Daily Devotional Friday Faith | August 14, 2026
Happy Friday! It’s time for your daily devotional. When it comes to preaching and teaching the gospel in submission to God, Paul fits that description to a tee. Bold in his delivery, he didn’t let persecution stop him from ministering God’s Word. In today’s daily devotional, haters may speak against you, but press on anyway, with your eyes on the prize.
Stay Your Course
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul addresses his critics who were trying to tarnish his name. They were false apostles, led by envy, seeking to destroy Paul’s reputation to exalt themselves. The enemy will raise antagonists to trip you on your journey and sabotage your course. They’ll try to make you angry, offended, or humiliated — all signs of pride that disrupt your faith walk.
Paul is disappointed that the Corinthian believers, whom he loves and has poured so much into, have been listening to them. In your daily devotional, a person’s eloquence or fervor doesn’t mean God called them.
Stay in Humility
In verse 6, Paul doesn’t see himself as inferior to these so-called apostles, and even though they may use bigger words, they’re not more knowledgeable. Paul began in humility, without fancy catchphrases or religious jargon. He didn’t ask them for offerings, but received them from other churches so as not to burden them. Yet, they were now attentive to those who were discrediting him.
Paul turns the tables and begins “boasting” in his accomplishments, as the other apostles boast in theirs. He calls them “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” In this daily devotional, don’t be amazed when people present themselves as God’s ministers yet seek to do you harm. Satan is the master of disguise and pretense.
Stay Anchored in Christ
Paul tells them that Satan’s ministers transform themselves into “ministers of righteousness,” but ultimately will be judged for their works. In verses 18-19, he takes up “boasting” in the flesh since false apostles do it often: “Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly.” Many will accept ministers who lie, commit crimes, extort money, or put them down, while ministers who preach God’s truth are vilified. In today’s daily devotional, people are fickle, but humility keeps you anchored and true to Christ.
Stay Within God’s Call
In verse 22, Paul compares himself to these false apostles by their own standards of superiority. He’s their equal in being Hebrew, an Israelite, and of Abraham’s seed. But then he surpasses them in verse 23: “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.”
He lists being beaten by the Jews five times, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked three times, and spending time in dark seas. Having the marks of a true apostle, he’s not a hireling who only stays with the sheep when things are going well. In your daily devotional, don’t adjust your ministry to be accepted; let God confirm your ministry.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
In Friday’s daily devotional, Paul feels the pain of those he’s brought to Christ deceived by these imposters. In verse 30, continuing to “glory of the things which concern mine infirmities,” Paul has proven his apostleship by enduring suffering for the sake of the gospel. The other apostles have not. In today’s daily devotional, fulfilling God’s call may have many hardships, but stay in the race and keep your eyes on the prize.
