Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Today's Passage

2 Corinthians 13:12-14

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send their greetings. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

We always hear this prayer of benediction from pastors before a worship service ends: "May the grace of Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

We've all heard this prayer of benedictions from the pastors at the end of worship services: "May the grace of Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." What does this mean? First, from a theological perspective, it's an important statement concerning the doctrine of trinity, because it clearly divided the work of the three persons of God and put them at the same level. It is one true God with three different persons. In the Old Testament time it was Father God, in the New Testament time is was Jesus, and in the church epoch it's the Holy Spirit. Paul clearly conveyed this concept through his word of benediction.

Next, it's important to the content of the benediction. First blessing is the grace of Jesus Christ. WE really need to stand in the grace of Jesus in order proclaim victory against the enemy. If it wasn't for the salvation our Lord accomplished on the cross, we would not have been able to stand before God. Grace means that we are getting something we are not worth receiving and that we cannot earn, for it is completely because of the Lord's mercy. Lots of believers are deceived by Satan to think that they are not worthy of His grace, so they cannot serve God. This is a rather common deception on the believers. Of course we need to ask God to cleanse us, but we can't be fooled by the enemy to think that we are not worthy serving God. We need to know that the grace of Jesus Christ alone is sufficient for us to stand before God.

Second blessing is the "love of God." Remember, Father God is loving and He loves to bless. In the analogy of prodigal son, Jesus used the father to illustrate the love of Heavenly Father. He's always willing and waiting to bless us. He has promised that "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." We can bring all our needs and burdens of the daily life before Him.

Third blessing is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is God who's moving in our lives today, and He can also prompt us. Prompting in original text always means fellowship. Holy Spirit loves of talk and communicate with. He understands the will of Father God, lives within us, and intercedes for us according to the will of Father God. He's the one person in the trinity most closely tied to us, for it's He would let us become reborn, make us holy, give us faith, and will strengthen us until the day we see the Lord face-to-face. The God of Trinity is willing to live with us and to become strength and help in our daily lives. Let us give thanks for it!

Pray with Pastor Tong

True God of Trinity, I give thanks to you for everything. I thank Father God's love, which gives us life, I thank Jesus' love so that we can receive grace, and I thank Holy Spirit's love so that we may have strengthen for our daily lives. May the Lord's Spirit builds us up once again, so that we'd remember your grace and live for you every day. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!