2 Corinthians 12:9 – 10 (AMPLIFIED VERSION)
“9 But He said to me, My grace (My favour and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables 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!
10 So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).
What an amazing statement the apostle Paul made above! Verse 9 is the enablement for verse 10. The life of our glorious Saviour, dwelling in us, makes the impossible possible. The natural man does not take pleasure in “infirmities, insults, hardships, persecution, perplexity and distresses”, (verse 10) – but the Holy Spirit of God in us enables us to exchange our human weakness for His divine strength to propel us through the hardships and rejoice in His ability in us – to God be all the glory! It is here we join our voices with Paul and declare the greatness of our God, as that same experience becomes ours. It is the royal exchange of divinity that causes us to take pleasure in our weaknesses, that the power of Christ, (the glorious life of Another), may rest upon and be manifest through us, to the glory of God.
At the close of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:13), Jesus prayed “…..For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” The power of God is safely secured for the extension of His kingdom for His glory. Many have tried to wrestle it from His hand for their own glory, and their lives have suffered shipwreck in consequence. God will not give His glory to another, it is His alone. We are on a journey, learning to bear the benefits and blessings of His kingdom, to God’s glory. As it was with Jesus, our Pattern man, so it is with us. Jesus declared that of Himself, He could do nothing, it was the Father manifesting in Him that was the source of His divine strength and power. Of ourselves, we are weak and powerless, but the Indwelling Christ in us enables us to say as Paul did, “I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me,” Philippians 4:13.
God demands my weakness in order to display His power. Wherever I try to be independent from Him, He will withdraw, and I discover a lack of His peace and joy in my life.
It was the perfect plan of God to make humanity incomplete, in order that man may find his completion in Jesus Christ.
Let us continue our journey with our faith placed firmly in Jesus Christ, trusting in the knowledge that what we cannot do, He can!
UNTIL YOU MEET THE IMPOSSIBLE, YOU DO NOT TEST THE RESOURCES OF GOD.
