2 Corinthians 13:4

2 Corinthians 13:4 - For to be sure, Christ was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him to serve you.

         In order to live on earth and be like us Jesus was made weak. He was made like us in every way, yet He was without sin. How did He do it? He surrendered His life completely to God. Christ did not find His own strength to make it through everything; He had to rely on God’s strength and power.

        When Jesus went to the cross it showed His weakness; it showed His human side. He was crucified in weakness, but then God’s power was made complete in Him through resurrection. Now He lives by God’s power.

        We too must recognize that we are weak. In our own power and ability there is nothing that we can do. Yet just as Christ was able to live by God’s power, we also can live by God’s power through Him.

        For the last couple of chapters Paul has been talking about weaknesses. He tells us that if he is going to boast, then he will boast in his weak areas. See, Paul understood that it is only when we see ourselves as we truly are that God can use us. When we see ourselves as weak it allows us to completely rely on God, because we know that we cannot do it on our own.

        Let me explain it this way, if we think we are strong enough to handle something on our own, we will never ask for help. And without God’s help in an area His glory will not be able to shine through us. When we are trying to do things in our own ability we will ultimately fail. Even if we make it for a while, it will not last. Surrender to God and find your ability through Him.

2 Corinthians 12:9

2 Corinthians 12:9 - But God 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

By nature we are complainers. Our complaining stems from our selfish nature. In our selfishness we think that everything should go as we think it should, and when it doesn't we complain. When we get saved and turn our lives over to God this selfish nature does not just disappear. It takes work to get past it.
We still want life to be easy and anytime something does not go our way it can be a struggle not to complain. As we draw closer to God our selfish desires begin to leave, but it takes awhile.

Often times we look inside ourselves and see areas where we struggle or face temptation. In an effort to make our lives easier we pray that God will take the temptation or struggle. “Lord, help me not to struggle in that area,” we might say.

It is not wrong to want to overcome a struggle, but we need to remember that Jesus never told us that life would be easy. So often we are asking God to make life easy for us when really He just wants us to come to Him and be totally reliant on Him.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am in no way saying that we shouldn't pray to God for help to face temptation. Paul prayed that prayer and as we look at this verse we see him getting an answer that we usually don’t want to hear, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

God is telling us that He has already given us what we need to make it through our situation. It’s already been done. Really that’s good news, but if that is the case why is this ‘thing’ still a problem? I've asked myself that question many times over the years.

Here’s my thoughts on the matter. Most of the time when we are asking God to help us in a situation we are still thinking we can take the lead as we go through it. We are asking for God’s help when really we need to be surrendering that area to Him completely. The problem lies in the fact that we do not want to let it go.

If God’s power is made perfect in weakness then that means in order for His power to be made perfect in us then those ‘things’ are still our weaknesses. Paul doesn't pray that God turns his weaknesses to strengths. Instead he says that he will boast in his weaknesses, because only through them can Christ’s power rest on him.

If we want God’s strength to shine through us we must first admit we are weak and then surrender ourselves to God. Then we must trust Him to carry us through whatever we face. Only then can His power be made perfect in us.

Acts 14:8-10

Acts 14:8-10 - In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him , saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that the man jumped up and began to walk.

This passage of scripture talks about Paul seeing that the lame man had faith to be healed. Paul was sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and then brought healing to a man that had never walked before.
It makes me wonder how many people Paul walked right by because they did not have faith to be healed. We also see that same thing most of the time Jesus healed people. He often mentioned how their faith had healed them.

Jesus never said, “Go, for I have healed you.” It was always more like, “Go in peace, your faith has made you well.” So this puts the ball in our court in regards to healing. If we want healing we have to have faith.

Remember when Jesus visited His hometown and was only able to do a few miracles because of their lack of faith? Jesus tells us that if we ask in faith we will receive whatever we ask for. Have faith, ask for it and you will be healed.

Also, as in the case of Paul in this passage, be open to the leading of the Spirit when you are going about your day. If God tells you to pray for someone, do it. Be obedient to God and the leading of the Holy Spirit and you will see God’s power flow through you.