Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful new day, I pray you had a beautiful day of worship and time of filling your soul yesterday so as we you out into the world today, you remember who you are and whose you are.
In a world of great change and loss, I pray you are armored up as Ephesians reminds us to go out today into the battlefield that awaits us. In our strength we are weak which as Christians is a blessing because we remember our need for Him.
I love this reminder Paul gives us in 2 Corinthians.
Paul reminds us of how God taught Him in the midst of his most difficult circumstances: There and then the Lord Jesus began to teach me the wonderful lesson that out of weakness I am made strong; that when I am weakest, he is the strongest. Out of that," he says, "I have learned the great lesson of rejoicing and glorying in my weakness."
For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10b RSV)
In this connection he recites his experience with a "thorn in the flesh," this ugly thing that kept pestering him, prodding him, aggravating him and hurting him. He begged to have it taken away, but the word of the Lord came,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9b RSV)
That is the secret of strength: not outward impressiveness; not great prestige, pomp and favor; not great ornate buildings decorated to the highest degree, enclosing impressive statuary and wonderful paintings. Oh, no. Spiritual power never lies there. Neither does it lie in a brilliant, impressive personality, nor in ability to speak with eloquent oratory, with command and mastery of language.
No, it never lies there. It lies in a heart that realizes that it can do nothing apart from a dependence on a living Lord within. The weaker you are, the stronger Christ can be.
Isn't that encouraging? Doesn't that strengthen you? Are you saying, "Well, I can't do anything"? Of course you can't. If you could, it wouldn't amount to anything. But he can do all things through you. That is the great secret of 2 Corinthians... That is what the apostle longed to impart to these people. This is what Corinth so desperately needed, men and women who will quietly believe this great, commanding and compelling principle by which God's power is manifested in human life: Out of weakness comes strength.
So Paul closes the epistle by addressing these people at Corinth as he addresses us today,
Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith. (2 Corinthians 13:5a RSV)
Susie Larson puts it this way:
Are you believing God? Are you counting on him to do what He says He will do through you? Are you walking into situations and crawling out on limbs where, if God does not come through, you will be made a fool of? "Examine yourselves, whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves"When I am weak, I am strong".
May you begin to see your setbacks as temporary, your delays as detours, and your heartbreaks as opportunities to experience God's precious, powerful healing. May God give you glimpses of glory, insights into His excellent plan for you. The times we're in are not a surprise to Him. He not only saw this coming, but He also positioned you to be on the earth for such a time as this. How might He shine His light in and through you? Be assured that He is near, right beside you. His right hand upholds you. He'll never let you go. May the Holy Spirit help you see with supernatural insight so that you won't be deceived by the enemy of your soul, or by your past painful filters, or by your fears of the future. Right here--in this place--may your divine perspective hugely inspire your faith steps. Rest when He says rest. And pray like there's a God in heaven because there is, and He moves when you pray! You are mighty in God, and He is mighty in you.
Now that my friends gets a huge AMEN!!!!
