. We have a relationship because He chose us and we chose Him back.
So those are two different types of grace. The grace of God is He just loves us because He created us. He owns us as His creation. The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof it. Everything that is in it, it's His.
So God loves what He created. Remember day one, day two, day three and He looked at it and He says it was good. That's the grace of God. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the choice that Jesus made to die for you and I.
So that there could be reconciliation, forgiveness of sins, so that you can have fellowship, internal and eternal fellowship forever with God. And then it says, may that grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.
For Trinitarians, this is where you see Christ, God and the Holy Spirit be with you. Why do we need the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? Because Jesus said, I am going before ye ascend. So that I can ask the Father to send the promise of the Holy Spirit.
So He can be a friend, He can counsel, He can walk with you. When the scripture says, I will never leave you nor forsake you, when Jesus made a promise to His disciples in Matthew, said, I will be with you till the very end.
He was talking about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that until the very end I will be with you. Physically Jesus is not here, but the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is what He lifts us so that we can proclaim that we will be with the Lord until the very end.
Never being left alone, never being forsaken, because God loves us. So Paul is praying this benediction and blessing per se to this church because he is seeing the work they have done from 1 Corinthians 1 all the way to now he sees it and now he pronounces a blessing.
After the work and all the things they had endured and experienced, now they are on the other side. But of course, He warns them before He announced this blessing. And then He gives them instructions of things to do.
Why is He giving them the instructions? So they can have the fully understanding of the blessing that He is about to pronounce on to this church. So we'll read verse 11 again, all the way through.
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. First command, rejoice. Don't live sad lives. Rejoice, rejoice then after you rejoice, strive. Continue to work out your soul salvation with fear and trembling.
Strive for full restoration. You should not have areas that are lingering behind as you grow. Bring everything about you together as you continue to walk in full restoration. Don't leave some things to chance, like I'll deal with it, later deal with it.
Get on with it so that you can be fully restored. Then after that, encourage somebody, another person. Then do not be double-minded. Be of one mind. If you say you're going to do something, do it.
Then live in peace. No internal conflict. No internal conflict. Live in peace. Don't be bothered by things. You should always, as a believer, learn to recognize the three categories of challenges that you face.
The first one is man this is beyond my pay grade I'll leave that to God when you leave it to God don't go and pick it up, number two I have to only deal with today.
Number three I have to let go of the past so every time you see any challenge come determine whether it is for tomorrow, whether it's for today or if it's for last year. And when you do that, it allows you to live in peace because you know one, God is going to take care of tomorrow.
Two, I have to deal with today and he has given me daily bread. Three, I gotta forget things that happened in the past. So you live in peace. Then when you have done that, he says, and the God, of love and peace will be with you.
Then greet one another. When you meet another person, a believer, somebody you haven't seen in a long time, be intimate with them. In other words, be cordial. Show love and grace and peace and heartwarming.
There is nothing like being greeted by another person you haven't seen in a while, and it's heartwarming. It makes you feel the love of God. So, Paul says greet one another with a holy kiss. In other words, let it be holy.
Then all God's people, He has sent their greetings. Then, number 14, may the grace. our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of Christ of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Let us pray.
Father, You are good and You are lovely, You are wonderful. There is nothing that we can say that could truly explain the love the grace, the peace, the joy that You have for those who are called according to Your purpose and will.
So today as Your children, we stand and come in this congregation of the might with the full understanding that we are part of a very massive kingdom that has human beings in it.
Angels in it, spiritual beings in it things that we don't know and we are not aware of it that we are part of. Paul says he was caught up in the third heaven and he saw things that he could not describe or was not permitted to say such is the part of this kingdom.
And things that we cannot inherently see but we know that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses cheering us on this journey of life, so we can run a race that is full of strength, wisdom, grace and victory.
So as Your children and as we gather these mornings. Our desire is to continuously fellowship with You, to hear thus says the Lord, to gain a greater understanding of the love that You have for us.
So I pray, Lord, that in our efforts, in the things that we do, may You continue, Lord, to reward us accordingly as our faith continues to run in search for the very truth that You left for us to lead us home.
I pray for every believer here, every family represented here, that may our efforts continue to be extended to those that we love, our children, our nieces, our nephews, that through us may they also experience the grace of God because of our efforts.
I pray, Lord, that You walk with us in our jobs, in our homes, with the people that we meet and the things that we do. I pray, Lord, that strength, wisdom, inspiration is part of our daily portion.
Help us to live in peace. Help us to rejoice. Help us to encourage one another. Help us to be of one mind, no double-mindedness, lest we don't receive anything from the Lord. Help us to live in peace so that the love and peace of God can be with us.
Pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that continue to elevate us in our walk, may it lead us to places and to do things that are beyond the realm of our imagination. Not because we are special, but because we know who we belong to.
I pray on this prayer call that may the Holy Spirit regenerate strength, life in those who might be dealing with sickness and diseases. Oh, Father, heal us according to the will and grace that You have for us.
We bless Sarge, Mother Russell in the name of Jesus before You. Place the oath of healing and ask You God to restore these Your people so that somebody's son just to believe in this power that we all believe in.
Heal Sarge Lord and heal Mother Russell. Open spiritual doors for Vee’s mom in the name of Jesus. Pray for grace to abound in the name of Jesus. We dedicate our children to You daily so that angels walk with them, that they Strengthen them in their cause for redemption.
That if they interact with this generation. May they be the light, the souls, the city that's on the hill. Father, I pray that You aid our children in their efforts. Protect them from harm and danger, seen or unseen.
Some are already in school and I pray Lord that You guide them through school and their friends and the things they learn. Pray for nieces and nephews that may You reach them.
If there's any of our kids Lord who are lost, that don't know You, we cry out to You that You may reach them and hear the voice of the Father calling them home.
Open doors in the eyes of their understanding for them to experience the very true essence of who You are so they can be part of the number. They can be part of what we do in the name of Jesus.
As we go about today, we're just going to continue trusting You Lord and walk in expectation knowing that at any given moment You can show us a way to do something or You can encourage us or lead us to a triumphant procession.
So we are going to walk in expectation today of something greater in the name of Jesus. Now we ask You to bless the works of our hands, the works of the one who sends us.
And I'm praying, Lord, that in this season, with all that's going on around us, we're going to continue to lean and rest in You because You're true and because You're great. Now, until You are able to do exceedingly more than we can ever ask, bless us.
And Father I pray for these Your congregation. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all in Jesus name, Amen. I love you dearly and may this day be great in its way.
And may the Lord walk with you, reward you, strengthen you. And may you walk in great expectation, for the Lord is always near. We'll see you back here tomorrow, 7 AM Central, 8 AM Eastern Standard. Have an incredible Monday and the rest of the week.