My heart was heavy this morning thinking through all that I have been hearing in these past few weeks; things happening inside the professing church, things that cause the name of the Lord Jesus to be maligned, things done and said by people who call themselves Christians yet trample the Lord's name underfoot.

I always think it so interesting how Paul prays for those fellowships that he knows are sharing in the work of the gospel; how he thanks God for them and prays that their love - their faith - will be heard of and talked about and that the love he sees in them will grow.

Paul recognised that work in Corinth - saw the enemy's efforts through the false teachers and their deceived helpers - and knew that he must fight with the weapons that God had provided - with prayer and with the Word of God.

Paul has just finished laying out the gospel which he preached and which his readers, the believers in Corinth, had received. He goes on to explain how he came to be an apostle, how he came to be saved. He describes himself as the least of the apostles, someone who did not deserve the grace of God but nonetheless that he had received it and was now experiencing its power.