June 20, 2000

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.   For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  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.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

This thorn in the flesh, which was a messenger of Satan, was given to Paul so he would not be ‘exalted above measure’ because of the abundance of revelations he received from the Lord, (verse 7).  Did God give Paul a sickness or a weakness of some sort?  No.  It was a messenger of Satan, not God.  But what it did do was take a weakness that would have prevailed and instead as Paul allowed the Lord’s grace to take over, turned it into a strength.

When he asked the Lord to remove it the Lord said, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Sometimes we want to pray for God to deliver us from a situation and what we want is for Him to deliver us from our need for Him.  God wants us to remain dependent on Him.  God won’t put you in a place where you’ve got it all together apart from Him.

The Lord told him, My grace is enough, in it is strength.   Verse 9 in The Amplified Bible reads: " But He said to me, My grace--My favor and loving-kindness and mercy--are enough for you, [that is, sufficient against any danger and to enable you to bear the trouble manfully]; FOR MY STRENGTH AND POWER ARE MADE PERFECT--FULFILLED AND COMPLETED AND SHOW THEMSELVES MOST EFFECTIVE -- IN [YOUR] WEAKNESS. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ, the Messiah, may rest--yes, may pitch a tent [over] and dwell--upon me!

His strength and power show themselves most effective in our weaknesses.

So Paul said, I take pleasure in these infirmities so the power of Christ may rest upon me...when I am weak then am I strong.  Through His grace we can overcome necessities, persecutions, distresses etc...  If we want to glorify Him in our lives we must receive His grace in troublesome situations in order to allow His strength and power to rest upon us and bring us through.  We don’t want Him to make us strong in ourselves apart from Him so that we don’t need Him in our lives.   We want His power and strength to overcome so He can be glorified in every situation in our lives.

When there’s a necessity-a need- and we pray, "God take the need away".

He says, "Receive My grace, trust me to supernaturally meet your need."

When there’s persecution and we pray, "God take this away".

He says, "Receive My grace, allow my love and patience to flow from you."

As we walk in obedience to His Word, in faith, trusting Him, we overcome the powers of darkness that would come against us.  We slap the devil in the face when he comes to destroy us and we, by the grace and power of God, don’t give in to the circumstance but abide by the principals of the Word and overcome. Whether it’s love, faith, patience, joy, whatever the situation calls for we can choose to rise to meet it with God’s grace and power rather then go under and let the circumstance overtake us.  Through resistance we build muscle in our physical body, in the same way God’s strength is increased in us as we overcome through His Word, grace, strength and power.

That’s how Paul could take pleasure in his infirmities because it was an opportunity for the power of Christ to rest upon him.  It was an opportunity to overcome an attack of the enemy and turn the devil’s plan around and bring glory to God instead.

God Bless you and have a great day!