PREPARED FOR EMPOWERMENT
“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.” 2 Cor.12:9
Meditate on this text. It is packed with great promises. In verse 8 Paul
shares that he kept praying to God to take away his ailment. Why
wouldn’t God answer his prayer? For, number one, God says in His word
that he’ll heal us, he’ll answer our prayers, he knows what we need etc etc.
We have all heard and read the promises of answered prayer…Number
two; Paul was a strong worker for God, so surely he just knew that God
would answer his prayer. But NO. God told him, “No, I am not going to
take this away from you. For with this great weakness you will be made
strong.” How so??? When we carry something that is almost unbearable, we must keep pressing forward anyway, rejoicing anyway, and praising
God anyway. This is when God transforms our character from ours to His
and then we can be empowered by Christ’s spirit and only then. If we
instead let go and let that ailment, trial or burden have victory, then Satan
begins to take over and sooner or later we find ourselves led by him and
facing more and more challenges. If we dwell on the negative situation,
waddle in it, give up and lose trust in God, we will never be empowered.
We will just keep going downhill.
We must understand that when we face situations that appear to weaken us, we must seek God in prayer and praise Him for the trial for it is meant to strengthen us, empower us and fill us with Christ’s saving grace. Let us press forward in faith and gratitude knowing that we must truly be God’s chosen for this means that we are highly favored to do a great work. Think about your life and the great works that God has manifested through and by you in the past. (Phil.1:6)
God wants to continue using you and working through you.
Satan would like to see us knocked down so much so that God’s purpose
for us will never be fulfilled but we must go forward and take the
chastening (Heb.12:6) knowing that we are being prepared, molded and
made into the likeness of God so that Christ’s spirit can be poured
down upon us to be representatives, spokespersons and vessels here on this earth to help gather His children "End Times like These"…