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 (KJV)
I love the King James version of this verse because of the second word Paul uses for weakness. He uses the word "infirmities." Both "weakness" and "infirmities" have the same Greek root definition, but infirmities adds a little more spice to emphasize the anguish we feel in our hour of despair. Mixed in, however, is the word GRACE which secures our glorious victory, not in spite of, but as a result of our infirmities!! This meaning of Grace used here is Strong's Number 5485 speaking "of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues."
For most of my Salvation I spent my hours of despair praying for God to "help me" with one sin, offense, problem, trouble, or another. I won't say that nothing happened, but what I will say is that my prayers often brought with them many trying situations designed to grow and test me in the areas in which I had prayed. In recent years however, I have started praying for "Grace" instead of help with my challenges.
What I have found in praying for Grace in my challenges and personal weaknesses, is that my effort is typically left to do nothing more than to endure. What I mean is this: when I have a challenges, or when Im struggling with sin, my earnest and anguished prayers are for God's GRACE to grow me or strengthen me. As I endure in faith, diligently seeking His Grace to be victorious, I indeed emerge victorious, and well beyond (overcoming) those challenges. His Grace becomes truly sufficient; my infirmity becomes my ally, not my enemy!
Start TODAY praying for GRACE in all of your weaknesses, aka "infirmities!"
I love the King James version of this verse because of the second word Paul uses for weakness. He uses the word "infirmities." Both "weakness" and "infirmities" have the same Greek root definition, but infirmities adds a little more spice to emphasize the anguish we feel in our hour of despair. Mixed in, however, is the word GRACE which secures our glorious victory, not in spite of, but as a result of our infirmities!! This meaning of Grace used here is Strong's Number 5485 speaking "of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues."
For most of my Salvation I spent my hours of despair praying for God to "help me" with one sin, offense, problem, trouble, or another. I won't say that nothing happened, but what I will say is that my prayers often brought with them many trying situations designed to grow and test me in the areas in which I had prayed. In recent years however, I have started praying for "Grace" instead of help with my challenges.
What I have found in praying for Grace in my challenges and personal weaknesses, is that my effort is typically left to do nothing more than to endure. What I mean is this: when I have a challenges, or when Im struggling with sin, my earnest and anguished prayers are for God's GRACE to grow me or strengthen me. As I endure in faith, diligently seeking His Grace to be victorious, I indeed emerge victorious, and well beyond (overcoming) those challenges. His Grace becomes truly sufficient; my infirmity becomes my ally, not my enemy!
Start TODAY praying for GRACE in all of your weaknesses, aka "infirmities!"
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