2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”

Paul used to live on my floor at college, one day he was called up and shipped out to Iraq because he was in the army. His stay in Iraq was eventful. While over there he dealt with I.E.D.’s, insurgent attacks, and even artillery barrages on his base!

One day, Paul was out leading a patrol through a city when they were ambushed. A wall next to them exploded. Paul woke up dizzy and confused. He heard gunfire and saw one of his men laying down in the rubble, shot. Paul tried to rush over to the private, but his leg would not move. Paul’s leg was mangled from the blast. With gunfire sprouting up around the group, Paul looked for ways to help his comrade; he had no gun and no mobility, however. Undeterred, Paul half pulled himself and half crawled over to the man in the midst of a gunfight with insurgents. Reaching the wounded solder, Paul immediately asked a question, “Are you a Christian?” The man did not answer, Paul continued, “It is a simple question, private. Either you are or you are not.”

“Yes,” came the answer.

Paul saved that man’s life that day, but he saved more as well. Paul has always had a protector’s heart. When he was asked what he would have done if he did not get into the army, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I’d probably have been a cop, EMT, or fire rescue.” Now Paul is an amputee, medically retired from the military, and looking for a job which he can perform.

God’s grace kept Paul alive, God’s grace led Paul to save another man, and God’s grace has been there side-by-side with Paul throughout this slow recovery process.

Paul the apostle had a thorn in his flesh as well. Often times, pastors will expound on this unknown thorn; they choose to focus on the humbleness it forced on Paul, frequently talking about Paul’s pride. Look at God’s response, “for power is perfected in weakness” This does not deal with pride, rather it deals with glorifying God! To rephrase this part slightly (AH! Heresy say some!) “for My power is perfected in Your weakness” God works through our failures to further show Himself.

Paul’s thorn forced him to rely on God’s power, not just to stay humble, but also to daily live through everything he had to go through (1 Peter 4:16). Paul lived through shipwrecks, stonings, floggings, being shunned and hated by his peers, driven out of towns, imprisoned, and finally martyred. Through all of this, God’s grace provided for Paul, comforted Paul, and grace drove Paul to further carry the Gospel.

God’s power is fused with His grace, they can be interchanged oftentimes. “For [My] grace is perfected in [your] weakness.”

Through all things, God’s grace will always be there for me. God’s power saved me and His grace carries me throughout all the bumps and problems that are caused by my failings and weaknesses. All my failings do is merely enhance and showcase God’s amazing grace to a greater extent.

My friend Paul is not going to have an easy time finding a job. He is not going to have an easy time getting around either. He is, however, fully reliant on God’s grace which will always be there for him, just like it has always been there for him in the past.

God never changes. His power and His grace is constant, just like Him. His limitless mercy never flags. The only thing that really changes is our perception, our understanding, and our experience of Him. God’s grace is sufficient for me and my weakness. I must accept my failings, and God’s loving-kindness. Through His power and His grace, my weaknesses and faults are covered and replaced with His strength and mercy by His blood so that the grace of Christ may dwell in me.

God’s sufficient grace is given us by God. This is what we can rely on to help us, to protect us, and to heal us no matter what happens.

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Deuteronomy 30: 1-3 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, ² and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, ³ then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.”

A story is told of a young girl in the Eastern block during the communist regime. This young girl was brought up in the Christian faith, and so was reviled by her teachers. Staunchly, she stood her ground, fighting battle after battle with her communist teacher and her communist peers. This young girl would frequently go home from school in tears. Hated for her belief, belittled by all those around her, and discouraged by the lack of support she received from her own home, all she could do was pray and thank God for His love and faith. Christ encompassed her, Christ surrounded her. He was the only thing that kept her going.

One day, the teacher and this young girl made a bet. This girl would pray for something she needed and tell no one of her prayer. If she received the item then the teacher would stop all the problems at school. This was a chance for the girl to prove her God! She was ecstatic!

She went home every day from school and prayed. But nothing happened. One week passed, and nothing. A second week later and still more nothing. The girl started becoming discouraged. Was God real? Was He there? She believed in Him and if He was real, then He would answer. He promised!

She kept praying stubbornly, hoping that He would help her. More nothing came. She started loosing faith. She decided that she would pray one last time. If nothing came of that, God did not exist and her teacher was right. She prayed.

God is faithful in all things. The strength that kept this girl praying, that stubbornness helped her grow up a strong Christian in communist Romania. She learned that prayer works and became a prayer warrior. God has used her mightily since then; she was His witness bringing His name to her classmates, her teacher, her community, and deepening the waning faith of her parents.

She prayed for shoes. That day in the mail a box came to her house from overseas. A box containing shoes and undergarments and other feminine products that she was in need of, but her family could not afford due to their status as Christians. Every garment, socks, shoes, and all fit as though they were custom made for her.

The day she started praying, a nice couple from overseas (who had met this Romanian family) felt led by God to mail this girl a care package. They guessed on all the sizes based on their own daughter.

To know Christ is to follow Him and trust that He knows exactly what He is doing. God uses others to minister to us and He uses us to minister to others. God restored our soul from captivity in the world and brings us together in fellowship before His throne. Christians in Romania, believers in Sudan, Christians in America, believers in Korea, all are gathered before His throne, fellowshipping in His spirit and truth.

If we are strident in our search for Him, He is certain to be with us and to guide us in all we do.

Faithful Shepherd, feed me
In the pastures green;
Faithful Shepherd, lead me
Where Thy steps are seen.

Hold me fast, and guide me
In the narrow way;
So, with Thee beside me,
I shall never stray.

Philippians 3:10

This devotional comes courtesy of Bob Carter, M.D. and missionary under SIM.

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“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings…” (Philippians 3:10)

Blessings Ndashi was a bright, engaging 13-year old Zambian girl brought to our free AIDS clinic at Mukinge Mission Hospital by her godly grandmother. Her care was being transferred to us from a distant city because her mother had just died there from AIDS, and she was now going to be under the care of her grandmother who lived in a nearby village.

Blessings’ story was heartrending. After she and her sickly mother had been abandoned by her father, they had both gone for HIV testing at the local government hospital. Both were found to be positive. At that time, “low-cost” anti-AIDS drugs were available at certain government hospitals. But even at $10 per month, Blessings’ mother knew there was no way an abandoned woman like herself could afford the monthly cost of these drugs for both of them. So she decided to go without treatment in order to provide the life-giving drugs to her beloved daughter. She chose to embrace death for herself so that her daughter could live.

As the grandmother shared this story I was struck by how much Blessings’ mother exemplified the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Except that unlike us, Jesus was not “sin-positive.” He was not already under the sentence of death. Nevertheless Jesus consciously chose to embrace death in His own body in order to obtain for us the hope of eternal life.

It was not a choice that Jesus made gladly; in fact he prayed earnestly that some other way could be found. But it is a choice that He made willingly – as willingly as Blessings’ mother did.

What makes people sacrifice themselves for the sake of others? I think all of us who are parents understand. Who among us would not willingly give up our own life if it could save the life of our son or daughter? For love’s sake, people have been known to brave the greatest dangers and endure the most excruciating torment. And likewise it was for love’s sake that Jesus endured the pain and the shame of the cross to redeem us back into the family of God.

None of us desires to suffer. And yet, some things are worth suffering for. The apostle Paul understood this when he wrote, “I want to know Christ … and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” To recognize the surpassing worth of something so grand, so glorious, so wonderful that it is worth even embracing the pain of suffering and death or enduring overwhelming trials and tribulations – this is what elevates human experience from the merely mortal into the realms of the eternal. Jesus, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2) sets for us an example of this principle and offers to us the chance to experience it for ourselves. Blessings’ mother followed the example of Jesus. Dare we?

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:16, 17)