I just read a very interesting quote that really stunned me. “For every strong man there is an equally strong weakness”.

I have meditated on that for quite awhile.  Remember the verse 2 Cor: 12.10 “…In my weakness He is made strong”

I am convinced that the Lord allows us to be ever conscious of our weaknesses even if it is sin.  I know I have to be careful here for fear that some would think that I am endorsing sin as part of the plan of God.  Not at all.  But the fact is we all sin and weakness is a definitive part of our Christian life.  The key is what we do with it.  Does your weakness beat you up?  Does it haunt you forever reminding how far short you have come.  The devils plan is to have us concentrate on our weaknesses in order to frustrate the grace God in our lives.

Recently I have become so aware of my shortcomings that to be honest with you I almost gave up.  I saw two things at work here.  First; the enemy capitalizing on my weaknesses by making sure they were ever before me through accusation, which you can’t argue with because he’s right, I am all the things he says I am.  But what happens is we go to far with it.  Not only do we agree with him about the accusations but we begin to agree with his conclusions as well.  For instance:  Because you are this way, your not worthy, your not really loved by God, oh He tolerates you but until you clean up your act you’re a second class citizen in the kingdom and secretly God is not very pleased with you.  It is one thing to be loved and forgiven by God as a sinner in the world but you; you should know better you’re a Christian now.  Soon it escalates into an all out assault on your personhood and your self-worth.  Then the emotional turmoil that hits the person who starts walking down this road is nothing short of “torture.”

The second thing at work tenderly behind the scenes is; God as my Father who knows my weaknesses and my failures and knows I have no power over sin and it’s nature.  Yet He stands always ready to forgive and always ready to heal and to set free.  The only condition for this freedom and this healing is this, a very real desperate sense of our need for Him to do in us what we cannot do for ourselves.  That’s why Paul could say, “I glory in my weaknesses because in my weaknesses He is made strong.  Were not rejoicing in the sin but were rejoicing in the Deliverer who has let us see the depth and the breadth of our sin and at the same time our desperate need for Him to help us. And He always does.

There we have it, two different responses to the same problem. We can respond in pride and continue to think we can do this ourselves.  Or we can agree with the enemy’s accusations, but instead of condemnation we throw ourselves on the almighty once again and declare our need for Him and our love for Him.  You might say well doesn’t He get sick of that after a while?  He created us to be ever dependent on Him.  His mighty hand holds everything in the universe.  The fact is sin is what takes us out of His hand and determines to live life apart from Him.  Pride says I will go it alone. As for me, I desperately need Him more now than ever.  I will not run from Him I will run to Him.  He is my only hope.  He alone holds the words of life and deliverance.  Can you say with me, in my weakness I will remember my need for Him.  Weakness is actually strength in the wrong thing.  Sometimes we are so strong in our weakness that it runs our life.  Therefore we must like Paul glory in our weakness, no matter what it is, because it’s a gentle reminder of how much we need Him.  And it’s our Father’s way of helping us to bend before Him and humble ourselves till something breaks and His grace begins to flood our soul.

Your Friend
Doug