Title: Strength when Weak
Contents
Title: Strength when we are weak
Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Starting Point of the Word>>
This time, we will share a sermon under the title, “In times of weakness, strength is strength.”
There are people who have had physical ailments.
He could not do God's work because of his physical illness, so he prayed to God to heal him.
However, God said that the grace you have is sufficient, and He did not heal you.
Often, when we are in this situation, we will have complained and complained to God.
When the people of Israel began their captivity in the land of Egypt and followed God's guidance, they entered the wilderness, the journey toward Canaan, they complained about their lack of food and their physical fatigue, so they complained to Moses, the leader, and hated God. It's like resenting.
However, if we look at the words of today's text, we see a man who obeyed God's word, 'Your grace is sufficient' despite his suffering.
That person is Paul.
The Apostle Paul prayed three times to God to be healed of physical ailments.
At this time, God's answer was not to heal the sick.
God's answer was, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
God's power is from weakness to strength.
Example>>
There is a prayer written by a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War.
I sought strength to succeed, but gave me weakness to learn submissive humility.
I asked for health to do greater things, but He gave me infirmity to do more good things.
He asked for riches to be happy, but he gave poverty to be wise.
I asked for strength in order to be praised by people, but he gave me weakness so that I could understand God's help.
You asked for everything to enjoy life, but you gave life to enjoy everything in the world.
I didn't have what I asked for, but I got everything I needed.
In spite of my need, He hears the prayers I did not ask.
Oh, I am the most blessed of all men.
This prayer confesses that God has made us the weakest and most lacking, but he has made us the most precious and noble.
In other words, when we are weak, we become strong, so we should be thankful and content.
Go to Word>>
Then, how do we become strong and use the Lord?
First, we must be humble saints.
If we look at verse 7,
“Because the revelations were exceedingly great, so that I would not be overconfident, a thorn, an angel of Satan, was given to me in my flesh, so that I would not be overconfident.”
God gave the Apostle Paul a thorn and made him weak so that he would not be arrogant.
Pride is the desire to brag about oneself and show one's glory.
Therefore, the saints must be humble saints.
According to James 4:7,
“Therefore, submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you:
God gives grace to humble believers.
Being humble means letting go of the “me” and entrusting everything to God.
God strengthens us when we humbly lay down our things and entrust everything to God.
If you look at many people of faith in the Bible, you see that God first trains them in humility in order to use them as workers.
When Gideon, the judge of Israel, was called by God, he confessed:
“My family is the weakest among Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s household.”
When he showed humility,
God said, “I will surely be with you, and you will strike the Midianites as one strikes one.”
At that time, Gideon and 300 warriors were able to defeat the 130,000 army of Midian.
And God said that Gideon and 300 warriors were sent out to fight, saying, “Your army has won the battle,” so a small number was chosen.
I hope that we will become believers who remember that if pride is among us, there can be no help from God.
God strengthened us spiritually and used Paul when he was also a name that means lesser than Saul, a name that is the greatest.
Second, we must depend only on God.
We must realize that God has a purpose for weakening the saints and giving them pain.
It is to make you rely entirely on God and use it as a strong person.
Therefore, the apostle Paul also became weak because of the thorn, and when he was weak, he turned to God and became strong.
According to 2 Corinthians 1:9,
“We suffered so much that we had lost hope of living, and we were condemned to death in our hearts, so that we might not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”
and confess.
Therefore, in order for the weak to become strong, they must rely on God,
When David, a weak boy, trusted only on God, he became stronger than the great Goliath and defeated Goliath.
We must become saints who completely depend on God, because the saints who depend on God are blessed.
According to Proverbs 16:20,
“He who pays attention to his word finds good; blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
The carnal thoughts make us depend on things of the world and on material things.
However, whenever that happens, what we experience is failure and pain.
It is not because the saints are weak, or because God is weak.
Because we depended on the world and trusted people.
No matter how weak we are, if we rely on God thoroughly, God will strengthen us and be with us with His great blessing and grace.
Third, we must become prayerful saints.
If we look at verse 8,
“Three times I supplicated the Lord for this to depart from me”
Said.
The power of prayer is not in having anything come true, but in receiving answers from God's will, providence, and work.
Although Paul was sick and was not healed, he experienced God's will and providence through prayer.
That is why prayer is so important.
If you look at the life of Jesus, you can realize that 'prayer' was everything in his life.
God wants to accomplish His work through prayerful believers.
The twelve disciples of Jesus were also weak, and when Jesus died on the cross, they all betrayed and fled.
However, after Jesus was resurrected and ascended to heaven, when they gathered in Mark's upper room and prayed strongly, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and became strong people and became people of faith who kept their faith until martyrdom.
Even today, we are not disappointed and frustrated because we have many weaknesses, shortcomings, and foolish things, but if we lay down before God and pray, He will transform us into strong, powerful, and wise people.
At the end of the speech>>
There is a hymn called “I am weak and I am strong”.
If you look at the lyrics,
The Lord has done it for me so that I can be weak, strong, poor day rich, and blind can see.
Hosanna Hosanna Lamb slain Hosanna Hosanna Jesus is risen
The river I must cross There my sins are washed away Now Your love flows toward me
The Lord has raised me up from the deep river I sang the song of salvation, Jesus set me free
hosanna hosanna the slain lamb hosanna hosanna jesus is raised again
hosanna hosanna the slain lamb hosanna hosanna jesus is raised again
I pray in the name of the Lord that the wonderful work of the Lord who strengthens us who are weak today fills the lives of me and all of our members.