ARE YOUR WEAKNESSES DISCOURAGING YOU?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
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)

MEDITATION
How much thought have you given to your strengths and weaknesses?
We can have very good feelings when we think about our strengths,
can’t we? But, how do we feel about our weaknesses? Can anything
turn our weaknesses into strengths? Is it impossible? Not according
to the scriptures.

We are told that the power of God is made perfect in our weaknesses.
How can that happen? When we feel strong, we tend to have a sense of
independence which doesn’t highlight our need for the Lord in our life.
We may be aware of a need for the Lord in our life, but our need can be
more intense when we feel weak, than when we feel strong.

Think about how needy you become when you are sick. We don’t feel
quite so strong and independent during those times, do we? We can
feel weak and even helpless at times. There are things that we cannot
do because we are weak. When we are sick, we discover the value and
importance of sincere, intense, and heartfelt prayer.

Have you ever been so sick that you weren’t sure if you would recover?
You may have been praying for healing, but you couldn’t feel the Lord’s
presence around you. But, did you stop praying? Hopefully your answer
is, “No”. When the Lord is our only hope, we want to continue crying out
to Him, don’t we?

During the times we feel strong and independent, our prayer life may
not seem as important. However, when we are sick and are concerned
about our recovery, our desire to pray is much more intense, isn’t it?
We can also have a stronger desire to increase our prayer time when
we are trying to cope with some issues in our lives.

We may have concerns related to our jobs, a burden about a friend or
loved one who is struggling with something, or some other issues that
seem to be overwhelming. We might wonder how we will complete our
work assignments, or find solutions to other issues in our lives (or the
lives of others).

When we have exhausted all of our efforts to ease our worries and fears,
we turn to prayer, finally. But our prayers have a different ‘flavor’. Our
prayers may normally be casually in nature, but when our emotions are
high, we speak to the Lord from our heart. We skip past our ‘normal’
type of prayer, we admit to the Lord that we are losing hope, and we
plead for His help.

We transition from independence to dependence, which is a good thing
for our relationship with the Lord. God knows how our independence
can ‘feed’ an attitude of arrogant pride and He has made it clear in His
Word that He not only dislikes this kind of pride, but He hates it!

When we are weak, we are reminded of God’s presence in our lives. We
may not have the strength we think we need, but God reminds us of His
perfect power. Think about the times when it seemed you felt trapped in
a situation with no obvious way out. However, when you prayed, God’s
power was released and you were shown a perfect solution.

Paul discovered the power of God in his weakness and it gave him a
new perspective about the weak areas of his life. Paul had thoughts
like:
    If during times of weakness he could feel the presence
    and power of the Lord more, then he would spend more
    time realizing how weak he was without God. In fact, he
    would even boast about his weaknesses instead of trying
    to ignore them, or hide them from others, and himself.

How many times do we try to cover or hide our weaknesses from
others? It is an indication of an unhealthy pride, isn’t it? We want
others to view us as someone who is strong and competent in all
areas of our lives. But, there is a danger in this kind of thinking.

For one thing, it is a sign of dishonesty. God expects us to be totally
honest and whenever we try to convince others that we don’t have
any weak areas, we are not being completely truthful. Secondly, it
can feed our pride (and God hates arrogant pride!).

Look at the first one in this list of things God hates:
    There are six things the LORD hates, seven
    that are detestable to him: haughty eyes,
    a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent
    blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes,
    feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false
    witness who pours out lies and a person who
    stirs up conflict in the community.
    (Proverbs 6:16-19)
Note:
    “Haughty” is described as,
        “blatantly and disdainfully proud; having or showing
          an attitude of superiority and contempt for people or
          things perceived to be inferior”

We need to be more like Paul; he was honest with himself (and others)
about his weaknesses. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all have
some weak areas, right? If we have any doubts, we should think about
the sin (or sins) that we struggle to overcome.

They may not be the same for everyone, but each of us have at least
one sin that continues to create a struggle for us, and we know we
don’t have the capability to overcome it in our own strength. How
do we know we can’t overcome it on our own?

We know because we have tried countless times and failed to have
any permanent success. There may be times when we think we’ve
overcome it, but it has a way of resurfacing again (sometimes when
we least expect it). The truth is, we need divine help from the Lord
if we expect to have total and permanent victory.

Paul discovered how to have a positive attitude about something
the world would consider a negative. Whenever he thought about
his weaknesses, he realized his need for the presence of the Lord,
and it gave him a stronger feeling of closeness with his Creator.

ACTION:
Does it ease the tension in your life to know that you no longer need
to spend time and energy trying to hide, or make excuses for any of
your weaknesses? Do you find it refreshing to know your weaknesses
can give you an opportunity to see God’s power at work in your life?

Whatever weakness you have that seems overwhelming,
the scriptures assure you that your weakness can actually
be an unexpected type of encouragement for you. How? It
can help you realize God’s presence, and your need for Him.

Don’t allow Satan to continue using your weaknesses to discourage
you. Instead, focus on how the Lord uses them to make you a better
member of His family (He can transform us to become more like His
Son, Jesus). If He can do that through our weaknesses, it implies that
our strengths could inhibit our transformation, doesn’t it?

For us to become stronger in our faith, we need to acknowledge our
weaknesses and seek help from the Lord, instead of continuing with
our frustrating efforts to try to overcome them on our own, without
asking for His help. God loves us and wants us to seek His help!

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, Your Word tells us to be thankful in all things.
I understand that to mean that we are to include thankfulness for
the things we don’t particularly like. It means that we believe that
whatever is going on in our lives, You will use them for our benefit.
Your desire is for me to develop a closer relationship with You. Now
I realize that whenever I am weak, I have a stronger sense of Your
presence. Rather than becoming discouraged when I think about my
weaknesses, teach me to enjoy them as opportunities to get closer to
You. Help me to look forward to how You will use my perceived
deficiencies to draw me closer to You. Teach me to be more honest
about them and to be willing to humbly admit that they are a part of
my life, but with Your help, they will be for my good. I want to be able
to enjoy the benefits of my weaknesses in the same manner that Paul
did. Whenever I am discouraged, I pray that You would remind me of
what Your Word says about the benefits of my weaknesses.”

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