The Empowerment of Grace

Intro

For the past few months, you could sum up the essence of our teaching series as HOPE in Times of a Pandemic.

We’ve talked about faith, breakthrough, Mindsets, hope, miracles, boldness and courage. My mom says that I should put these messages in a book to epitomize this season of life that we’re all in as a memorial for us to remember…and though I’ll likely not do that, it’s still a pretty good idea.

This morning I want to bring a message that continues in that vein, but one that also balances the idea of faith and breakthrough with the practical reality that sometimes, God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we think he should! Sometimes he says No. Sometimes He doesn’t remove the obstacle or heal our bodies or do whatever it is that we think that he should.

I want to answer the question of what happens if God doesn’t answer my prayer? What if he doesn’t break down the wall standing in my way or slay the giant who is threatening to harm me?

What do we do then? How do we respond to God without withdrawing and feeling hurt or despondent?

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Yes you heard me…we’re going New Testament today - if you’re counting, that is two weeks in a row!

This passage is a pretty famous passage from Paul, but one that is often misunderstood or misapplied.

Let’s read it together… vs 1 -12

Paul let’s us know that He’s been at both ends of the spiritual spectrum - at the height of revelation, insight and priviledge…but he also found himself in the midst of uncertainty and struggle. He went from things any Christian would love to boast about, to experiencing the disappointment that many of us have experienced but don’t really like to talk about in front of others...

And what makes Paul’s comments here so extraordinary is that when given the choice of which extreme to boast about 0 He CHOOSES to boast about his WEAKNESSES and STRUGGLES!

“ 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weakness, and in insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer...”

Paul says that he was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble...

We don’t know what this thorn in his flesh was...

some believe it was a health issue (an eye condition)

others believe it was trouble in his ministry

Still others think it was severe, on-going temtptation

I kinda like that we don’t know what it is, because it helps each of us to identify with this statement and claim it as our own.

We all have a thorn in the flesh to deal with. We all have something that ties us to our weakness, to our infimities - so that we will continually feel our need for help from the Lord.

Let’s talk about this thorn for a few minutes...

Where did it originate?

- From Satan (7)

What was Satan’s intention with the thorn?

to discourage his heart

to distract his attention

to annoy his emotions

to drive him to despair and depression

to harass his mind

To hinder his work

to trouble his spirit

In the greek, a thorn is a sharp stake used for torturing or impaling someone.

“Torment me”

to beat or strike with the fist

the tense of this verb let’s us know that the pain was either constant or recurring

We all have a thorn in the flesh!

it might be a negative mindset

a habit that we are unable to break

a feeling of inferiority or inadequacy

a physical ailment

We understand where these thorns originate - in the heart and imagination of our enemy.

But we need to understand that God ALSO has plans for the thorns that come into our lives.

We learn from the story of Job that Satan needs God’s permission to afflict us. He needs God’s approval to bring difficulties along our way.

So the questions, then becomes…WHY???? WHy does he do that? What would he allow tese type things to happen to us?

He does it for our good. “He causes ALL things to work for our good and for His glory.”

He does it to teach us to depend on Him and not our own talents, strengths and abilities

He does it because He is able to use even disappointment, failure and negative situations to work out His will in our lives

The first thing a thorn will cause us to do is PRAY!!!!!

It’s been said that God knows how to teach us to pray - He does it by putting us in situations where prayer is our only option!

So if you find yourself feeling as if the carpet has just been pulled out from under your feet, that is a sign that God wants you to pray.

He wants you to draw near to him in times of affliction

He wants to draw you away from your problem and lure you into his presence so that he can fill you grace and peace.

Its been said that ANYTHING is a blessing that makes us pray.

The thorn compelled Paul to pray three times.

This number is the same number of time that Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemene

it denotes continual and empassioned prayer

But here’s the problem for many of us...

we waste out prayers, like Paul did, begging for God to take away our thorns!

And don’t get me wrong, its okay to pray that

However, there are times in life where God will not remove our thorns

He won’t remove our infirmities or our difficult situation

There are times when he choses to leave us in the predicaments that we find ourselves in

THis is what he did here in Paul’s life.

Paul prayed for it to be removed.

God said no.

He prayed again.

God still said no

He prayed even more for this thorn to be removed, but God again said NO.

What do we do when God tells us no?

We have a few options:

We can become DISILLUSIONED and question the validity of our faith

We can become BITTER and hold God hostage for not doing what we asked him to do. If course doing this will cripple our walk with the Lord. it will sow seeds of resentment that will slowly separate and distance us from God’s presence (Job’s wife)

OR We can learn that God is able to empower us, to encourage us and to bless us IN THE MIDST of our thorn in ways that He could never do by simply removing the thorn from our lives. This is what Paul chose to do.

After praying a final time, Paul hears from the Lord.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

And this is the amazing truth that Paul comes away with as a result of this experience...

It’s good when God removes the thorns from our lives.

But it is even BETTER when he chooses not to that because it means that He will emnpower us to endure in His strength, in His power, in his protections so that we can not only survive, but we can thrive in the midst of adversity!

When God doesn’t remove us from difficulties, it means that he will send us the grace to endure them.

What is grace?

God’s provision for our every need, right when we need it the most

God’s Riches Available at Christ’s Expense

God’s grace empowers us (strenghtens us)

It supports us

It covers us with His strength, His purpose and His power to see us through

It is a continual work - “My power is beging made perfect in your weakness”

God might not remove our difficulty, but he WILL (through his grace) cause our afflictions to WORK FOR US and NOT AGAINST US

Satan desired to use this thorn for harm, but God choose to use it for good and used it to propel’s Paul’s ministry.

If there was ever a time for this message to be preached, I would dare say that time is right now!

Maybe…just maybe, the reason God hasn’t removed that obstacle, that ilness, that insecurity, that mindset…is because He can do more through your weakness and dependence on Him that he could ever do through you if you were not in constant need of his help.

Paul learned to look at his thorn differently than most people did:

He began to see his thorn as a blessing instead of a curse