“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 2:9).
His very conversion to Christianity was literally birthed out of grace; he was mightily used by God to touch his generation. As a Pharisee, God used his intellectual ability to not only defend the gospel, write two thirds of the blessed New Testament but also allowed him to walk in a great magnitude of his power with incredible demonstration of healing, miracles, signs and wonders.
Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, was literally allowed to walk in a dimension in God that many of us today dream about including visiting the third heaven.
However, in spite of all these, he had a weakness and he cried to God to help him deal with what he called “a thorn in the flesh”. Instead of God moving in at his request and eradicating the very thing that is impeding his physical strength, God will answer him alright but in a way that did not meet Paul’s expectations.
The Lord answered him and said “My grace is sufficient for you”. In other words, God was not going to take away the thorn in his flesh but rather He would allow Paul to experience His sufficient grace in that very area he is experiencing weakness.
Are you experiencing an area in your life that has become a thorn in the flesh? A thorn in the flesh is anything in your life that is overpowering you, eating you up and has become cancerous and viral in nature, silently killing you; it is the very thing that you are most conscious of and have wished to overcome yet it seems as if it finds its way of surfacing when you want it buried and to be done with.
If you are experiencing a behavioral weakness, character trait, financial constraints, relationship deficiencies, ill health issues-whatever the nature is, one thing is guaranteed-it is a thorn in the flesh! As a thorn, it is neither comfortable nor pleasant; it hurts and it causes pain. Sometimes, you bleed and cry, yet God today is calling us to embrace His sufficient grace.
Sometimes the very things that make us cry the most are the exact things that make us pray the most!
God could have taken away the thorn from Paul’s flesh but He kept it there so Paul could experience His free unmerited favor in the very area he is struggling. Similarly, sometimes, God will keep our own thorns in the flesh, so that our intimacy with Him can be sustained. Hence, in His unconditional love for us, God will allow us to go through and have certain shortcomings so that we can freely access His omnipotence.
Let us look into the life of Moses. The bible narrates that when God called him, He knew Moses was a stutter. Instead of touching his mouth so he could deliver the very message that was necessary to the deliverance of His chosen people from their bondage, God did not do that, rather He promised Moses that He would be with His mouth (Exodus 4:12). Why was this important? So that Moses will not be self-depended but this will allow him to continually seek the face of God and allow God to use him the way He saw fit and the rest is history- God used him mightily in Egypt with a stammering mouth but potent staff, backed by His all sufficient grace. It is thus not surprising God called him the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3 ).
Thus, it really does not matter what is holding you down today. Stop focusing on your weaknesses and allow God’s grace to take over. Cease from your own work, and rest in Him. When you do that, you will experience His grace in a way you have never seen in your life and that grace will carry you through anything that comes your way, empower you to do many exploits that your natural strength cannot do. Hebrews 4 verse 9-10 tells us that, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][did] from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest…”
The grace of God will cause you to ride on high terrains. Like an obedient child following the parents, your following God will cause you to take on supernatural adventures such as David confronted Goliath with 5 stones and a sling. The instructions may not make sense to your rational mind yet but you sure will be leaning on the saving arms of El-Shaddai, the All Sufficient One.
Stop crying and look unto Jesus because His grace is Sufficient for whatever thorn in the flesh you are experiencing today!
“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”
By Felicia Asomaning[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
