Tag: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Becoming More Like Christ; Comfort and Encourage: God Shows Through Our Experiences. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Amplified Bible

3 Blessed [gratefully praised and adored] be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts and encourages us in every trouble so that we will be able to comfort and encourage those who are in any kind of trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as Christ’s sufferings are ours in abundance [as they overflow to His followers], so also our comfort [our reassurance, our encouragement, our consolation] is abundant through Christ [it is truly more than enough to endure what we must]. 6 But if we are troubled and distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted and encouraged, it is for your comfort, which works [in you] when you patiently endure the same sufferings which we [a]experience. 7  And our [b]hope for you [our confident expectation of good for you] is firmly grounded [assured and unshaken], since we know that just as you share as partners in our sufferings, so also you share as partners in our comfort.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

Come! Listen! Let Me Tell You What My Savior Has Done For Me.
Psalm 66:16-20 The Message

16-20 All believers, come here and listen,
    let me tell you what God did for me.
I called out to him with my mouth,
    my tongue shaped the sounds of music.
If I had been cozy with evil,
    the Lord would never have listened.
But he most surely did listen,
    he came on the double when he heard my prayer.
Blessed be God: he didn’t turn a deaf ear,
    he stayed with me, loyal in his love.

The writer of Psalm 66  wants to tell us his “GOD story” when he says, “Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me.”

The psalmist does not want to talk about his accomplishments or achievements.

The Psalmist wants to talk about what God has done for him throughout his life.

His life had not been easy.

He had been tested and refined like silver.

He had experienced many burdens.

But through it all God had been with him and by listening to his cries for help,

God had led him, guided him, directed him to “a place of abundance.”

Like the Psalmist, each and every one of us has a strikingly similar story to tell.

All of us can bear great witness to the weight of burdens we have had to carry.

All of us can testify to hardships in our lives—but also to the one irrefutable fact that God, and God alone, has always been there and always acted on our behalf.

We must make sure we tell our story.

We must make sure you tell about God’s presence in our life and about his amazing grace in the midst of our much diverse and various degrees of trials.

We must wake sure we tell, re-tell it to our children and our grandchildren.

Someone once said to me,

“If something were to ever happen to you, I am sure I would not know anything about any legitimate kind of relationship to God or His Son or the Holy Spirit.”

Don’t let that happen to you.

Start contemplating your story.

Start writing or telling your story today!

A story which begins with (Song by Bill & Gloria Gaither and Ladye Love Smith)

Days are filled with sorrow
Days are filled with sorrow and care
Hearts are lonely and drear
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Troubled soul, the Savior can see
Every heartache and tear
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

and ends with ….

A repetition of this guided affirmation of faith in our Savior Jesus Christ ….

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Calvary, Calvary
Burdens are lifted at Calvary
Jesus is very near

Let Us Now Lift Up Our Hearts Unto Calvary Because Jesus is Very Near

I want us to imagine that we are each standing at the end of a long hallway.

The hallway represents the entirety of our life so far on earth.

To begin with, look down to your feet, where you are standing is todays date; all the way down at the far distant other end of the hallway is the day of your birth.

Now, just begin walking – please do not run, skip or jog or sprint or fast walk, Neither get on your skateboards, roller blades or roller skates or your bicycles.

Leave your car keys, your truck keys, your mini-van, your hybrid or EV car keys.

You are not driving anywhere – you are only and just walking with Savior Jesus.

Go outside of self and stretch your legs a bit, start working that heart muscle.

As you begin walking down the hallway heading back in your life, I want you to take notice of all of the notice various and diverse sizes of pictures on the wall.

These pictures are all of the “events” from your life; it’s like a photo album of your entire life which someone has taken the time to paint or print and hang.

Some are large framed pictures; they are the most significant experiences you have had so far.

Some are good; some are bad; some are happy; some are sad.

As you steadily walk down this hallway of your life, I want you to take a long and considered look at the content and context of all of these large pictures.

What significant events from your life do you see that stand out?

Is there a wedding?

The successful purchase of your first home?

The Birth of your first child?

Are there family vacations or sporting events pictured on the walls?

Is there an achievement like a high school or college diploma or an award?

Is there a significant milestone depicted – high professional achievements?

Is there a significant milestone depicted – your long awaited retirement?

Are there spiritual experiences like your coming to faith in Christ or a time God miraculously entered into your sub-conscience, especially touched your life?

Are there significantly painful experiences—a divorce, the death of someone you really loved, a failure, a betrayal, abuse, alcoholism, a difficult to care for child which leads to a hardcore challenging, difficult marriage, a significantly threatening health diagnosis, an over abundance of “no money,” an addiction?

Take some time now to walk beyond all of that, walk all the way to the end of this hallway of your, notice “self-portraits” in all these significant experiences in your life… contemplate, take notice of all the ones named “my aloneness.”

[NOW TAKE SOME QUALITY TIME WITH GOD IN SILENT REFLECTION].

As I pray, for you like the Psalmist did, I plead with you to realize that all these experiences have actually shaped who you are today, whether you like it or not.

I pray for you to realize there is no time for self-blame, or blame God, He didn’t cause all of these hard things to happen, but did allow them to happen to you.

What GOD wants to do with us, within us, is to use all of these experiences–Good and Bad–to grow us spiritually and mold us into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus and to shape us for the unique purposes He has for our lives.

His intent is not to cause us any harm (1 John 4:7-12 The Message)

God Is Love

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

By the unmeasurable enormity of this love He expressed through Calvary,

He does not intend nor want even one of our life experiences to be wasted.

With a very God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit specific long term intention:

Romans 8:28-30 Amplified Bible

28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew [and loved and chose beforehand], He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son [and ultimately share in His complete sanctification], so that He would be the firstborn [the most beloved and honored] among many believers.  30 And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified [declared free of the guilt of sin]; and those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity].

God takes every single one of our life experiences—whether positive or painful, intentional or accidental, known or unknown, avoided or not, caused by you or by someone else, to shape all His Children for His unique calling in their lives.

Romans 8:28-30 may be, for some of us, the most personal verses in the Bible:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Your life experience and my own are one of the most overlooked ways that God uses to mold, shape, and transform us for the way He wants each of us to serve Him and others in this world, to edify, that is, to build up, His Kingdom alone.

The Bible says that God is working in every experience you have—our mistakes, our decisions, our successes and failures, our education or lack thereof, all of our different jobs, relationships, our lack of relationships, our unemployment, our disabilities, our marriages, our health issues, our finances—you name it.

God is working in every single thing in our lives—even in and through our own continued and continuous bent to our sins–to accomplish His purpose for you.

What Is The “God Specific” Purpose For Which God Is Even Now Working In Every Single Thing In Our life?

He is always working for the good in our lives.

Reverend Rick Warren puts it this way:

God can take the mess in our lives and bring a message out of it.

He can take the tests in our lives and create a testimony out of it.

He can take any crisis and show all of our Savior Jesus Christ through them.

GOD does not, never will, waste any experience any one of His Children have.

Moses murdered a man and had to flee into the wilderness between Egypt and Israel to save his life.

Some 40 years later God came to him in the vision of a burning bush and said, Moses, I have chosen you to go back down to Egypt to set my people free from slavery and guide and lead them through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

Moses knew the wilderness; he had lived there, learned its ways for 40 years.

Likewise, as Moses did, that through God, not our wits, God wants to use the wildernesses of our lives to help guide others, to find God’s way for their lives.

Joseph, his father Jacob’s favorite, was conspired against, thrown down a well and eventually sold to merchants into slavery by his hyper jealous brothers.

He ended up a slave and a prisoner in Egypt, but God gifted him and made a way for him to become the Prime Minister of Egypt and second only to the Pharaoh.

When famine threatened the very existence of God’s people, God used Joseph to plant, grow, harvest, store, manage the supply the grain that His people needed.

And when his brothers came to him starving, Joseph said to them: You intended to harm me, but God long intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the housing, settling and feeding, ultimately the saving of many lives.

But notice carefully God does not just do this for everybody.

God works His good for those who love Him and follow His plan.

The promise of Romans 8:28 is not for everybody.

God does not work His good in our lives when we don’t love Him or we turn our backs on Him.

It’s not that God turns His back on those who don’t follow His plan for their lives – God loves everybody, but He cannot help and use those who close their hearts, souls, minds, strengths and lives to Him and His plan for their lives.

One of the most common ways God uses our life experiences for good is to help others – to empathize, give comfort and encouragement while God works.

God can and does take each and everyone of our experiences, especially the painful ones, and turns them around, transforming them in a positive way.

Who better to help someone who is struggling than another person who has gone through the same struggle?

2 Corinthians 1:4 says, God, through Christ at Calvary, comforts and encourages us in all of our troubles so we can then, in turn, comfort and encourage others.

From Calvary then, when others are troubled, we will be able to reciprocate, to give them the same comfort and encouragement from Calvary God has given us.

Our troubles can become the very ministry God will use to help other people.

That uniquely painful experience in your life that you keep locked in the inner recesses of your soul could become your singularly unique, greatest ministry.

God has used the failures and hurtful experiences of my own life more than anything else to mold, shape and transform me exclusively for His purposes.

Those bad life experiences of my have helped me grow uniquely, spiritually.

Truthfully, in the good and happy times of my life, I have usually just coasted spiritually, taking God’s grace for granted that He will always, forever be there.

I have to see, from the long shadow extending outward from Calvary, and into eternity, God does not want me to allow my experiences to count for nothing.

I have to become the better person, through Christ, God needs me to become.

Now, it is my relationship with God which continues to keep me looking more forward versus more backwards, instead, a day at a time – Sweet Savior Jesus.

He was my Best Forever friend, much better than a brother I never had.

I was so “at ease, more comforted, more encouraged” with my Sweet Savior Jesus, stark comparison to the “disease of sin” I was struggling to recover from.

He truly brought wholeness to my life, an indescribable joy and immeasurable degrees of comfort that will always and forever be etched deep in my memory.

In His time on earth; Jesus had completed God’s mission for His life; and there is no doubt God touched uncountable many lives through him.

Through Calvary, by my walk to Calvary, My Sweet Savior Jesus helped me to see how life is supposed to be lived—in tune with my GOD and the Holy Spirit.

He helped me to find God and my family, the church to which my wife and I go.

On more than one occasion, the Bible says that God chooses to use weaker vessels to do His work so that He may get the glory.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, God says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul responds: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

God can help people more through their weakness than we can through our strengths.

That’s why we need each other; it’s why we need the supportive fellowship of the church.

You can learn from others who have gone or who are going through the same struggles you are.

Perfection, if we could achieve it, would help nobody.

What experiences have we had to confront in our own lives which GOD could use to help comfort and encourage others?

“I Thirst” and then “It is Finished”

John 19:28-30 Amplified Bible

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said in fulfillment of the Scripture, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of [a]sour wine was placed there; so they put a sponge soaked in the sour wine on [a branch of] hyssop and held it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and [voluntarily] [b]gave up His spirit.

At Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, At Calvary, the death of the perfect Son of God was the darkest moment in world history, but look back at the portraits in the length and breadth and width of your hallway at how God used Jesus’ death.

Jesus’ death atoned for every single one our sins and everybody else’s sins and made for each of us an unobstructed way back to God, into heaven when we die.

Out of Christ’s crucifixion, God brought to all mankind the ultimate comfort and encouragement – God brought salvation for all who trust and follow Jesus.

This is our hope in Jesus Christ!

On that first Easter Sunday two millennia ago, God brought life out of death.

Jesus Christ died, three days later he arose from the dead and is now a living presence among us right now— forgiving us, delivering us, shaping us, guiding us, loving us, living in and among us and wanting to use us for His purposes.

God can use all your life experiences, good and bad, to shape you for His unique calling in your life—if forego any resistance to any, all change, if we let Him.

Hebrews 3:12-16 Amplified Bible

The Peril of Unbelief

12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving [a]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. 13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. 14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end, 15 while it is said,

“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”

16 For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

“Today, while there is still opportunity, if we WILL hear His voice …”

“Do not harden your hearts again and again, with further acts of open rebellion …”

God’s Call and Invitation to each and everyone of us through Mount Calvary:

God has 3 callings in the lives of each and everyone of His Children:

(1) He calls you to salvation and a new life in Jesus Christ;

(2) He calls you to be an active part of His church;

(3) He calls you to serve Him and comfort and encourage others in the unique way He has gifted and shaped you.

Encouraging one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.

Comforting one another is an important part of our daily walk with Christ.

We live in a world corrupted by unbelief, sin, and, at times, persecution.

How can we stay firm in our faith?

Scripture gives us this recipe:

Comfort, Love, Encourage, and Daily Pray for one another.

In God’s grace, the Holy Spirit uses these acts of mutual and shared comfort, care and encouragement to guide us, see us, through the most trying of times.

When fellow believers are struggling, be quick to extend your helpful, sharing hand.

Be graceful and be generous.

Be gentle and be merciful as unto the Lord.

Be comforting and be encouraging.

Offer words of comfort and prayer, as well as tangible acts of help, encourage people around you, and be surprised by how much you are encouraged yourself!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Would you pray this prayer with me?

Almighty God and my Everlasting Father, Lord of my life, I offer back my life to You. Everything I’ve been through, Lord, use it for Your glory. Jesus, I give You my all. In your name I pray and commit myself to Your continuing work in this world. Lead, Guide and Direct my Steps back towards Calvary from whence comes my Savior. That I may be a comfort as I was comforted, I may be an encourager as I was encouraged. For indeed, there is no other name under heaven through which mankind is saved.

Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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Asking Ourselves the Hard Questions, Preparing for Lent, How Is God’s Power Made Perfect in All of Our Weaknesses? 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

2 Corinthians 12:7-10Amplified Bible

A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; 9 but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. 10 So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

A Thorn in the Flesh …

The apostle Paul was dedicated to God.

But Paul had a “thorn in the flesh”—possibly a persistently challenging and spiritually demanding circumstance or disease that bothered him quite a lot.

He called it “a messenger of Satan, to torment” him.

We don’t know exactly what it was, but somehow it made Paul physically or spiritually [or both] weaker than he wanted to be.

Thorns prick, scratch, and wound.

However, the point of Paul’s example is that because of his thorn in the flesh, God was able to work through him and his weaknesses ever more powerfully.

Although Paul had pleaded three times with the Lord to take his thorn away, the Lord only responded saying to Paul,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul notes that he was given his thorn “in order to keep . . . from becoming conceited.”

This means Paul knew if he did not have this thorn, he could have become self-reliant and proud of his ability to “power through anything by his own will.”

So Paul is teaching us that his thorn in the flesh was actually a good thing.

It was a sign of God’s grace to keep him focused on God, dependent on God, reliant on God and away from his becoming a proud “iron willed” follower.

And we can surely thank God for that.

This does not mean we should ask God to give us a thorn in the flesh.

We can trust that God knows what is best for us.

But if God does allow us to have a particular kind of suffering, we can also trust that he can use it to do good.

As Paul writes in another place,

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

How Is God’s Power Made Perfect in Weakness?

Although being a Christian doesn’t grant us the power to endure every physical difficulty, it does grant us ready access to the Holy Spirit who abides within us.

His Holy Spirit may not be a superpower, but it’s a genuine supernatural power.

It may not enable us to look like the Hulk when it comes to both spiritual and physical challenges, but Holy Spirit provides us with an otherworldly strength to live into our oncoming circumstances and to conquer the challenges of life.

This is the kind of strength that can only be manifested in our weaknesses.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul wrote, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” 

So what is this power, and how can we, as believers, come to access it during the up and coming Post-Pandemic Lenten season and strenuous challenges of life?

What Does ‘My Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness’ Mean?

We often try to come across as the I-can-do-it-all Christian—making perfect grades in school or raising well-behaved children while maintaining the ultra squeaky-clean Christian reputation in church.

If we come across a challenge that seems too much for us to handle, we often blame ourselves for not being “strong enough.”

As though we some how an in some way believe that God automatically expects us to do all the things with “ease” and never cave beneath the pressures of life.

But we were simply never created to bear this life through our own strength.

In fact, we don’t even have within ourselves the ability to bear its weight!

So why should we or do we, try so hard to look like Miss or Mr. Independent “Iron” Christian when, really, God frowns upon this type of approach to life?

It is impossible for us to conquer anything apart from God’s sufficient grace.

Writing this, I wonder if God purposely created our bodies to cave beneath pressure—so we could realize we can do nothing apart from Him (see John 15:5).

But rather than allowing this to make us frustrated, get all of our faults and all failures and failings all bunched up inside our heads, perhaps we should instead use these weaknesses to propel us closer to our Savior Jesus Christ, and drawing supernatural strength from the power of the Holy Spirit – to rely more on God?.

God intended us to rely on this Holy Spirit day-by-day, moment-by-moment.

This is why Jesus said this to His disciples before He was crucified:

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.” [John 16:7]

John 16:7Amplified Bible

7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the [a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you].

It is for our benefit that Jesus left the “Advocate,” which is the Holy Spirit.

If we did not have the Spirit abiding within us, then we would not have access to this power.

We would struggle through life, relying only on our own mental an physical muscles to face life’s battles.

But we do have the Holy Spirit.

This means as we abide in Him, we can draw strength from Him rather than ourselves.

We can ask Him to give us what we need to overcome this life.

Confessing ourselves before Him: “No, me, myself, I, simply cannot do it all.”

That’s a good thing!

If we could, then we would never have the opportunity to allow God’s power—which is far stronger than any human strength—to be made apparent within us.

We would continue through life as Miss or Mrs. or Mr. Iron Clad Independent Christian, never having a need to depend on God alone and gain access to His grave-conquering power.

What Is the Context of 2 Corinthians 12:9?

In this chapter, Paul shares about a heavenly vision God gave him that gained him access to spiritual revelations.

He was not permitted to share these insights with anyone and did not want to receive the credit for them.

To keep him humble, he says that God intentionally allowed him to have a “thorn in the flesh” (see verse 7).

Paul goes on to discuss the pain of this suffering, as well as its eventual advantage, in verses 8-10:

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Obviously, the strength he refers to in the final verse is not human strength but a supernatural strength.

And it is only through experiencing the weakness that he was he able to receive this power.

In other words, Paul recognized that it was not through an independent attitude that he could boast, but rather a complete dependency, reliance upon God.

It was this dependency and reliance on God that kept him humble as well.

It is also interesting to take a look at the meaning of the Greek words used in this passage.

The phrase “is sufficient” is arkei, which means to assist, benefit, and to be satisfied.

Christ’s grace benefits us in our weaknesses by allowing us to grow stronger—not in our might, but in His.

Thus, we are more equipped to face the challenges and sufferings of life.

The word “power” here is dynamis, which implies a force and miraculous power.

It is pretty miraculous when His strength becomes manifested in our weaknesses!

“Is perfected” is teleitai, which implies bringing to completion, to accomplish and fulfill.

When we receive His miraculous power to strengthen us, we don’t just receive a portion of it.

We can receive it to the full—and all for the singular purpose of accomplishing His perfect will.

Finally, the phrase “may rest” is episkēnōsē.

This is translated to mean to pitch a tent upon or to dwell and abide within.

How interesting is that?

So, If you like camping out under the stars …

So, if you like staying dry against the rains …

In a strong, dependable, reliable, long lasting, enduring, well staked tent,

Psalm 19Amplified Bible

The Works and the Word of God.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands.
2 
Day after day pours forth speech,
And night after night reveals knowledge.
3 
There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars];
Their voice is not heard.
4 
Yet their voice [in quiet evidence] has gone out through all the earth,
Their words to the end of the world.
In them and in the heavens He has made a tent for the sun,
5 
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
6 
The sun’s rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

7 
The law of the Lord is perfect (flawless), restoring and refreshing the soul;
The statutes of the Lord are reliable and trustworthy, making wise the simple.
8 
The precepts of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.
10 
They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 
Moreover, by them Your servant is warned [reminded, illuminated, and instructed];
In keeping them there is great reward.
12 
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.
13 
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins;
Let them not rule and have control over me.
Then I will be blameless (complete),
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.
14 
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer.

Let that love for camping become one more “JEHOVAH” sized reminder …

Christ’s power can literally descend upon us as we dwell and abide in Him.

This “tent” of Christ can remain our safe place of refuge.

It’s interesting to note, too, how the phrase “may rest” in this passage compares to the phrase “made His dwelling” in John 1:14:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

The passage “made His dwelling” is translated eskēnōsen, which means to dwell in a tent, to occupy or to reside.

So, Jesus came to earth so that He could dwell with us—and when He departed, He gave us the Holy Spirit so that He could continue to do the same.

He still dwells with us, and we can dwell in Him.

But we must crucify our desires to work and face this life apart from Christ.

After all, it is only as we abide and dwell in Him that we will display His full power within us, bearing “much fruit,” as mentioned in John 15.

What Does the Bible Have to Say about Weakness?

The word “weakness” in 2 Corinthians 12:9 implies suffering, insults, and persecution.

These aren’t exactly physical limitations but rather limitations we face in our everyday lives, such as the temptation to sin, heartache, and distress.

It is evident throughout the Bible that God does not intend to remove these weaknesses from our life.

If He did, then we would never have the pleasure of witnessing His power overcome.

We would never have the privilege of allowing our weaknesses to find their rest and completion in His strength.

Sadly, the idea of depending on someone may look like a weakness itself to our society.

We love to come across as strong, independent, and self-reliant, needing nothing and no one.

It is true humans are strong and intelligent—but this type of “Iron and Steel” independent mentality is frowned upon in God’s eyes.

And our strength is nothing to boast about, because according to 1 Corinthians 1:25, “God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.”

So if God’s weakness is even stronger than our greatest strength, then why shouldn’t we willingly want to receive His power?

One of the reasons why God allowed His Son to come to earth was so that He could understand our human condition.

Basically, He wanted to become familiar with our weaknesses. 

Hebrews 4:15-16 makes this clear:

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Jesus understands our sufferings.

Why, then, should we try to stubbornly fix our issues by ourselves when the One who has already conquered this world invites each and every single one of us to completely, utterly, and fully, rely on Him?

It is only when we relent in our own efforts and apply the above Scripture to our lives that we will then fully appreciate and abundantly receive the help we need.

God’s power being made evident in our weaknesses is also illustrated in stories throughout the Old Testament, such as David conquering Goliath, as well as in the following verses:

“He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength” Isaiah 40:29.

“So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” Zechariah 4:6.

Apostle Paul also spoke of God’s strength being made known in his weakness in Philippians 4:11-13: 

“Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

When I read these passages of scripture, enormous joy arises within me because I realize just exactly how empowered I am.

Whatever trials or temptations God allows into my life, I can overcome.

Not in my own strength, of course, but in God’s power being made perfect in my weakness.

Another reference to our fragility finding completion in God’s strength is in 2 Corinthians 4:7, where Paul wrote: 

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”

Perhaps this is why God often uses the weak of the world to demonstrate His greatest power and to “shame the wise” (see 1 Corinthians 1:27):

So that more of His glory can be on display.

When we overcome a weakness we would not be able to conquer on our own, then it is obvious, just like the above verse says, the great power came from God and not from ourselves.

And shouldn’t that remain our main goal as Christians?

To spread more of His glory rather than our own? 

But the only way we can gain this strength is to give up our independent tendencies and learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit within us. 

Ephesians 3:16 says, “I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.”

I believe God is searching for Christians who can admit their weaknesses and shortcomings, because only in doing that will His purposes be accomplished.

This is why Jesus left behind the Holy Spirit, after all.

So as we dwell in Him, we could be empowered to embrace the uncomfortable, including sufferings and persecution.

All for the sake of extending His Kingdom.

This means that the weaker we are, the more His power can be displayed within us and through us.

Apostle Paul was right—we now have every right to boast in our weaknesses!

This Lenten Season, Let’s choose to Go ‘camping’ with God, Son, Holy Spirit.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that Your grace is sufficient for all my needs. Help me to recognise and rejoice in the knowledge that Your power is made perfect in my own weakness. Help me to boast all the more gladly in my inabilities so that Your great ability may be manifest in my life. By thy Holy Spirit, May everything I do be to Your praise and glory, my Lord and my God. Creating and eternal God, whose grace is sufficient for us and whose power is made perfect in weakness, in our weakness and insufficiency, we offer our lives and the gifts of our living for the work of your mustard seed kingdom; in our Lord, King and Savior Jesus’ name. AMEN.

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“Do You Really Want to be Made Well?” Surrender to God’s Healing in Your Life! John 5:1-9

John 5:1-9Amplified Bible

The Healing at Bethesda

5 Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a [a]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades). 3 In these  porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, [b][waiting for the stirring of the water; 4 for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.] 5 There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and [c]picked up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Picture the scene: a pool of water surrounded by covered porches.

Bethesda was known as a place of healing.

At certain times of the year, an angel of the Lord stirred the waters.

It was then that the porticoes were often crowded with destitute people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed – waiting to be the ones who were 1st healed.

Among them lay a man who had been lame for thirty-eight long years.

He came! Except there was no one willing to help him get into the pool.

Jesus was watching the proceedings from a short distance away.

Jesus approached asked the man, asking him; “Do you want to get well?”

On the surface, the answer would seem obvious.

Of course the man wanted to be well!

But here, Jesus was asking a deeper question.

He was probing the man’s heart.

Did he really want to be made whole-

-Did he really want to be healed, to be transformed inside and out, healed in body, mind, and soul?

Without waiting for the man to give his response, to tell Jesus his story ….

Jesus spoke to him a second time: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

From a human standpoint, it was impossible for the man to get up.

To others who were listening, this may even have sounded a bit cruel.

But at that moment the healing power of Jesus touched the man, filling his body, mind, and spirit with wholeness.

As Jesus healed the man, he was saying, in effect, “Pick up your mat and be out of here. You never have to think of coming back to this kind of life again.”

The steps Jesus took in healing this man give us an outline of how our Lord meets us today.

He probes our hearts, commands the impossible, provides the power, and tells us, up close and personal, to “be healed, ” get up and leave our old life behind.

What Presence …

What Authority …

What Sovereignty …

What a Savior!

How to Surrender to God’s Healing in Your Life …

At first glance, one may raise an eyebrow at the title of this devotional.

Why would one need to surrender to healing?

We pray for, ache for, pray without ceasing, generally get on our hands and knees searching for healing in so many aspects of our lives.

So why would someone resist it when it is offered to them?

Or is it resistance?

Perhaps, surrendering to God’s healing has nothing to do with fighting against it so much as it is our coming to the realization and acceptance that we need it.

This means coming to a point of humility and admitting our shortcomings or, perhaps worse, the vast diversity our very worst faults, failures and failings.

But then, we may be well aware we need healing.

So then, surrendering to God’s healing isn’t something fraught with resistance or stained with denial, but it is shrouded in the most severest spoken, unspoken actions, expressions, of doubt that God really can bring healing to a broken life.

Or that after an extended period of suffering, He will ever really bring healing.

Have you ever found yourself thinking,

“I know God can heal my life, but I do not know if I believe He ever will.”

Whether surrendering to God’s healing has to do with resistance to healing, denial of the need for healing, or doubting the possibility of recovery, it’s good to step back when in need of healing and take a “selfie” – a clear photograph of your spirit and heart.

What part of “self” might stand in the way of our surrender to God’s healing?

Here are some areas to self-examine and see if any of these may be a part of your surrendering difficulties or process:

1. To heal means to freely and fully admit your weakness.

There’s a verse in II Corinthians 12 that is often quoted when it comes to recognizing one’s weaknesses. “For when I am weak (in human strength), then I am strong (truly able, powerful, drawing from God’s strength),”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10Amplified Bible

A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; 9 but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. 10 So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].

Apostle Paul clearly states his beliefs of strength in the last part of verse ten.

The idea is that to gain strength, one is best set by first coming to the end of themselves.

Only in that weakness can their strength be infused with the might of the Holy Spirit, thus bringing about a strength that only comes from God, Himself.

But let’s step back a bit to a portion not as often quoted in verse 9. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.”

This is a critical portion of the text when looking at the final part of verse ten and coming to terms with your weakness.

Admitting our weaknesses can make us feel as though we’ve been put into a vulnerable and exposed position.

In a way, it’s “waving our white flag” coming before God for healing with naked souls and our sins, failings, hurts, and brokenness splayed with no disguises.

But His “straight to the point” answer in this healing process has nothing to do with pointing out the errors of our ways or making sure we are valid in our hurt, or our ideations or perceptions or our reality of our brokenness is .01% justified.

His answer is straightforward and strong:

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

His grace is enough.

Enough.

1. Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
grace, grace, God’s grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin!

To first admit our weakness is to place ourselves into the submissive role of someone who needs to be rescued – sit still and accept Jesus Christ is God.

And Who better to do this with than the one whose power is made perfect in weakness?

2. Abandoning denial means you embrace the truth.

The truth can be a painful place to go.

The whole “the truth will set you free” concept from John 8 may be remarkably true, it can also mean “coming to terms” with some very harsh, frank realities.

It may mean you must face the abuses that have broken you.

You may need to travel to some dark places to come out the other side into a place of everlasting living hope.

Denial can be a protective mechanism.

If it doesn’t exist, therefore, there is no problem.

Or, stated differently, if everything is working, then nothing needs fixing.

But are you thriving just because you have duct-taped and paper-clipped an industrially stapled your life together in a way you can only barely function?

Are you experiencing the strength and power of God’s grace being sufficient for you when pretending to be healthier than you truly are?

Surrendering to healing may mean ripping off some bandages that have dried onto the wounds.

The hurts may need to bleed again in order to, this time, be healed properly with as minimal scarring as God will allow.

Can you find the courage to be honest and say, “I need to experience God’s healing in my life”?

3. Surrendering means acting in faith God will keep His promises.

Nothing can kill a dream faster than the disappearance of hope.

So when doubt and trepidation enter the healing process of our brokenness, we can begin to embrace the complexity and diversity of the all of the lies and the insinuations we have weaved that God may not do what He has said he will do.

However, God has promised to heal the brokenhearted.

He has promised to meet our needs (Psalm 23).

He has promised to be the Savior to a bleeding and busted soul (Psalm 22).

Coming before God in surrender may mean we go to Him with speculation and concern.

It might also mean you come to Him and lay aside your perceived ideas of how He will heal you.

In the same way physical healing may not be provided to you in the way you imagine it, your emotional, spiritual, and mental healing may come through avenues and processes you have not considered.

To surrender genuinely does mean to step out in faith, trusting and believing that He is sufficient and can bring healing; not presenting Him with a list of ways you believe He absolutely needs to bring that healing into your life and then stepping back to gnash teeth, bite your fingernails, doubting He’ll read it.

Can you fully, genuinely say, “I trust God to do what He has promised without expecting Him to tell me how and without putting a timeline on it?” (Psalm 24)

Healing is a process.

It’s not a simple one, nor is it straightforward and standardized.

Plus, let’s be honest.

Since when is God predictable in the journeys He takes his people on?

Surrendering to the Lord for healing is, in and of itself, a process.

It’s coming to terms with admitting you need healing, it’s realizing that there will be some tough stuff to relive, walk through, evaluate, and even admit; it’s recognizing you probably won’t know how healing will come—just that it will.

In the end, healing isn’t a simple process with an easy answer.

Neither is “white flag” surrendering.

You may find yourself surrendering to God’s healing in one moment,

then in the next, you’re taking it all back, trying with all remaining strength to wrestle it back from Jesus and rebuilding up your defensive walls once again.

So hold on to and grasp that His strength will be made perfect in your weakness.

That His grace is sufficient for this journey on which you will embark.

And also, know that His healing isn’t a three-step process.

His healing will be customized for His relationship with you and for His glory to be seen and shown to the world around you.

Be ready for great things.

“White Flag ” healing is miraculous, so hold on tight, proceed with great hope!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we give all glory to You, for through Your mighty power at work within us, You are able to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. By thy grace help us not to grieve You, dear Spirit, but to kneel, “wave our white flags” to wholly submit to You, allow Your power to have full an maximum sway in us. We thank You for Your gracious presence dwelling within us. We thank You for thy intercession on our behalf. Glory to You in the Church and in Christ Jesus.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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A Timely, Seasonal, Reflection on the Value of Self-Reflection. In Christ, is there Genuine “God-Esteem”? Acts 3:19.

When was the last time we caught ourselves straying from our daily walk with our Savior Jesus? Refreshing times come when we change our hearts and our lives to live for God alone and with God alone in our everyday lives! In fact, our Jesus has told us that he will reveal himself to us as we live obediently for him (see John 14:15-21). His home will be in us until he returns for us, and we get to enjoy the pen ultimate refreshment — our going home to be with him forever.

Acts 3:19-23 English Standard Version

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia1 Amen.

Following the pages of social media as I try to do, I have noticed there has been quite the noticeable uptick in our interest regarding self-love and care. Being someone who has struggled with those things in the past, it has been refreshing to see and hear a renewed acceptance of valuing the health of our mental state.

Anything which promotes the wholeness of one’s mind and emotions further enables us to learn how to relate well with each other and encourage the people around us as people. There has long been a hard focus on physical health with a much smaller degree of focus on the mental and emotional health of a person.

It is somewhat relieving quite honestly, to feel okay about struggling in those areas where things “do not feel quite right” and to not feel as if there is also something inherently wrong with me and to feel alone with those feelings.

I don’t want what I am going to say next to contradict the above, but I do believe the world’s emphasis on self-esteem has become a little bit skewed in terms of the proper view. I know self-esteem is a great thing and we should continue to focus on improving all aspects of health regarding human beings, but I do also believe we have strayed a bit from the proper understanding of human beings.

One of my main points 0f contention with the modern understanding, application of so-called self-esteem boosting is we just forget that we are exactly “only human.”

By forgetting we are “only human”, one of the consequences is we are passing along false expectations of perfection being the goal of being a human.

While having an accurate view of our mental health and over-all well-being and steps which lead us to very serious decline and worse is imperative in caring for people, we also have to take serious safeguards against our passing along false expectations unto our future generations of them one day achieving perfection.

As success-oriented beings, we are always going to want to be “the very best we can be,” to accept losing and be winners and we are going to believe that to be anything less than this goal means we are not good enough yet. By continuing to encourage oneself towards self-improvement through self-esteem, we are in fact handing them the crutch upon which they will depend the rest of their life.

It is easy in our world to lose touch with the value of the inward man. Because we are an accomplishment “at all costs”- oriented society, it is hard to “rank” the inward man on those “by all means necessary” scales our culture deems the most important. Therefore, in order to feel “significant,” we focus too heavily on developing the outward things that give us “credibility” in the eyes of others.

Apostle Paul said the “outward man is always perishing.” No amount of our own “working on it” is going to change that. How sad then, it is to see people wanting to look “youthful” at every stage of their life. But, Paul, had a vastly different philosophy. He accepted the inescapable fact that the outward person is always going to be perishing, and the inward man is going to live forever.

But how exactly do we demonstrate that we value the inward man? How do we invest in that part of us which we know is most important? We have to reflect on what has been, assign what has been an appropriately critical value and work out with the inward man just what was essential to our living for Savior Jesus. We need to somehow connect with what is “rusting out and perishing” and lose them with a higher effort as we would lose our excess weight in a gymnasium.

Just as the outward parts of my body needs food, so the inward man needs food. The Bible clearly teaches me that the Word of God is that “super food.” As I approach this season of Lent 2022, when I begin to reflect back on myself, when I consider what my purpose in life is right this moment, there’s a part of me that does desire it to be something, someone who is glamorous and eternal.

I want my name to be remembered, not necessarily in a famous sense, but by the people with whom I have had a relationship. I don’t want to believe I was simply born to go to school, get a job, get married, retire, and then die. I want to steadfastly believe that I have somehow been God-gifted in this life to make an impact on this world and that people would know my name — maybe not in any famous sense but at least with the people whom I deeply care about the most.

For years, we will struggle with this internal battle of knowing the correct way, the politest, the safe and most-safest way, to view our lives and our stories.

I read in the Bible about how God has a plan for us and that we were created to live out our story according to God’s plans and purposes, but I also read about how we are fallen and sinful beings who couldn’t do anything on our own.

It always seems like my faith, your faith in God and His plan for my life, your life was in a constant and perpetual state of continuous opposition to the ideals of self-improvement and self-help the focus on self-esteem was telling me.

It seems like there were so many voices going on in our heads that all sounded right, and all felt right but seemed to be telling us vastly different things.

The same person could, on different days in vastly different scenarios, tell us that we need “devote more quality time” to believing in ourselves, that we are only sinful human beings who could only do anything because of God, and that we were knit together in our mother’s womb to do good in the world and that we had strengths/gifts that we were asked to reinvest in the people around us.

None of these three things ever seem to be or feel wrong to us and yet, they all still kinda serve to confuse our poor minds that already had an ironic tendency to view itself in an incredibly poor light. We want to be better, and we want to have a good self-esteem so as to not be so overly anxious or zealously worried over every little thing which exposes itself to our very limited field of vision.

But we also want to have an accurate view of total depravity and the necessity of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. There are times where it seems right to believe that we could do some things, that we could improve our weaknesses and become a “better person.” There are other times where we feel we could not do anything worthwhile and that we had really had no impact on the world at all.

Being human, to me, does not mean that we are called to either be 100% perfect nor 100% useless. We are to have very positive self-esteem — to understand that we have value inherently as a human being and a member of this world.

But we are also to have God-esteem — to understand that we cannot live life on our own wisdom with our own worldview and that we can only live up to our full potential only through our glorifying God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This then, ought to inevitably lead us to the goal in life to not be doing all WE can to improve our weaknesses for OUR own sake but to know that these weaknesses, though weaknesses, are the areas in which our Creator God is going to interrupt us, then intercede into and go to work on the most within us.

As members of this modern-day 21st century world, we live in a culture which is hard driven by success and a desire for acceptance through success and thus, hard won perfection. We live in a contemporary world where there is an entire genre of online literature dedicated to self-help and the amount of pressure to be accepting and open-minded in regard to accepting people for who they are and how they perceive themselves is at, what may well be, an all-time high.

We as a diverse culture are moving into a world that is driven more and more by perception than it is driven by an absolute standard of success and failure. As with any movement, there are pros and cons as people feel more and more free to be themselves and less like they have to change themselves in order to fit in. With the diversity of social media and social circles increasing, there is more of a chance for people to feel (mis)understood, like they do/don’t fit into a group.

However, there are also negative consequences to the movement as well. While it is a good thing for people to feel understood, it may not always be healthy for them to not feel as if they don’t have weaknesses. As the world continues to tell more and more people more and more that they are okay just the way they are, they are also incongruently passing along the message there is likewise nothing wrong with them. We grant access to their perception of 100% invulnerability.

When I look at Dr. Luke’s writings from the Book of Acts, and Apostle Paul’s writing in the New Testament though, I don’t see this message at all though.

Instead, I see men who were very aware of their struggles, weaknesses, and had come to the understanding that though they aren’t things to be proud of, they are thoroughly humbled of the way God was still able to work through them.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 New American Standard Bible

A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to [a]torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast [b]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in [c]insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

In the forefront of my mind is the maturing fear that in this world where we are growing to accept “all” people “exactly as they are,” we are losing the truth we are all humans created by the hand of God, given His own breath for living our life and there are going to be areas in our life that we struggle and aren’t good enough. But these weaknesses are not something to be ashamed of, but rather, they are the areas through which God can work the very hardest and the most.

My goal then in life is to accept who I am: as a human, as a fallen being, as that singularly unique someone who has weaknesses and struggles. But I am also going to accept that I do have gifts, strengths, and can offer value to the world; not just through these areas where I am “good” but even more so through the areas where I’m weak as God uses them to glorify Himself, to edify all others.

We can remain open to accepting people as they are and meeting them where they’re at without losing the hope offered through the gospel and the 100% fact, we absolutely need 1000% of Him in order to reach our full potential here.

In essence, let us not be so focused on establishing self-esteem that we lose our God-esteem. We are, only by the grace of God, His beloved, imperfect, children.

When we acknowledge our sin, turn away from our sinful, immoral deeds, and turn ourselves over to our Savior Jesus, true refreshment can come to us. The Holy Spirit can, will bring us life that is fresh, new, clean, and full of purpose!

We can live knowing that Savior Jesus will return for us and bring us home to our Father. In the meantime, Jesus is still present and available to those of us who live for him as he pours his fresh grace and power into our lives.

No matter what we may have done — and whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be as bad as betraying and crucifying Jesus. When we come to Jesus as Lord, we are offered His mercy and we are forgiven, and our lives are redirected toward our future with Jesus as we live in each moment by his power and grace. We wait eagerly for the LORD God to send our “appointed Messiah” and Savior, Jesus!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Abba Father, as I sit and reflect upon what has been for me, I am consciously turning my life over to you today. I ask for your forgiveness for any sin that I have committed. Please refresh me through a deeper awareness of Jesus’ lordship and presence in my life today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Alleluia! Amen.

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