2 Cor 12:7-10 | Wrestling With My Weakness"

A little bit about myself

Moved to America at age 14 (spoke no English)

My wife Sarah and I have been married for 18years. 6 kids.

Associate pastor at MEFC for 11 years

Fun fact: I have done CrossFit training with DS.

Let me tell you how I ended up working out with pastor David.

I was in a very bad spot in my life last year because of anxiety:

Feeling of unexplainable dread

Chest tightness and pain

Sweaty palm hands

Loss of appetite

Nothing seemed to bring pleasure or joy

Light headache and light dizziness

Fatigue but can’t nap

Pastor David invited me over to his garage to workout since exercise helps...

You could say that anxiety forced me to do something I wouldn’t do on my own.

Today I also want to share something a hidden blessing that came with anxiety: my prayer life has deepened.

My weakness has deepened my awareness of my need for Jesus.

Weakness can take you to a place where you can draw closer to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness.

Paul describes weaknesses with four words:

Insults. Mistreatment by others with words or actions.

Hardships. Experiences that squeeze you to uncomfortable limits.

Persecution. Affliction at the hands of hostile enemies.

Calamities. Loss and devastating circumstances.

Weakness: A sense of feeling helpless or useless because of out of control painful circumstances.

Mental health issues

Undiagnosed physical health issues

Chronic pain (migraines)

Reputation destroyed through gossip

Betrayal

Weakness: A sense of feeling helpless or useless because of out of control painful circumstances.

When you find yourself in a place weakness you feel stuck and useless because you can’t fix it.

Now check this out, Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness

God doesn’t want you to be strong. He wants to be your strength.

From a human perspective this doesn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense to the Apostle Paul. He received a “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever the thorn was, it was very painful and crippling. So prayed and pleaded 3x. I don’t think he only prayed 3x. One commentator writes, “The three times may signify “earnest and repeated prayer,” time and time again.” (Garland, 2 Corinthians, NAC)

He only saw two options to his weakness and brokenness:

The Lord removes the thorn in the flesh so that Paul could move on with life and ministry.

The Lord doesn’t remove the thorn in the flesh and Paul’s life and ministry is crippled and ineffective.

Remember what I said about brokenness and weakness? Weakness: A sense of feeling helpless or useless because of out of control painful circumstances.

The Lord Jesus responds to Paul’s prayer in an unexpected way in v.9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

What a wonderful life-changing truth: my weakness and brokenness is not the end of God’s plan in my life but part of his plan for my life. Paul declares in v.9, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness and brokenness.

How did Paul arrive to a place where he experience God’s power in the middle of brokenness and weakness?

Here’s how he processed it? It depends who you listen to.

There are two voices speaking to you:

One voice is the voice of the enemy: He speaks discouragement (v.7 “A messenger of Satan)

The other voice is the voice of Jesus: He speaks straight and power! (v.9, “My grace is sufficient for you.”)

In the middle of your weakness and brokenness you must make a decision: will you embrace discouragement or will you embrace strength and power? It all depends on whose voice you listen to.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 “7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”

The enemy speaks lies

You are a failure

God has abandoned you

You are worthless

No body loves you

On other hand God says,

My grace is sufficient. The enemy says, “you are not enough.” God says, “I am more than enough.”

One of the blessings weakness is that God empties us of ourselves so that he can fill us up with himself.

Instead of complaining how empty handed I am, I’m going to lift my empty hands to heaven to receive his grace and strength.

God doesn’t want you to be strong. He wants to be your strength.

As Charles Spurgeon once said in a sermon, “God does not need your strength: he has more than enough power of his own. He asks your weakness: he has none of that himself, and he is longing, therefore, to take your weakness, and use it as the instrument in his own mighty hand. Will you not yield your weakness to him, and receive his strength?” (MTP, 37:331).