2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - 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 difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.'

That verse is very powerful. Paul was tormented with a thorn in his flesh to keep him from becoming conceited (proud) and most importantly, keep him humble so he could not boast in himself.

He prayed to God to remove it, but rather than removing it, God gave him the grace to endure and the strength to get through it.

That is why Paul decided that instead of grumbling, he will delight in weaknesses and difficulties, because he knew that when he was down and weak, thats when he was given grace, and God's power and might was shown in him.

Paul was very well known and people were amazed at his work and revelations. But whatever his thorn was, it reminded everyone that he was only human and not perfect, because only Christ is perfect. It also reminded Paul that his gift came from God and not himself. It kept him in check. Staying in the line of God and not going off track or doing his own thing.

When we are down or feeling weak, it does not mean we are finished, our human strength is weak compared to the glorified spirit within us.

We do great things using the spirit within us, not our humanly bodies and strength.

And it is only when we are down that God's power can be shown in us. We need to be broken before God.

If we had everything we wanted, we will end up being proud and conceited and living independently of God, like Nebuchadnezzer did. He was a very powerful and proud man and cared about nothing of God, until he was broken by God. When the Lord brought him down, he went before Him, repented, began living for Him and spread the news about His grace.

That is why we all come broken like a jigsaw puzzle. We can't put ourselves back together on our own, only God has the missing pieces we need to put us back together and complete us.

No one is perfect, we all have thorns in our flesh. These thorns could be hardships, stress, temptation, persecution, work/university struggles or any difficult situation we may be facing...

It is when we go through hardships and difficulties that we really rely and lean on God. That is why God says his power is made perfect in our weakness. Its what stops us 'becoming conceited', living independently of God and boasting in ourselves. It keeps us on the ground, level headed and remembering our creator always.

So rather than God removing these thorns in our lives, he instead allows his spirit to work within us and gives us the strength to handle and overcome it.

So at times we may feel ambushed, stuck in a struggle or crushed. But we are not in despair, we may be struck down but we are not destroyed! (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

So just like Paul, whenever we feel weak and struck down, we are actually stronger, because God gives us his grace, which is all we need.

God wants us to believe that we can surely do all things through His grace and strength because it was made sufficient for us. Then we will see God's power manifested in all areas of our lives.

Esther ♥