Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 2 Corinthians 9-10
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 18
Key Verse
2 Corinthians 10:2 — “But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.”
Devotional Thought
Paul is writing to the church at Corinth about a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, and he is careful to make sure the gift is ready before he arrives. He sends the brethren ahead, not to squeeze money out of them, but so that their giving might be a matter of bounty rather than covetousness. The principle he lays down is agricultural and unforgettable: he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Yet the harvest Paul has in view is not chiefly material. It is thanksgiving to God, the supply of the saints’ need, and the glory that redounds to the Lord when His people give with cheerful hearts.
Mid-February is a season of small beginnings. The seed catalogs have arrived, the garden is still mostly promise, and the ground is cold. That is exactly the kind of moment Paul describes. Giving is sowing. It looks like loss in the short term—money leaves the hand, grain disappears into the earth—but God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. The cheerful giver is not the one with the largest surplus but the one who trusts the God who ministers seed to the sower and bread for food.
Then Paul turns, in chapter 10, to a different kind of warfare. Some at Corinth judged by outward appearance, dismissing him as weak in body and contemptible in speech while his letters were weighty. Paul answers that our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. He is not fighting people; he is fighting imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The battlefield is the mind, and the weapons are meekness, truth, and the authority the Lord gives for edification rather than destruction.
Psalm 18 sings the same confidence from another angle. David, compassed by the sorrows of death and the floods of ungodly men, cries to the Lord and is heard out of His temple. God bows the heavens and comes down; He sends from above and draws His servant out of many waters. The Lord was his stay, his rock, his fortress, his high tower. For the believer in February, when the days are still short and the warfare feels real, this is the anchor: the God who delivered David and sustained Paul is able to make all grace abound toward you, and He is not impressed by outward appearance. He looks at the heart, and He commends whom He will.
Reflection
- Where in your life is God asking you to sow bountifully—with money, time, or encouragement—even though you cannot yet see the harvest?
- What “high thing” or imagination is exalting itself against the knowledge of God in your mind right now, and what would it look like to bring that thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?
Prayer
Lord God, our Rock and our Fortress, we come to You in the meekness and gentleness of Christ. You have drawn us out of many waters and been our stay in the day of calamity. Make us cheerful givers, sowing bountifully, trusting that You will supply seed to the sower and bread for our food. Pull down every stronghold in our minds that exalts itself against the knowledge of Your Son, and bring every thought into captivity to His obedience. Let our giving and our living produce thanksgiving to You, and let us glory only in the Lord, who commends whom He will. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 18:1 — “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.”