Strength in Weakness
I feel like Jude this morning, one of the New Testament writers, in that he begins his letter sharing his desire to write about one thing but being compelled by God to write about a whole different subject. (not in that my writings are inspired, I promise!)
Valentine’s Day being this past Tuesday, I fully desired to write about love in the context of the Bible and the Christian life. However, the more I prayed I felt God directing me to share what He is teaching me in this season. Now, I do hope each of you had a great Valentine’s Day and that each of you know or will come to know the love of God found in His son Jesus Christ.
With that being said, I want share what God is showing me about true biblical strength. Recently, I wrote about the passion and desire of my heart to not limp into this new year but to be able to run strong in every area of my life in the power of Christ.
The more I am reading, studying, praying, and ciphering there is a key step to gaining strength in every area of our life: we must be aware and admit our weakness to know His strength. Let me put it another way, human weakness opens the way for more of God’s power and grace at work in our life. What a paradox, we must get honest enough to admit our weakness to fully know His strength.
Paul in his third letter to the church of Corinth (2 Corinthians) lays it our plain for us when he says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, when I am weak, then I am strong.
What leads Paul to make such a statement and how do we apply this in our life? We must go back to the previous verses where Paul tells us about a God given thorn in the flesh to keep him humble.
You see Paul had experienced great revelations of heaven and in order that he would not be prideful about this moment, the Lord allowed suffering and pain in his life that kept him humble and dependent on the Lord.
Paul never reveals what this thorn was because God wanted each one of us that would read it to be able to put ourselves right where Paul was. Whatever it was, it kept Paul on His face before God admitting His desperate need of His help. In fact, Paul prayed three times for God to remove it and God would not.
But in saying no, God gave Paul a promise that we can also claim today.
Jesus said, “my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Grace.
God doing for us that we cannot do for ourselves, God meeting our need when we need it.
It is God’s grace that saves us, keeps us and His grace is all we need to give us the supernatural power to do what we cannot do on our own. This grace comes the moment we confess our desperate need of Him and admit how weak we really are.
Then, we can truly know His power and strength in our lives.
Only then, can we say like Paul when I am weak, then I am strong.
Just some thoughts. Love you all and thank you for taking time to read.
God bless,
Pastor Michael