40 Days of GRACE - 26
Dr Jim Brown's TruNorth Devotional
40 Days of GRACE
Day 26 | SUFFICIENT GRACE
40 Days of GRACE
Day 26 | SUFFICIENT GRACE
SUFFICIENT GRACE
2 Corinthians 12:9
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Paul is sharing with the Corinthian church a personal situation wherein he had a problem – a “thorn in the flesh” – which he had asked the Lord to take away. (Have you ever been there?)
Now Paul knew that the Lord could heal him… no doubt about that. But in this case, the Lord – for reasons known only to the Almighty – decided not to heal the problem BUT to give Paul what he needed – His GRACE – to put up with it and carry on in the power of the LORD.
The GRACE that the Lord gave Paul was sufficient to meet his every need, and given that Paul experienced arrest, beatings – 39 stripes, three times with rods – three shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, sleeplessness – and more – he needed God’s power, God’s grace, God’s leading.
We don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient until we accept that we are insufficient. For many Americans, this is a HUGE obstacle that causes many NOT to seek Christ at all. To them, heaven seems illusionary, and since they are already wealthy, many think: why do I need God?
The wise old pastor Spurgeon said: “Great tribulation brings out the great strength of God. If you never feel inward conflicts and sinking of soul, you do not know much of the upholding power of God; but if you go down, down, into the depths of soul-anguish till the deep threatens to shut her mouth upon you, and then the Lord rides upon a cherub and does fly, yea, rides upon the wings of the wind and delivers your soul, and catches you away to the third heaven of delight, then you perceive the majesty of divine grace. Oh, there must be the weakness of man, felt, recognized, and mourned over, or else the strength of the Son of God will never be perfected in us.”
Prayer: LORD, You know what I need and what’s ahead for me. I live in Your Grace and trust You to provide what I need when needed. You are my Shepherd. Amen.
2 Corinthians 12:9
“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Paul is sharing with the Corinthian church a personal situation wherein he had a problem – a “thorn in the flesh” – which he had asked the Lord to take away. (Have you ever been there?)
Now Paul knew that the Lord could heal him… no doubt about that. But in this case, the Lord – for reasons known only to the Almighty – decided not to heal the problem BUT to give Paul what he needed – His GRACE – to put up with it and carry on in the power of the LORD.
The GRACE that the Lord gave Paul was sufficient to meet his every need, and given that Paul experienced arrest, beatings – 39 stripes, three times with rods – three shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, sleeplessness – and more – he needed God’s power, God’s grace, God’s leading.
We don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient until we accept that we are insufficient. For many Americans, this is a HUGE obstacle that causes many NOT to seek Christ at all. To them, heaven seems illusionary, and since they are already wealthy, many think: why do I need God?
The wise old pastor Spurgeon said: “Great tribulation brings out the great strength of God. If you never feel inward conflicts and sinking of soul, you do not know much of the upholding power of God; but if you go down, down, into the depths of soul-anguish till the deep threatens to shut her mouth upon you, and then the Lord rides upon a cherub and does fly, yea, rides upon the wings of the wind and delivers your soul, and catches you away to the third heaven of delight, then you perceive the majesty of divine grace. Oh, there must be the weakness of man, felt, recognized, and mourned over, or else the strength of the Son of God will never be perfected in us.”
Prayer: LORD, You know what I need and what’s ahead for me. I live in Your Grace and trust You to provide what I need when needed. You are my Shepherd. Amen.
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