Latest / truthunedited / Discovering God_s POWERFUL Grace In Times Of Need

Transcript

Discovering God_s POWERFUL Grace In Times Of Need · truthunedited

0:00
Speaker 1: Have you ever begged God to take something away? A pain,
0:04
Speaker 1: a struggle, a weakness that just won't leave. Maybe it's
0:07
Speaker 1: a battle with anxiety that no amount of prayer seems
0:10
Speaker 1: to remove. Maybe it's a financial burden that never seems
0:14
Speaker 1: to lift. Maybe it's a sickness, a failure, or a
0:17
Speaker 1: personal limitation that makes you feel like you're not enough.
0:21
Speaker 1: You've asked God to fix it, You've cried out for relief,
0:24
Speaker 1: and yet instead of removing the problem, he whispers, my
0:29
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you. For My power is made
0:32
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness. What does that even mean, Because if
0:37
Speaker 1: we're honest, that's not the answer we want. We want
0:40
Speaker 1: strength that removes the weakness. We want power that makes
0:44
Speaker 1: us unstoppable. We want victory that eliminates the struggle completely.
0:50
Speaker 1: But God says, my grace is enough. This is what
0:55
Speaker 1: Paul wrestled with when he wrote Second Corinthians twelve nine.
1:00
Speaker 1: At the time, Paul was not just some preacher giving
1:03
Speaker 1: encouraging words. He was suffering. He had what he called
1:08
Speaker 1: a thorn in the flesh, a painful affliction that tormented him.
1:12
Speaker 1: We don't know exactly what it was. Some say it
1:15
Speaker 1: was a physical illness. Others believe it was spiritual opposition.
1:20
Speaker 1: Others think it was deep emotional distress. But whatever it was,
1:24
Speaker 1: it was so unbearable that Paul pleaded with God three
1:28
Speaker 1: times to take it away, and God said no. Instead,
1:32
Speaker 1: God gave him something far greater than relief, grace, And
1:37
Speaker 1: in that grace Paul found us strength that was unlike
1:40
Speaker 1: anything the world had ever seen. This goes against everything
1:44
Speaker 1: we're taught to day. The world tells us to hide
1:47
Speaker 1: our weaknesses, to project strength, to hustle, to fight, to
1:53
Speaker 1: prove ourselves. Society glorifies success, power, and confidence. We are
1:58
Speaker 1: told that weakness is failure, that struggling means we're doing
2:02
Speaker 1: something wrong, that if we can't overcome it on our own,
2:05
Speaker 1: we are not strong enough. But Jesus says the exact opposite.
2:10
Speaker 1: He says that in your lowest moments, when you feel
2:13
Speaker 1: like you have nothing left, when you are at your weakest,
2:17
Speaker 1: that is when His power shows up the most. Think
2:21
Speaker 1: about that for a second. What if your greatest struggle
2:24
Speaker 1: is not a sign of failure, but an invitation to
2:27
Speaker 1: experience God's power in a way you never could on
2:31
Speaker 1: your own. What if the thing you're most ashamed of
2:36
Speaker 1: the thing that makes you feel unqualified is actually the
2:40
Speaker 1: very place where God wants to show his glory. Because
2:44
Speaker 1: that's what Paul discovered. He didn't just accept his weakness.
2:48
Speaker 1: He boasted in it. He didn't just survive the struggle,
2:51
Speaker 1: he rejoiced in it. Why because he realized that when
2:55
Speaker 1: he was weak, God was strong. This is the lesson
3:00
Speaker 1: that will change everything about how you see your struggles.
3:04
Speaker 1: So let's go deeper. What was Paul's thorn in the
3:07
Speaker 1: flesh and why did God allow it? What does it
3:10
Speaker 1: mean for grace to be sufficient? How does weakness actually
3:13
Speaker 1: attract God's power? And what does this mean for the
3:17
Speaker 1: battles you're facing right now, Because by the end of
3:20
Speaker 1: this deep Bible story's video, you won't just see weakness
3:24
Speaker 1: as something to avoid, You'll see it as the very
3:28
Speaker 1: place where God is working the most. If this is
3:31
Speaker 1: already opening your eyes, let us know in the comments.
3:35
Speaker 1: Have you ever had a struggle that wouldn't go away
3:39
Speaker 1: no matter how hard you prayed? What did you learn
3:43
Speaker 1: from it? And if there's another verse or topic like
3:46
Speaker 1: this that you'd like us to break down, tell us
3:50
Speaker 1: we might make a whole video about it. We have
3:53
Speaker 1: covered in depth studies of scripture to help you grow
3:56
Speaker 1: deeper in your faith. Our goal is to take verse
4:00
Speaker 1: like this, verses that many people misunderstand and show you
4:04
Speaker 1: what they truly mean in a way that strengthens your
4:07
Speaker 1: walk with God. We also have ebooks available on our
4:11
Speaker 1: website for those who want to go even deeper. And
4:14
Speaker 1: if you'd like this message turned into an e book,
4:17
Speaker 1: let us know in the comments if this video is
4:20
Speaker 1: already challenging the way you see weakness, like and share
4:24
Speaker 1: it so more people can understand the true power of grace,
4:29
Speaker 1: because what you are about to discover is life changing.
4:34
Speaker 1: Paul was no stranger to suffering. By the time he
4:37
Speaker 1: wrote Second Corinthians, he'd been beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and persecuted
4:42
Speaker 1: in almost every city he entered. But despite all of
4:46
Speaker 1: these trials, there was one specific affliction that tormented him
4:51
Speaker 1: so deeply that he pleaded with God not once, not twice,
4:55
Speaker 1: but three times to take it away. He called it
4:59
Speaker 1: a thorn in the flesh. But what was it? Paul
5:02
Speaker 1: never tells us exactly what this thorn was. He describes
5:06
Speaker 1: it as a messenger of Satan sent to torment him.
5:10
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians twelve seven, something that kept him from becoming
5:14
Speaker 1: proud after experiencing incredible revelations from God. Scholars and theologians
5:21
Speaker 1: have debated this mystery for centuries, offering different interpretations of
5:26
Speaker 1: what Paul could have meant. Some believe Paul's thorn was
5:30
Speaker 1: a physical illness, possibly failing eyesight, chronic pain, or a
5:35
Speaker 1: disease that weakened him. Others believe it was spiritual oppression,
5:40
Speaker 1: a constant battle against demonic forces that tried to hinder
5:44
Speaker 1: his ministry. Some think it was relational suffering, dealing with
5:49
Speaker 1: false teachers, betrayals, or persecution from his own people. Whatever
5:54
Speaker 1: it was, it was painful, It was humiliating. It made
5:57
Speaker 1: Paul feel weak, and he begged God to take it away.
6:02
Speaker 1: Can you relate it? Have you ever had something in
6:05
Speaker 1: your life that you just wanted gone, a struggle that
6:08
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to go away no matter how much you pray.
6:12
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a sickness, Maybe it's a deep insecurity. Maybe
6:16
Speaker 1: it's a temptation that keeps coming back. Maybe it's an
6:19
Speaker 1: emotional wound from the past that still affects you to day.
6:24
Speaker 1: You've cried out to God You've asked him to remove it,
6:27
Speaker 1: but instead of taking it away, he allows it to remain.
6:32
Speaker 1: That's exactly where Paul found himself. A man who had
6:35
Speaker 1: healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raised the dead,
6:39
Speaker 1: was now begging God for healing, and God said no.
6:44
Speaker 1: Imagine how that must have felt. Paul had seen the
6:47
Speaker 1: miraculous power of God first hand. He had watched others
6:50
Speaker 1: receive healing. He knew God could remove this affliction in
6:54
Speaker 1: an instant, And yet when it came to his own suffering,
6:59
Speaker 1: God chose to respond differently. And that's where we struggle
7:03
Speaker 1: the most, isn't it. We believe in God's power. We've
7:07
Speaker 1: seen him answer prayers for others. We've witnessed miracles, breakthroughs,
7:11
Speaker 1: and divine intervention. But what happens when our prayers seem unanswered,
7:17
Speaker 1: when the thorn stays, when God's response is not deliverance
7:21
Speaker 1: but grace. This passage in Second Corinthians twelve was written
7:25
Speaker 1: at a time when Paul was defending his apostleship. False
7:29
Speaker 1: teachers had infiltrated the Corinthian Church, boasting about their wisdom,
7:34
Speaker 1: their visions, their spiritual superiority. They wanted people to believe
7:40
Speaker 1: that true authority came from strength, success, and supernatural experiences.
7:45
Speaker 1: But Paul flips the script. Instead of boasting about his accomplishments,
7:50
Speaker 1: he talks about his weakness. Instead of proving his power,
7:54
Speaker 1: he confesses his pain. Instead of listing his victories, he
7:59
Speaker 1: shares his struggle. Why because Paul understood something that many
8:04
Speaker 1: of us don't, that our greatest witness is not found
8:08
Speaker 1: in our strength, but in how we allow God's power
8:12
Speaker 1: to shine through our weakness. Think about it. If Paul
8:17
Speaker 1: had been completely strong on his own, if he had
8:19
Speaker 1: never faced hardship, if he had never struggled, would we
8:23
Speaker 1: really relate to him? Would his story have the same impact.
8:28
Speaker 1: This is why God didn't remove Paul's thorn, because the
8:32
Speaker 1: very thing Paul wanted gone was the thing keeping him humble,
8:36
Speaker 1: dependent and reliant on God's grace. And maybe that's why
8:42
Speaker 1: God hasn't removed yours yet either, because the struggle that
8:46
Speaker 1: seems like a burden might actually be the place where
8:49
Speaker 1: his power is working the most. Paul later says, I
8:53
Speaker 1: will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so
8:57
Speaker 1: that Christ's power may rest on me. Tewod Corinthians twelve nine.
9:02
Speaker 1: That is not a natural response. No one wants to
9:07
Speaker 1: boast in their weakness. No one wants to be seen
9:10
Speaker 1: as struggling, limited, or inadequate. But Paul had learned that
9:13
Speaker 1: his thorn was not a punishment. It was a platform
9:17
Speaker 1: for God's glory. Look at Moses, he had a speech problem,
9:22
Speaker 1: yet God called him to confront Pharaoh. Look at Gideon,
9:26
Speaker 1: he was insecure, yet God used him to defeat an
9:29
Speaker 1: entire army. Look at David. He was the youngest, the
9:33
Speaker 1: least qualified, the most overlooked, yet he was chosen to
9:37
Speaker 1: be king. Look at Peter. He was impulsive, inconsistent, and
9:42
Speaker 1: a failure when it mattered most, Yet he became the
9:45
Speaker 1: foundation of the early Church. God has never looked for
9:50
Speaker 1: the strongest, the most capable, or the most impressive. He
9:54
Speaker 1: has always chosen the weak, the broken, and the flawed
9:58
Speaker 1: so that his power could be c seen. And that's
10:02
Speaker 1: exactly what He was doing in Paul's life. So what
10:05
Speaker 1: does this mean for us to day? It means that
10:08
Speaker 1: your weakness does not disqualify you. It means that your
10:12
Speaker 1: struggles are not proof that God has abandoned you. It
10:15
Speaker 1: means that if God is allowing the thorn to remain.
10:19
Speaker 1: He has a purpose for it. Maybe that struggle is
10:22
Speaker 1: keeping you humble, Maybe it's making you more dependent on him.
10:26
Speaker 1: Maybe it's preparing you for a testimony that will change
10:30
Speaker 1: someone else's life. What if the thing you want God
10:33
Speaker 1: to remove is the very thing he is using to
10:37
Speaker 1: reveal his power. That's the question Paul had to wrestle with,
10:41
Speaker 1: and that's what led him to stop asking for removal
10:44
Speaker 1: and start boasting in his weakness instead. And that's where
10:47
Speaker 1: we are heading next, because the real power of this
10:51
Speaker 1: passage is not just in Paul's thorn, but in God's
10:55
Speaker 1: response to it. My grace is sufficient for you, for
10:59
Speaker 1: my power is made perfect in weakness. That single statement
11:04
Speaker 1: changed everything for Paul, and it has the power to
11:06
Speaker 1: change everything for you too. Paul had asked God three
11:10
Speaker 1: times to take his suffering away. Three times he pleaded
11:14
Speaker 1: for relief, for healing, for an answer that would remove
11:17
Speaker 1: the pain and make him whole again. And then finally
11:23
Speaker 1: God answered, but it wasn't the answer Paul expected. My
11:28
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made
11:32
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness. No promise to remove the thorn, No
11:37
Speaker 1: miraculous deliverance. Just one statement, My grace is enough for
11:43
Speaker 1: many people. This is one of the hardest truths in
11:46
Speaker 1: the Bible to accept. We want a God who fixes everything.
11:51
Speaker 1: When we pray for healing, we want him to heal.
11:54
Speaker 1: When we ask for open doors, we want him to
11:58
Speaker 1: make a way. When we cry out for deliverance, we
12:01
Speaker 1: expect him to break every chain immediately. But that's not
12:05
Speaker 1: what God always does. Sometimes, instead of removing the storm,
12:10
Speaker 1: he teaches us how to walk through it. Instead of
12:13
Speaker 1: taking away the weakness, he fills us with strength that
12:17
Speaker 1: doesn't come from us. Instead of eliminating the struggle, he
12:21
Speaker 1: gives us the grace to endure it. And that's exactly
12:25
Speaker 1: what he told Paul. At the time Paul was writing
12:28
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians, he was dealing with opposition from false teachers
12:32
Speaker 1: who boasted about their spiritual power and achievements. They presented
12:37
Speaker 1: themselves as strong, wise, and impressive, claiming that true authority
12:42
Speaker 1: came from success and visible signs of power. Paul, in contrast,
12:47
Speaker 1: was open about his weaknesses, his suffering, his hardships, and
12:51
Speaker 1: now his thorn in the flesh. And yet God didn't
12:55
Speaker 1: view Paul's weakness as a flaw. He saw it as
12:58
Speaker 1: a vessel for his power. This is where so many
13:01
Speaker 1: believers today get grace wrong. When we hear the word grace,
13:06
Speaker 1: we often think of forgiveness, God's kindness in saving us
13:10
Speaker 1: from sin. And while that's true, grace is so much
13:14
Speaker 1: more than that. Grace is not just what saves us,
13:18
Speaker 1: it's what sustains us. The Greek word for grace here
13:21
Speaker 1: is charis, which means divine favor, strength, and empowerment from God.
13:27
Speaker 1: When God told Paul, my grace is sufficient for you,
13:31
Speaker 1: he wasn't just saying you're forgiven. He was saying I
13:35
Speaker 1: will give you everything you need to endure this. Paul
13:40
Speaker 1: had been asking for healing, but God gave him something
13:43
Speaker 1: greater than healing, divine strength. And that's where many of
13:47
Speaker 1: us struggle. We see strength as the absence of weakness.
13:51
Speaker 1: We think that if we were truly strong in faith,
13:54
Speaker 1: we wouldn't struggle. We believe that if God was really
13:58
Speaker 1: with us, we wouldn't feel ill, weak, tired, or overwhelmed.
14:03
Speaker 1: But God defines strength differently. True strength is not found
14:07
Speaker 1: in having no struggles. True strength is found in God's
14:11
Speaker 1: presence within the struggle. Look at the way God has
14:14
Speaker 1: worked throughout scripture. Moses didn't part the Red Sea in
14:18
Speaker 1: his own strength. God's power did it through him. David
14:22
Speaker 1: didn't defeat Goliath because of his size or skill. God's
14:26
Speaker 1: strength was working through his weakness. Gideon didn't win the
14:31
Speaker 1: battle with a large army. God reduced his numbers so
14:34
Speaker 1: his power could be made clear. And now Paul was
14:38
Speaker 1: learning the same lesson. God wasn't going to remove the thorn. Instead,
14:43
Speaker 1: he was going to fill Paul with supernatural strength to
14:46
Speaker 1: endure it. Think about your own life. How many times
14:50
Speaker 1: have you prayed for God to take something away? Maybe
14:53
Speaker 1: it's a sickness, a financial struggle, a broken relationship, an
14:58
Speaker 1: emotional burden, and yet instead of removing the hardship, he
15:02
Speaker 1: has given you grace to walk through it. That's what
15:05
Speaker 1: God does. Sometimes. His greatest miracle is not delivering us
15:10
Speaker 1: from weakness, but showing us his power within it. Look
15:14
Speaker 1: at Jesus on the night before his crucifixion. He prayed
15:18
Speaker 1: in the garden, Father, if you are willing take this
15:22
Speaker 1: cup from me Luke twenty two forty two. He was asking,
15:29
Speaker 1: is there another way? And yet the Father did not
15:33
Speaker 1: remove the suffering. Instead, he sent an angel to strengthen
15:38
Speaker 1: him Luke twenty two forty three. Jesus was still arrested,
15:43
Speaker 1: still beaten, still crucified, but he endured it with divine strength.
15:49
Speaker 1: God didn't take away Paul's suffering. He didn't take away
15:53
Speaker 1: jesus suffering, and sometimes he doesn't take away ours. But
15:57
Speaker 1: what he does give us is enough grace to endure it,
16:01
Speaker 1: to walk through it, to rise above it, not by
16:04
Speaker 1: our own power but by his. So what does this
16:08
Speaker 1: mean for us today? It means that your weakness is
16:11
Speaker 1: not a barrier to God's power, It's an opportunity for it.
16:15
Speaker 1: It means that when you feel like you can't handle something,
16:19
Speaker 1: that's actually the moment when God's strength is ready to
16:23
Speaker 1: take over. It means that you don't have to be
16:26
Speaker 1: afraid of not being enough, because His grace is always enough.
16:33
Speaker 1: Paul's perspective changed after this moment. Instead of asking for
16:37
Speaker 1: the thorn to be removed, he started boasting in his weakness.
16:42
Speaker 1: Instead of seeing it as a hindrance, he saw it
16:44
Speaker 1: as a platform for God's power. And that's what we
16:48
Speaker 1: need to see as well. Maybe God hasn't removed your
16:51
Speaker 1: struggle because he is using it to reveal something greater.
16:55
Speaker 1: Maybe the very thing you think is keeping you from
16:58
Speaker 1: being strong is actually the place where his power is
17:02
Speaker 1: about to shine the most. This is why grace is sufficient,
17:06
Speaker 1: not because it makes life easy, but because it makes
17:09
Speaker 1: God's power undeniable. Paul had been searching for relief. Instead
17:15
Speaker 1: he found revelation, and what he learned next would change everything,
17:20
Speaker 1: because not only was God's grace sufficient, but his power
17:23
Speaker 1: was made perfect in weakness. That's where we're going next,
17:28
Speaker 1: because this wasn't just about surviving the struggle. This was
17:32
Speaker 1: about discovering how weakness actually attracts God's strength. Paul had
17:38
Speaker 1: spent his life preaching the gospel, performing miracles, planting churches,
17:43
Speaker 1: and enduring relentless persecution for the name of Christ. He
17:47
Speaker 1: had seen the power of God first hand, casting out demons,
17:52
Speaker 1: healing the sick, and even raising the dead. And yet
17:57
Speaker 1: when he cried out to God for deliverance from his
17:59
Speaker 1: own suffering, God didn't give him strength to overcome it.
18:03
Speaker 1: He gave him strength within it. That's because God's power
18:07
Speaker 1: doesn't always look like what we expect. We think power
18:11
Speaker 1: is about removing obstacles, eliminating struggles and giving us the
18:17
Speaker 1: ability to stand tall and unshaken. But God defines power differently.
18:24
Speaker 1: In his kingdom, power is not shown through self sufficiency.
18:28
Speaker 1: It's revealed in total dependence on him. This is why
18:32
Speaker 1: God told Paul, my power is made perfect in weakness.
18:36
Speaker 1: That statement is a complete contradiction to how the world
18:40
Speaker 1: sees strength. Society glorifies independence. It tells us to rely
18:45
Speaker 1: on ourselves, to push through challenges on our own, to
18:49
Speaker 1: project confidence even when we're falling apart. The world teaches
18:53
Speaker 1: that strength is about hiding weakness, proving yourself and never
18:58
Speaker 1: admitting when you're struggling. But God's kingdom operates by an
19:02
Speaker 1: entirely different set of rules. He says, when you are weak,
19:06
Speaker 1: that is when I am strong. Second Corinthians twelve ten.
19:11
Speaker 1: He says, I choose the foolish things of the world
19:14
Speaker 1: to shame the wise. I choose the weak things of
19:17
Speaker 1: the world to shame the strong. First Corinthians one, twenty seven.
19:22
Speaker 1: He says, not by might, not by power, but by
19:25
Speaker 1: my spirit Zechariah four, Colon six. God has never been
19:30
Speaker 1: impressed by human strength, because human strength runs out, it's limited,
19:35
Speaker 1: it's temporary. But his power it is limitless, eternal, and
19:40
Speaker 1: most visible when we have nothing left of our own.
19:44
Speaker 1: This is why God allows struggles, not because he enjoys
19:48
Speaker 1: seeing a suffer, but because struggles strip away our illusions
19:52
Speaker 1: of self sufficiency and make room for His presence to
19:55
Speaker 1: take over. Look at how this plays out in scripture.
19:58
Speaker 1: When God called mo Moses to lead the Israelites out
20:02
Speaker 1: of Egypt, Moses's first response was weakness. He said, who
20:08
Speaker 1: am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Exodus three eleven.
20:13
Speaker 1: He pointed out his inability to speak well, his fear,
20:17
Speaker 1: his lack of qualifications, and what did God say? I
20:22
Speaker 1: will be with you? Exodus three twelve. Moses wanted God
20:27
Speaker 1: to remove his weakness. Instead, God used it as an
20:30
Speaker 1: opportunity to prove his power. When Gideon was chosen to
20:33
Speaker 1: deliver Israel, he protested, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh,
20:39
Speaker 1: and I am the least in my family Judges six fifteen.
20:44
Speaker 1: He saw himself as unqualified, incapable, too small for the task.
20:49
Speaker 1: But God didn't strengthen Gideon by making him more powerful.
20:53
Speaker 1: He strengthened him by reducing his army, so that there
20:57
Speaker 1: would be no doubt that victory belonged to God alone.
21:02
Speaker 1: When David faced Goliath, he was not the strongest, the tallest,
21:06
Speaker 1: or the most experienced warrior, but he was the most
21:10
Speaker 1: dependent on God, and that's what made him unstoppable. Time
21:15
Speaker 1: and time again, God chooses the weak, the broken, the overlooked,
21:20
Speaker 1: the unqualified, because when they succeed, the glory goes to him.
21:26
Speaker 1: And that's what Paul finally understood. After God told him,
21:30
Speaker 1: my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
21:33
Speaker 1: made perfect in weakness, something shifted in Paul's mindset. He
21:38
Speaker 1: stopped asking for the thorn to be removed. He stopped
21:42
Speaker 1: seeing weakness as something to be ashamed of. Instead, he
21:46
Speaker 1: made one of the most radical statements in all of scripture. Therefore,
21:50
Speaker 1: I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
21:54
Speaker 1: so that Christ's power may rest on me Second Corinthians
21:58
Speaker 1: twelve nine. Paul didn't just accept his weakness, he embraced
22:02
Speaker 1: it because he realized that the more he relied on God,
22:07
Speaker 1: the more of God's power he experienced. And that is
22:11
Speaker 1: exactly what we need to learn today. Think about your
22:14
Speaker 1: own life. What are the areas where you feel the
22:17
Speaker 1: weakest the most unqualified, the most broken, the places where
22:21
Speaker 1: you have begged God to remove the struggle, but it
22:24
Speaker 1: still remains. What if that's exactly where He wants to
22:28
Speaker 1: reveal his power. Maybe you've been fighting anxiety and you
22:32
Speaker 1: keep praying for peace, but instead of removing the anxiety,
22:37
Speaker 1: God is teaching you to trust him in the middle
22:40
Speaker 1: of it. Maybe you feel unqualified for what God is
22:43
Speaker 1: calling you to do, but instead of making you more capable,
22:47
Speaker 1: he is showing you that He doesn't call the qualified,
22:51
Speaker 1: He qualifies the called. Maybe you've been asking God to
22:55
Speaker 1: take away a hardship, but He is using that very
22:58
Speaker 1: hardship to shape you into someone who relies fully on him.
23:03
Speaker 1: Paul was the greatest missionary the world has ever seen.
23:07
Speaker 1: He wrote most of the New Testament, he planted churches
23:10
Speaker 1: across nations, He spread the Gospel further than any one
23:14
Speaker 1: else in history. And yet he was not strong in himself.
23:18
Speaker 1: He was strong because he depended fully on God. And
23:22
Speaker 1: that's the lesson we have to grasp. The world says
23:25
Speaker 1: be strong, God says be dependent. The world says prove
23:29
Speaker 1: yourself that God says, let my power be seen in you.
23:33
Speaker 1: The world says, fix your weakness, God says, let me
23:37
Speaker 1: use your weakness. If you are feeling weak to day,
23:40
Speaker 1: you are exactly where God can work the most, because
23:43
Speaker 1: when you come to the end of your own strength,
23:46
Speaker 1: that is when His power takes over. And when His
23:49
Speaker 1: power is at work in you, nothing can stop what
23:52
Speaker 1: He has planned for your life. Paul's words defy everything
23:56
Speaker 1: we have been taught to believe about strength in a
24:00
Speaker 1: world that glorifies power, control, and success. Paul says something
24:05
Speaker 1: completely countercultural, something that even many believers to day struggle
24:10
Speaker 1: to accept. I will boast all the more gladly about
24:14
Speaker 1: my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.
24:19
Speaker 1: Who does that, who boasts in weakness, who rejoices in suffering.
24:23
Speaker 1: Everything in our human nature tells us to hide our struggles,
24:27
Speaker 1: to downplay our failures, to project confidence even when we
24:32
Speaker 1: are falling apart. But Paul saw something that most people don't.
24:36
Speaker 1: He realized that the greatest strength is not found in
24:39
Speaker 1: self sufficiency, but in complete dependence on God. At the
24:44
Speaker 1: time Paul wrote Second Corinthians, the church in corinth was
24:48
Speaker 1: being influenced by false teachers, men who presented themselves as powerful, wise,
24:54
Speaker 1: and successful. They boasted about their achievements, their status, their authority,
25:00
Speaker 1: and the Corinthians, like most people, were drawn to that.
25:03
Speaker 1: They admired people who seemed impressive, who had it all together.
25:08
Speaker 1: And then there was Paul, a man who was constantly suffering.
25:12
Speaker 1: He had been beaten, stone, shipwrecked, thrown in prison, betrayed,
25:16
Speaker 1: and now he had this mysterious thorn in the flesh
25:19
Speaker 1: that God refused to take away to the world. Paul
25:23
Speaker 1: did not look like a victorious, powerful leader. He looked weak,
25:27
Speaker 1: and yet Paul boldly declared, that is exactly why I
25:32
Speaker 1: boast in my weakness, because it is the very place
25:35
Speaker 1: where God's power is seen most clearly. This is the
25:39
Speaker 1: radical difference between how the world defines strength and how
25:42
Speaker 1: God defines it. The world says strength is proving yourself.
25:47
Speaker 1: God says strength is surrendering yourself. The world says strength
25:51
Speaker 1: is never showing weakness. God says strength is knowing you
25:55
Speaker 1: are weak so he can be strong in you. This
25:58
Speaker 1: is why Paul rejoiced in weakness, not because he enjoyed suffering,
26:02
Speaker 1: not because he wanted hardship, but because he knew that
26:05
Speaker 1: the more he relied on God, the more power he experienced.
26:10
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what would happen if we actually lived
26:13
Speaker 1: like this? What if instead of being ashamed of our struggles,
26:17
Speaker 1: we saw them as an opportunity for God's strength. What
26:21
Speaker 1: if instead of trying to hide our weaknesses, we invited
26:25
Speaker 1: God to be glorified through them. The problem is many
26:29
Speaker 1: of us are still trying to present an image of
26:31
Speaker 1: strength rather than actually relying on God's strengths. Think about
26:36
Speaker 1: social media. Everywhere you look, people are posting the best
26:40
Speaker 1: version of themselves, perfect pictures, success stories, achievements. No one
26:46
Speaker 1: boasts about failure, No one posts about their weaknesses. The
26:50
Speaker 1: world is obsessed with looking strong, appearing successful, proving themselves
26:56
Speaker 1: to others. And yet Paul did the exact opposite. He
26:59
Speaker 1: said said I will boast in my weaknesses. Why because
27:03
Speaker 1: the power of God does not rest on the people
27:06
Speaker 1: who appear strong. It rests on those who know they
27:09
Speaker 1: are weak and fully depend on him. This is the
27:13
Speaker 1: reason why God allowed Paul's thorn to remain. It was
27:17
Speaker 1: a reminder that his power did not come from himself.
27:21
Speaker 1: This same lesson is found throughout Scripture. Moses stuttered and
27:25
Speaker 1: felt completely unqualified, yet God used him to deliver an
27:30
Speaker 1: entire nation. Gideon was insecure and full of fear, yet
27:34
Speaker 1: God called him a mighty warrior and used him to
27:37
Speaker 1: defeat an army. David was the youngest, the smallest, the
27:41
Speaker 1: least likely to be king, yet God chose him over
27:45
Speaker 1: all his brothers. Peter was impulsive, weak under pressure, and
27:50
Speaker 1: even denied Jesus, yet he became the rock on which
27:54
Speaker 1: the early Church was built. God has never chosen the strongest,
27:59
Speaker 1: the most capable, or the most impressive. He has always
28:02
Speaker 1: chosen the weak, so that his strength is what stands out.
28:06
Speaker 1: This is what Paul understood, and this is why he
28:09
Speaker 1: could rejoice in his weakness instead of being ashamed of it.
28:14
Speaker 1: So what does this mean for us to day? It
28:17
Speaker 1: means we don't have to pretend to be strong all
28:20
Speaker 1: the time. We don't have to hide our struggles or
28:23
Speaker 1: act like we have it all together. It means that
28:27
Speaker 1: God is not waiting for us to be strong. He
28:30
Speaker 1: is waiting for us to admit that we are not.
28:33
Speaker 1: This is the heart of the Gospel. Jesus did not
28:37
Speaker 1: come for those who could save themselves. He came for
28:40
Speaker 1: the broken, the weary, the sinners, the ones who had
28:45
Speaker 1: nothing to offer. He was born in weakness, lived in humility,
28:49
Speaker 1: and died in disgrace. Yet through that weakness he accomplished
28:53
Speaker 1: the greatest victory in history, and now he invites us
28:58
Speaker 1: to do the same. If you have been trying to
29:01
Speaker 1: be strong on your own, you don't have to any more.
29:04
Speaker 1: If you have been ashamed of your struggles, God is
29:07
Speaker 1: inviting you to surrender them. If you have been feeling
29:10
Speaker 1: like your weakness is holding you back, what if it's
29:13
Speaker 1: actually the very place where his power wants to work.
29:18
Speaker 1: Paul discovered a truth that changed his life, and today
29:22
Speaker 1: you have the opportunity to embrace it too. Paul had
29:25
Speaker 1: come to a realization that most people never reach. Grace
29:30
Speaker 1: is not just about forgiveness, It is about power. When
29:34
Speaker 1: God told him my grace is sufficient for you, he
29:39
Speaker 1: wasn't just offering Paul mercy. He was offering divine strength
29:44
Speaker 1: to sustain him through suffering. For many believers today, the
29:48
Speaker 1: word grace has been reduced to just one aspect of
29:51
Speaker 1: its meaning, the undeserved gift of salvation. And while that
29:55
Speaker 1: is true, it is not the full picture. Grace is
29:59
Speaker 1: not what saves us, it is what empowers us to
30:02
Speaker 1: keep going, to stand firm to endure. Paul was writing
30:07
Speaker 1: this letter to the Corinthians at a time when false
30:11
Speaker 1: teachers were trying to undermine his authority. These men boasted
30:15
Speaker 1: about their spiritual power, their influence, their success. Meanwhile, Paul
30:21
Speaker 1: was writing from a place of weakness and struggle. He
30:24
Speaker 1: had just shared about his thorn in the flesh, a
30:26
Speaker 1: persistent suffering that God refused to remove. But instead of
30:31
Speaker 1: seeing this as a setback, he saw it as an
30:33
Speaker 1: opportunity to experience the true power of grace. This is
30:38
Speaker 1: what many of us miss to day. We often think
30:41
Speaker 1: that when God gives us grace, it means he removes
30:45
Speaker 1: the problem, that if we are truly in his favor,
30:48
Speaker 1: he will fix everything, take away the hardship, and make
30:52
Speaker 1: our path smooth. But Paul's experience shows us something radically different.
30:57
Speaker 1: Sometimes God's greatest act of grace is not in what
31:01
Speaker 1: he removes, but in what he gives us to endure.
31:05
Speaker 1: Think about how this applies to your life. Maybe you've
31:08
Speaker 1: been praying for God to take away your anxiety, but
31:12
Speaker 1: instead he has given you the strength to walk through
31:16
Speaker 1: it day by day. Maybe you've asked him to heal
31:20
Speaker 1: a broken relationship, but Instead, he has given you the
31:23
Speaker 1: grace to love unconditionally even when it's hard. Maybe you've
31:29
Speaker 1: begged him to take away the pain of loss, but
31:32
Speaker 1: instead he has filled you with peace that surpasses understanding.
31:37
Speaker 1: That is grace. It is not just about removing sin.
31:41
Speaker 1: It is about empowering us to live victoriously even in suffering.
31:47
Speaker 1: Look at how this plays out in scripture. When God
31:50
Speaker 1: called Moses to stand before Pharaoh, Moses immediately pointed out
31:54
Speaker 1: his weakness. He said, I am slow of speech and
31:58
Speaker 1: tongue exidous four ten. He thought that his limitations made
32:04
Speaker 1: him unqualified, but God didn't remove his weakness. He gave
32:08
Speaker 1: him grace to accomplish the mission anyway. When Elijah was
32:13
Speaker 1: overwhelmed with fear and wanted to give up, God didn't
32:17
Speaker 1: remove the threat of Jezebel. Instead, he sent an angel
32:22
Speaker 1: to strengthen him for the journey ahead. First Kings nineteen
32:27
Speaker 1: five to seven. When Jesus told Peter that he would
32:31
Speaker 1: deny him three times, Peter was devastated, but Jesus didn't
32:35
Speaker 1: stop there. He also said, I have prayed for you
32:39
Speaker 1: that your faith may not fail. Luke twenty two thirty two.
32:45
Speaker 1: This is what grace looks like. It doesn't always take
32:48
Speaker 1: away the storm, it carries you through it. It doesn't
32:51
Speaker 1: always eliminate the struggle. It gives you strength to keep walking.
32:56
Speaker 1: And this is exactly what Paul was trying to teach
32:58
Speaker 1: the Corinthians. They lived in a culture that idolized strength
33:03
Speaker 1: and success. Corinth was a city known for its wealth, power,
33:08
Speaker 1: and influence. The people admired those who appeared strong and
33:12
Speaker 1: self sufficient, and now false teachers were leading them to
33:16
Speaker 1: believe that true spirituality was about external power, miracles, and
33:21
Speaker 1: visible victories. Paul shattered that illusion. He said, you want
33:26
Speaker 1: to see real power, look at my weakness, look at
33:30
Speaker 1: my suffering, look at what I have endured. And yet
33:34
Speaker 1: I am still here, still preaching, still standing, not because
33:39
Speaker 1: of my own strength, but because of the grace of God.
33:45
Speaker 1: That same grace is available to us to day. But
33:48
Speaker 1: here's the problem. Many of us are still waiting for
33:51
Speaker 1: God to remove our struggles, instead of learning to rely
33:55
Speaker 1: on his grace. We say, God, if you just fix this,
33:59
Speaker 1: I'll be over. He says, I will sustain you. In
34:03
Speaker 1: the middle of it. We say, God, take away my fear.
34:06
Speaker 1: He says, my grace will give you courage to move
34:09
Speaker 1: forward despite it. We say, God, remove the pain. He says,
34:14
Speaker 1: my grace will give you endurance. What if the thing
34:17
Speaker 1: you think is holding you back is actually the place
34:20
Speaker 1: where God's grace is working the most. What if, like Paul,
34:24
Speaker 1: you could shift your mindset from seeing weakness as a
34:27
Speaker 1: burden to seeing it as an opportunity for grace to shine.
34:31
Speaker 1: The world tells us to strive for self sufficiency. God
34:36
Speaker 1: tells us to embrace grace dependency. The world says, be
34:41
Speaker 1: strong enough. God says, let my strength be enough. That's
34:44
Speaker 1: why Paul didn't just accept grace. He boasted in it.
34:47
Speaker 1: He realized that grace is not just a ticket to heaven.
34:51
Speaker 1: It is the power to keep going, to stand firm,
34:55
Speaker 1: to trust God when everything is falling apart. And if
34:59
Speaker 1: we can grasp that, we will stop asking God, why
35:02
Speaker 1: haven't you taken this away? And start declaring, God, your
35:07
Speaker 1: grace is carrying me through. Paul learned to live by grace,
35:12
Speaker 1: and today so can we. Paul wasn't the first person
35:16
Speaker 1: to discover that God's strength is made perfect in human weakness.
35:21
Speaker 1: This has always been how God works from the very beginning.
35:25
Speaker 1: He has chosen the weak, the broken, and the unqualified,
35:29
Speaker 1: because when His power works through them, there's no doubt
35:33
Speaker 1: that the glory belongs to him. Paul understood this because
35:37
Speaker 1: he saw it all throughout scripture. Think about Moses. He
35:42
Speaker 1: was chosen by God to deliver Israel from Egypt. Yet
35:46
Speaker 1: when God called him, his immediate response was weakness. He said,
35:51
Speaker 1: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh Exodus
35:54
Speaker 1: three eleven. He reminded God of his limitations, saying, Ah,
36:00
Speaker 1: they have never been eloquent. I am slow of speech
36:06
Speaker 1: and tongue Exodus four ten. In other words, God, you've
36:13
Speaker 1: got the wrong guy. I'm not strong enough for this.
36:18
Speaker 1: But God wasn't looking for a strong man, he was
36:21
Speaker 1: looking for a willing vessel. Instead of making Moses into
36:25
Speaker 1: a powerful speaker, God said, I will be with you
36:29
Speaker 1: Exodus three twelve. He didn't remove Moses' weakness, he empowered
36:34
Speaker 1: him within it. And because of that, Moses, a man
36:38
Speaker 1: who once ran from Egypt in fear, stood before Pharaoh,
36:42
Speaker 1: performed miracles and led an entire nation to freedom. But
36:47
Speaker 1: it wasn't Moses' strength that accomplished it. It was God's
36:50
Speaker 1: strength through him. Now look at Gideon when God called
36:54
Speaker 1: him to save Israel from the Midianites. Gideon wasn't leading
36:58
Speaker 1: an army, he wasn't a war he wasn't even confident.
37:02
Speaker 1: He was hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat in
37:05
Speaker 1: secret because he was afraid of the enemy. And yet
37:08
Speaker 1: an angel of the Lord appeared and said, the Lord
37:12
Speaker 1: is with you, mighty warrior, Judges six twelve. Imagine that
37:18
Speaker 1: a man hiding in fear called a mighty warrior, but
37:22
Speaker 1: Gideon didn't believe it. He immediately listed his weaknesses. My
37:26
Speaker 1: clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the
37:29
Speaker 1: least in my family, Judges six fifteen. In other words, God,
37:35
Speaker 1: You've got the wrong guy. I'm not strong enough for this.
37:38
Speaker 1: But once again, God wasn't looking for someone who already
37:41
Speaker 1: had strength. He was looking for someone he could fill
37:45
Speaker 1: with strength, and he didn't do it the way we
37:48
Speaker 1: might expect. Instead of giving Gideon a massive army, God
37:52
Speaker 1: reduced it from thirty two thousand men to just three hundred,
37:57
Speaker 1: why so that the victory wouldn't be credited to human
38:00
Speaker 1: strength but to God's power alone Judges seven too. And
38:06
Speaker 1: that's exactly what happened with just three hundred men. Gideon
38:10
Speaker 1: defeated the Midianites, not because of strategy, not because of talent,
38:14
Speaker 1: not because of strength, but because God's power was made
38:18
Speaker 1: perfect in his weakness. Then there's David, the youngest of
38:22
Speaker 1: eight brothers, a shepherd, not a soldier, a boy not
38:25
Speaker 1: a warrior. When the giant Goliath stood before Israel, every
38:30
Speaker 1: trained soldier in the army was too afraid to fight.
38:33
Speaker 1: They had strength, they had weapons, they had armor, but
38:38
Speaker 1: they had no faith. And then came David, too small
38:43
Speaker 1: to wear the king's armor, too young to even be
38:45
Speaker 1: considered for battle. But he wasn't relying on his strength.
38:49
Speaker 1: He was relying on Gods. He stood before Goliath and said,
38:54
Speaker 1: you come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
38:58
Speaker 1: but I come against you in the name of the
39:00
Speaker 1: Lord Almighty, First Samuel seventeen forty five. And with a
39:05
Speaker 1: single stone, Goliath fell. David was victorious not because he
39:11
Speaker 1: was strong, but because he was dependent on God's strength.
39:16
Speaker 1: And then we come to Peter. Peter was impulsive, emotional, inconsistent.
39:21
Speaker 1: He had moments of great faith, walking on water declaring
39:25
Speaker 1: that Jesus was the son of God. But he also
39:28
Speaker 1: had moments of great failure. He denied Jesus three times.
39:32
Speaker 1: After Jesus was arrested, Peter was so afraid that he
39:36
Speaker 1: swore he didn't even know him. He had followed Jesus
39:39
Speaker 1: for years, he had seen the miracles, he had experienced
39:43
Speaker 1: God's presence first hand. But when the pressure came, he
39:46
Speaker 1: fell apart. And yet this is the man that Jesus
39:50
Speaker 1: chose to lead the early Church. Jesus didn't choose Peter
39:55
Speaker 1: because of his strength. He chose him despite his weakness,
39:58
Speaker 1: because Peter's fe alia wasn't the end of his story.
40:02
Speaker 1: After Jesus rose from the dead, he restored Peter, filling
40:06
Speaker 1: him with the Holy Spirit. And suddenly, the man who
40:10
Speaker 1: once denied Jesus in fear stood before thousands and boldly
40:15
Speaker 1: declared repent and be baptized every one of you in
40:19
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
40:23
Speaker 1: Acts two thirty eight. That day, three thousand people were saved.
40:28
Speaker 1: The same Peter who once crumbled under pressure, was now
40:31
Speaker 1: preaching the Gospel with boldness and power, because his strength
40:35
Speaker 1: didn't come from himself anymore, it came from God. So
40:39
Speaker 1: what do all of these stories have in common Moses, Gideon, David, Peter.
40:44
Speaker 1: They all started as weak, unqualified, and unlikely. But instead
40:50
Speaker 1: of removing their weaknesses, God used their weaknesses to reveal
40:54
Speaker 1: his power, and that's exactly what He wants to do
40:58
Speaker 1: in your life today. Maybe you feel like Moses, unqualified, inadequate,
41:03
Speaker 1: unsure of yourself. Maybe you've convinced yourself that you don't
41:07
Speaker 1: have what it takes to do what God is calling
41:09
Speaker 1: you to do. Maybe you feel like Gideon, afraid, hiding,
41:14
Speaker 1: convinced you're too small for the task ahead. Maybe you
41:17
Speaker 1: think that if only you were stronger, more talented, more confident,
41:22
Speaker 1: then you could serve God the way you're supposed to.
41:24
Speaker 1: Maybe you feel like David, facing a giant that looks
41:27
Speaker 1: impossible to defeat. Maybe you're looking at a situation in
41:31
Speaker 1: your life that feels overwhelming and you're wondering how someone
41:35
Speaker 1: as small as you can stand against it. Maybe you
41:38
Speaker 1: feel like Peter, you've failed, you've fallen, and you wonder
41:42
Speaker 1: if God can still use you. If so, you are
41:45
Speaker 1: exactly the kind of person God wants to use. Because
41:48
Speaker 1: he doesn't call the strong, he strengthens the called. He
41:52
Speaker 1: doesn't look for those who have it all together. He
41:55
Speaker 1: chooses those who will depend fully on him. The same
41:59
Speaker 1: God whom Howard, Moses, Gideon, David, and Peter is the
42:03
Speaker 1: same God who is working in you to day. And
42:06
Speaker 1: if he could use them in their weakness, imagine what
42:09
Speaker 1: He can do through you. The stories of Moses, Gideon, David,
42:14
Speaker 1: and Peter weren't just recorded for history. They were written
42:17
Speaker 1: for us because the same struggle they faced is the
42:21
Speaker 1: same struggle we face today, learning to rely on God
42:26
Speaker 1: instead of ourselves. But here's the problem. Everything about modern
42:30
Speaker 1: culture tells us the opposite. We live in a world
42:34
Speaker 1: that celebrates self sufficiency. We're told to be independent, to
42:39
Speaker 1: rely on ourselves, to fix our own problems and make
42:44
Speaker 1: our own way. The world glorifies those who appear strong, successful,
42:49
Speaker 1: and in control. From a young age, we are taught
42:52
Speaker 1: to hide our weaknesses and never let anyone see our struggles.
42:57
Speaker 1: And yet God's word tells us something completely diff My
43:01
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made
43:04
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness. That's not just a comforting thought, it's
43:09
Speaker 1: a command to shift our entire mindset. Paul had spent
43:13
Speaker 1: his life suffering for the Gospel, and by the time
43:16
Speaker 1: he wrote Second Corinthians, he had learned something that most
43:19
Speaker 1: people never do. God's strength is only fully revealed in
43:23
Speaker 1: total dependence, and that's why he could say, I will
43:27
Speaker 1: boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that
43:30
Speaker 1: Christ's power may rest on me. The world says be strong,
43:35
Speaker 1: God says, be dependent. The world says prove yourself. God says,
43:39
Speaker 1: let my power be seen in you. The world says,
43:43
Speaker 1: fix your weakness. God says, let me use your weakness.
43:47
Speaker 1: And here's the truth. We will never experience the fullness
43:50
Speaker 1: of God's power until we stop trying to be strong
43:53
Speaker 1: on our own. Think about your own life. How many
43:56
Speaker 1: times have you tried to handle something by yourself before
44:00
Speaker 1: bringing it to God. How often do you wait until
44:03
Speaker 1: you're at the end of your rope before asking him
44:06
Speaker 1: for help? How many times have you felt unworthy to
44:10
Speaker 1: be used by God because you weren't strong enough. That's
44:14
Speaker 1: because we've been conditioned to believe that God is looking
44:17
Speaker 1: for strong people, But the truth is he is looking
44:22
Speaker 1: for surrendered people. This is where many Christians struggle. We
44:27
Speaker 1: want to follow Jesus, but we also want to maintain control.
44:31
Speaker 1: We want God's strength, but we still rely on our
44:35
Speaker 1: own We want to experience his power, but we are
44:38
Speaker 1: still trying to prove ourselves and the result we live exhausted, frustrated,
44:44
Speaker 1: and discouraged because we are trying to carry what only
44:47
Speaker 1: He was meant to carry. Jesus said, come to me,
44:51
Speaker 1: all who are weary and burdened, and I will give
44:54
Speaker 1: you rest Matthew eleven, twenty eight. But how many of
44:59
Speaker 1: us are actually living in that rest? How many of
45:02
Speaker 1: us are still trying to fight battles in our own strength,
45:05
Speaker 1: still trying to fix what only God can fix, Still
45:09
Speaker 1: trying to prove that we are strong enough instead of
45:12
Speaker 1: admitting that we are not and letting His power take over.
45:18
Speaker 1: This is why this verse is more relevant today than ever,
45:22
Speaker 1: because in a world that tells us to build our
45:25
Speaker 1: own strength, God is calling us to lean on his.
45:30
Speaker 1: Look at how this plays out in real life. Maybe
45:33
Speaker 1: you're facing a financial crisis and you've done everything you
45:36
Speaker 1: can to fix it. You've worked harder, saved more, made sacrifices,
45:41
Speaker 1: but nothing seems to change. Maybe God is allowing this
45:44
Speaker 1: season to show you that your security is not in money,
45:48
Speaker 1: but in Him. Maybe you've been struggling with an addiction,
45:52
Speaker 1: a temptation, a sin that you can't seem to overcome.
45:56
Speaker 1: You've tried self discipline, accountability, and will power, but nothing
46:01
Speaker 1: seems to break it. Maybe God is allowing you to
46:04
Speaker 1: reach the end of yourself so that you finally surrender
46:08
Speaker 1: to His power instead of your own. Maybe you've been
46:12
Speaker 1: waiting for healing, physical, emotional, or spiritual, and instead of
46:16
Speaker 1: giving you an instant miracle, God has been giving you
46:19
Speaker 1: grace to endure, grace to trust, grace to rely on
46:23
Speaker 1: him more deeply than ever before. Because sometimes his greatest
46:28
Speaker 1: miracle is not in what he removes, but in what
46:31
Speaker 1: he strengthens us to carry. Paul had to learn this
46:35
Speaker 1: the hard way. He had seen God do miracles. He
46:38
Speaker 1: had healed the sick, cast out demons, and even raise
46:41
Speaker 1: the dead. He knew God's power, but when it came
46:45
Speaker 1: to his own suffering, God didn't remove it. Instead, he said,
46:49
Speaker 1: my grace is sufficient for you. And for the first time,
46:54
Speaker 1: Paul realized that true strength isn't about what you can handle,
46:58
Speaker 1: it's about who you're relying on. This is the lesson
47:01
Speaker 1: we need to learn to day. Maybe you've been waiting
47:04
Speaker 1: for God to remove your weakness maybe you've been wondering
47:07
Speaker 1: why he hasn't fixed what you've been struggling with. But
47:11
Speaker 1: what if, just like Paul, God isn't trying to make
47:14
Speaker 1: you stronger. What if he's trying to make you more dependent.
47:18
Speaker 1: What if the very thing you've been asking him to
47:21
Speaker 1: remove is the place where he wants to show you
47:24
Speaker 1: how powerful his grace really is. Because the moment you
47:28
Speaker 1: stop trying to be strong on your own is the
47:31
Speaker 1: moment you make room for his strength to take over,
47:34
Speaker 1: and that is where real victory begins. Paul had to
47:38
Speaker 1: learn the secret of relying on God's strength instead of
47:41
Speaker 1: his own, and once he did, it changed everything. No
47:46
Speaker 1: longer was he trying to push through struggles in his
47:49
Speaker 1: own power. No longer was he begging for the thorn
47:52
Speaker 1: to be removed. Instead, he embraced his weakness because he
47:57
Speaker 1: understood that every moment of weakness was an opportunity for
48:00
Speaker 1: God's power to be revealed. But how do we live
48:03
Speaker 1: this out daily? How do we go from knowing that
48:07
Speaker 1: God's strength is available to actually walking in it? It
48:10
Speaker 1: starts with surrender. One of the biggest reasons we struggle
48:14
Speaker 1: to experience God's strength is because we are still trying
48:17
Speaker 1: to rely on our own. The world teaches us to
48:21
Speaker 1: push harder to find solutions to fix things ourselves. But
48:26
Speaker 1: true strength begins when we admit that we are not
48:29
Speaker 1: enough and surrender to the one who is. Jesus said,
48:33
Speaker 1: whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take
48:38
Speaker 1: up their cross daily, and follow me Luke nine twenty three.
48:44
Speaker 1: Denying ourselves means laying down our pride, our independence, and
48:49
Speaker 1: our need for control. It means saying God, I can't
48:54
Speaker 1: do this on my own. I need your strength. But
48:58
Speaker 1: surrender isn't just a one time decision, It's a daily practice.
49:03
Speaker 1: Paul didn't just talk about God's strength as a theological concept.
49:07
Speaker 1: He lived it every day. He faced opposition, hardships, and weaknesses,
49:12
Speaker 1: and every day he chose to rely on God rather
49:16
Speaker 1: than himself. That's why he could say I die daily
49:22
Speaker 1: Firse Corinthians, fifteen thirty one. Dying to self means choosing
49:27
Speaker 1: to trust God's power over our own efforts every single day.
49:31
Speaker 1: So how do we do this in real life? One
49:33
Speaker 1: way is through prayer. Not just occasional desperate prayers when
49:37
Speaker 1: things go wrong, but a lifestyle of constant dependence on God.
49:43
Speaker 1: Jesus himself modeled this. Even though he was the son
49:47
Speaker 1: of God. He constantly withdrew to pray, spending time alone
49:52
Speaker 1: with the Father. If Jesus needed to be in communion
49:56
Speaker 1: with God, how much more do we. Philippians four or
50:00
Speaker 1: six to seven tells us, do not be anxious about anything,
50:04
Speaker 1: but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
50:08
Speaker 1: present your requests to God. And the peace of God,
50:12
Speaker 1: which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.
50:17
Speaker 1: In Christ Jesus. This is how we exchange our burdens
50:21
Speaker 1: for his strength, by bringing everything to him in prayer.
50:25
Speaker 1: Another way to walk in God's strength is by renewing
50:28
Speaker 1: our minds with his truth. One of the biggest battles
50:32
Speaker 1: we face is in our thoughts. The enemy wants us
50:35
Speaker 1: to believe that we have to do everything on our own,
50:38
Speaker 1: that we are alone in our struggles, that we are
50:41
Speaker 1: too weak to be used by God. But those are lies.
50:46
Speaker 1: Romans twelve two tells us, do not be conformed to
50:51
Speaker 1: this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
50:56
Speaker 1: We have to actively replace the lies of self reliance
50:59
Speaker 1: with the truth that God's grace is sufficient. One practical
51:03
Speaker 1: way to do this is by meditating on scripture. When
51:07
Speaker 1: Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he didn't fight back
51:11
Speaker 1: with emotions or will power. He fought back with the
51:14
Speaker 1: word of God. It is written Matthew four four. That's
51:20
Speaker 1: how we resist the enemy's lies. When we feel weak,
51:24
Speaker 1: we declare the Lord is my strength and my shield
51:28
Speaker 1: Psalm twenty eight seven. When we feel overwhelmed, we remember
51:33
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me
51:37
Speaker 1: Philippians four thirteen. When we feel alone, we hold on
51:42
Speaker 1: to My grace is sufficient for you. Second Corinthians twelve nine.
51:48
Speaker 1: The more we fill our minds with God's truth, the
51:51
Speaker 1: more we learn to walk in His strength instead of
51:53
Speaker 1: our own. But walking in God's strength also means being
51:58
Speaker 1: willing to embrace weakness. This is one of the hardest
52:03
Speaker 1: parts because everything in us wants to fight against it.
52:07
Speaker 1: We don't like to feel weak. We don't like to struggle.
52:11
Speaker 1: We don't like to admit that we can't handle something.
52:15
Speaker 1: But Paul boasted in his weakness because he knew that
52:19
Speaker 1: was where God's power was revealed. What if we started
52:23
Speaker 1: seeing our struggles the same way. Instead of hiding them,
52:28
Speaker 1: what if we saw them as an invitation for God
52:31
Speaker 1: to show up. Think about real life situations. Maybe you're
52:35
Speaker 1: a parent, exhausted and overwhelmed, trying to juggle responsibilities. Instead
52:41
Speaker 1: of pushing through on your own strength, what if you
52:44
Speaker 1: stopped and said, God, I need your grace today, I
52:49
Speaker 1: need your wisdom, I need your patience. Maybe your battling
52:55
Speaker 1: anxiety and every day feels like a fight. Instead of
52:58
Speaker 1: feeling defeated, what if you declared, God, I don't have
53:03
Speaker 1: to do this alone. Your power is made perfect in
53:06
Speaker 1: my weakness. Maybe you're facing an impossible situation and you
53:11
Speaker 1: don't see a way forward. Instead of giving in to fear,
53:15
Speaker 1: what if you chose to believe God's strength will carry
53:19
Speaker 1: me through. This is what it means to walk in
53:22
Speaker 1: His strength daily, not waiting until we have nothing left,
53:26
Speaker 1: but starting every day by depending on Him first. And
53:30
Speaker 1: here's the beautiful thing. When we do this, we start
53:33
Speaker 1: to see God move in ways we never imagined. The
53:37
Speaker 1: same Paul, who once begged for his thorn to be removed,
53:40
Speaker 1: later wrote I can do all things through Christ, who
53:44
Speaker 1: strengthens me. Philippians four thirteen not because his problems disappeared,
53:50
Speaker 1: but because he had learned the secret. Real strength is
53:54
Speaker 1: found in surrender. So to day, you have a choice.
53:58
Speaker 1: You can keep trying to fight your battle on your own.
54:01
Speaker 1: You can keep pushing through, pretending to be strong, carrying
54:05
Speaker 1: burdens that were never meant for you. Or you can surrender.
54:09
Speaker 1: You can lay it all before God and say your
54:12
Speaker 1: grace is enough, your power is enough. I don't have
54:16
Speaker 1: to do this on my own, and when you do,
54:20
Speaker 1: you will experience something incredible, the peace, the power, and
54:25
Speaker 1: the strength that comes only from Him. If you've made
54:29
Speaker 1: it this far, I want to invite you to take
54:32
Speaker 1: a moment and join me in this closing prayer. This
54:35
Speaker 1: isn't just another prayer. This is an opportunity to fully surrender,
54:39
Speaker 1: to shift your mindset, to stop carrying what you were
54:43
Speaker 1: never meant to carry, and to finally walk in the
54:46
Speaker 1: strength that only God can provide. No matter where you
54:50
Speaker 1: are right now, whether you're sitting at home, driving in
54:53
Speaker 1: your car, or even feeling completely overwhelmed, I encourage you
54:58
Speaker 1: to pause, take a deep breath, and open your heart
55:01
Speaker 1: to what God wants to do in this moment. Heavenly Father,
55:05
Speaker 1: we come before you with open hands and open hearts,
55:09
Speaker 1: fully aware of how much we need you. We confess
55:12
Speaker 1: that so often we have tried to do life in
55:15
Speaker 1: our own strength. We have fought battles by ourselves. We
55:19
Speaker 1: have carried burdens we were never meant to carry, and
55:22
Speaker 1: we have struggled under the weight of trying to be
55:24
Speaker 1: strong on our own. But to day we lay it
55:28
Speaker 1: all down. Lord. We surrender our pride, our self sufficiency,
55:33
Speaker 1: our need to be in control. We surrender our exhaustion,
55:38
Speaker 1: our fears, our insecurities, and our doubts. We lay down
55:42
Speaker 1: every weakness, every struggle, every place where we feel like
55:46
Speaker 1: we are not enough. Because the truth is we are
55:48
Speaker 1: not enough on our own, But we don't have to
55:51
Speaker 1: be because you are Father. Your word says, my grace
55:55
Speaker 1: is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
55:59
Speaker 1: in weakness. We don't want to just hear those words,
56:02
Speaker 1: We want to live them. We want to stop fighting
56:05
Speaker 1: against weakness and start seeing it as an opportunity for
56:09
Speaker 1: You to be glorified in our lives. Teach us to
56:13
Speaker 1: embrace dependency on you instead of relying on ourselves. For
56:19
Speaker 1: the person listening right now who is carrying a burden
56:22
Speaker 1: so heavy they feel like they can't take another step,
56:26
Speaker 1: Remind them that your grace is enough. Fill them with
56:30
Speaker 1: supernatural peace, knowing that they don't have to have all
56:33
Speaker 1: the answers, They don't have to fix everything, They don't
56:37
Speaker 1: have to be strong enough, because you are their strength.
56:43
Speaker 1: For the one who has been battling anxiety, feeling overwhelmed
56:47
Speaker 1: by circumstances beyond their control, breathe your peace into their
56:51
Speaker 1: heart right now. Remind them that even in the storm,
56:56
Speaker 1: you are near, that even when life feelschaotic, you are
57:01
Speaker 1: still in control. That their job is not to figure
57:04
Speaker 1: everything out, Their job is to trust you. For the
57:09
Speaker 1: one who feels unqualified, too broken, too weak to be
57:12
Speaker 1: used by you, remind them that you have always chosen
57:16
Speaker 1: the weak things of this world to reveal your glory.
57:20
Speaker 1: Just as you used Moses who felt unqualified, just as
57:24
Speaker 1: you used Gideon who was afraid, Just as you use
57:28
Speaker 1: David who was overlooked, just as you used Peter who
57:32
Speaker 1: had failed. You are still using people right now who
57:36
Speaker 1: feel like they don't measure up. Let them know that
57:40
Speaker 1: it's not about their ability, it's about your power working
57:45
Speaker 1: through them and for all of us, Lord, give us
57:48
Speaker 1: a fresh revelation of your grace, not just grace that forgives,
57:53
Speaker 1: but grace that sustains, grace that strengthens, grace that carries
57:59
Speaker 1: us through the valley. We don't just want to know
58:02
Speaker 1: that your grace is sufficient, We want to experience it
58:05
Speaker 1: every single day. Help us to wake up every morning
58:09
Speaker 1: and choose to walk in your strength, not our own.
58:13
Speaker 1: Help us to let go of the pressure to have
58:15
Speaker 1: it all together and instead lean fully into you. Teach
58:20
Speaker 1: us how to renew our minds, how to trust you
58:24
Speaker 1: in the struggles, and how to truly live in the
58:27
Speaker 1: power of your spirit. Father, we declare to day that
58:31
Speaker 1: we are done striving. We are done pretending, we are
58:35
Speaker 1: done relying on ourselves. From this moment forward, we choose
58:39
Speaker 1: to live fully surrendered. We choose to embrace weakness as
58:43
Speaker 1: the doorway to your power. We choose to walk in
58:47
Speaker 1: the truth that when we are weak, then we are
58:50
Speaker 1: strong because You are with us. Thank you, Lord for
58:54
Speaker 1: loving us even when we feel unworthy. Thank you for
58:58
Speaker 1: never leaving us, never forsaking us, and never asking us
59:02
Speaker 1: to be strong on our own. We place everything in
59:05
Speaker 1: your hands, trusting that your grace is more than enough.
59:10
Speaker 1: We pray all of this in the mighty, powerful and
59:13
Speaker 1: all sufficient name of Jesus. Amen. If this prayer spoke
59:18
Speaker 1: to you to day, don't let it stop here. Share
59:20
Speaker 1: this message with someone who needs to hear it. We
59:23
Speaker 1: have so many powerful teachings on the Word of God,
59:26
Speaker 1: so make sure to check out our other videos as
59:29
Speaker 1: we continue growing in faith together, and as always, stay blessed.