Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

I’ll never forget the moment we were told my mom had breast cancer. Or when my doctor performed an emergency c-section to save our son’s life. Or when our 6-month-old daughter was hospitalized in Africa dehydrated and lifeless. Those sound dramatic but they are major turning points in my faith journey. I’m sure each of us have endured hardships or calamities that we didn’t think we would survive in that moment. Yet we read 2 Corinthians 12 and are reminded, one- that we are not alone, and two- we are given grace, strength, and power through our Almighty God in those moments.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 that we are to boast or talk with excessive pride about our weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on us. And what are these weaknesses? He isn’t talking about sin or our imperfections. He’s talking about insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. The way we walk through each of these situations or circumstances as believers in Christ is so different from the way the world does it. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul says that when we are verbally abused, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we reply as friends. It looks like weakness to those who are not in Christ when we bless, endure, and reply as friends, but it’s actually when we are the strongest because we have the power of the living God dwelling in us! The same power that rose Jesus from the grave!

I was with Paul until verse 10. If I can be brutally honest, the last thing I wanted to do when I was walking through the above situations was to delight in those weaknesses. In each one, I was brought to my knees, begging God to change the circumstance, to immediately bring about healing, and to deliver us. But also in each one, when I gave up fighting it in my own strength and relied on the Lord, my relationship with Him grew deeper and sweeter. I am more confident after each weakness that our God’s promise in v. 9 is true for each one of us as His children. His grace is sufficient. His power is perfected in our weakness.

May we walk in confidence today that we serve a God who uses our weaknesses for His glory and our good.

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• What does it look like in your own life to confidently walk in God’s power and strength? Is there something you need to stop doing and let go of so God can lead?
• Prayer: God, You are holy and good. You see each one of us and know what weakness we are walking through at any given moment. Lord, I confess it is hard to not try and fix it in my own power. Forgive me. Remind us that Your grace is enough, and we can trust that You are in control of all things. Help us to walk in your strength when we are weak. Amen.

Family Devo: 2 Corinthians 12

By: Selena Rosetti

Have you ever touched a cactus and realized you shouldn’t have done that because now you have a thorn in your finger? Or maybe you’ve walked through the grass without shoes and stepped in a bed of “stickers” as we call them? Neither of these are pleasant and we certainly don’t enjoy them.  

In today’s passage, Paul talks about a “thorn in his flesh”. I wonder how he got his thorn? The Bible doesn’t tell us what exactly Paul is talking about, but we know that he had something in his life he really wished he didn’t have. It wasn’t an actual thorn, but he uses this illustration to help us understand he had something in his life that he struggled with, and it made him weak. He did not want this weakness in his life.  

Paul tells us that he asked God three times to take this “thorn” away from him. God chose not to grant Paul’s request. God used Paul’s struggle to teach him that in his weakness God would give him the strength and power he needed to continue in God's work for him.  

Do you have something in your life you wish you could change? Or is there something you constantly struggle with that you want God to remove from your life?  We can ask God to help us trust Him as Paul did. Ask God to help you believe that His grace is enough for you and that His power is made perfect in your weakness.  

Prayer: Lord, thank You that Your grace is always enough for any difficulty we may face. Help us to remember that when we feel weak in any area of our life, we can trust You to make us strong in our weakness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.