Monday Meditation: His Power Made Perfect

 

"But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient to you,
for My power is made perfect in weakness."
(11 Corinthians 12:9)

Image courtesy/American Book Warehouse

While in Europe researching my book, "Of Whom The World Was Not Worthy"
(Bethany House, 1979), I traveled through Yugoslavia from Slovenia to Macedonia.
 I interviewed factory workers, peasants, gypsies, doctors, and laborers, as well as
former Communist party officials. I wanted to know how Christians sustained their
faith through the devastation of two world wars.  I heard story after story of 
 courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

I talked to those who had been imprisoned and whose future seemed hopeless;
people who had been sick and wasted physically; frail women who fought in
the Partisan army against the Fascists with only sticks for weapons; people
who were starving, who ate scraps out of garbage cans.  These were brave
people- weak, defenseless people-but those who for whom the grace of the 
Lord was sufficient.  In their weakness, His power was made perfect.

I looked at my own life and asked myself if my weaknesses were an
opportunity for God's power to be made perfect in me.  Did I really accept
His grace as sufficient in every situation? The apostle Paul suffered a thorn
in the flesh that he begged the Lord to remove. The Lord responded not by
removing the agonizing source of pain but by giving the apostle the strength
to bear it.  ( 11 Corinthians 12:7-9). This is how God often works.

 He does not spare us from suffering, but enables us to conquer it.

  I've seen shy people become great leaders, and I've seen physically ill

people become charged with spiritual energy and touch other lives with 
the power of the gospel of Christ. I've seen suffering people become shining
 examples of strength and power. And through this I've learned that nothing
 can break or destroy us when we allow our weaknesses to make us strong.

There is sublime joy in holy boasting of the power of God in a life that is totally
 dependent upon Him.  There is sublime peace in accepting the sufficiency
of God's grace by allowing Him to be strong in us where we are weak.

"His Power Made Perfect"
A Devotional by
Marie Chapian
American author and psychologist