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.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
God's grace is defined in my dictionary as; the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God,or a state of sanctification by God. Notice here that it is God's grace given to us, not something that we have worked for, earned or in fact even deserve.
We read that God's grace is sufficient for us. God has done the work for our salvation, our redemption, our eternal life through the work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection. His grace makes up for our weaknesses.
In reading Paul's writings, we are clearly pointed to the source of his strength, courage, wisdom, delight, and his passion. Paul was chosen by the Lord to carry out a mission and Paul accepted the challenges, hardships, persecution, and pains of that work with rejoicing. Even when Paul boasts about his stoning, imprisonments, shipwrecks, whippings, spending time in the open sea, and other trials; we sense a joy, a peace, a contentedness he received by doing the Lord's work. As we read Paul's writings, consider that Paul was following Gods will as closely as humanly possible.
Paul in his weakness, found strength in the Lord's grace. He is an example for us. Sometimes, people get on the wrong path as a result of their weakness. Instead of turning to the Lord's grace, they turn to other potentially harmful sources of comfort; drugs, alcohol, lusts, overeating might serve as examples of such other sources.
Consider where you turn when there are difficult challenges and trials, do you turn to potentially harmful sources of comfort, or do you turn to the Lord in prayer to ask for strength, grace, courage and energy to plod on?
Where do you look for power in your challenges?
Pray to ask the Lord for His abundant grace in your trials and challenges.
In Christ,
David P
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