Serving through weaknesses

By Rick Cowman The Chronicle

Pella —  

Last week we saw that God purposely chooses people who have great weaknesses to accomplish great things. Too many of us would deny or hide our weaknesses, but God wants to use them! So, how can we serve God through our weaknesses?

First, we must ADMIT OUR WEAKNESS! Listen to the apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 5 (TEV): “I will not boast about myself, except the things that show how weak I am!” Admitting my weaknesses means I stop pretending that I’ve got it all together when I don’t. It means I stop hoping my weaknesses will go away if I pretend they don’t exist. It means I stop blaming other people for my weaknesses. And, it means I stop excusing, denying and defending them! God will get our attention and push us into a place where we have to admit them - that place is called a crisis! God wants to use our weaknesses, and He is committed to getting our attention to prove it!

Second, I must BE GRATEFUL FOR MY WEAKNESSES! Paul goes on to say, “I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ (vs 9, Phillips)!” What’s God saying to us? If I want to be used by God, I must relax, stop pretending I’ve arrived, and experience a deeper work of God’s power in my life - through my weakness! Why don’t we experience God’s power in our lives? It’s because we have been running on our own! We have refused to admit our weaknesses and haven’t expressed gratitude to God for them. Listen to how the Living Bible reads in this verse: “I’m glad to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities!” Isn’t that great?

The weaker we are, and the more truthful we are about our weakness, the greater God’s power can be manifested in us! When we come to the end of ourselves and cry out, “God, I can’t do this myself - I need Your help”, then God comes to us and says, “I am with you. That is all you need! My power shows up best in weak people (vs 9, LB)!” Let’s acknowledge our weaknesses and thank Him for what He can do through them!

If we’re gong to serve God, there will be times that all the props and crutches we have used to build up our confidence are going to be knocked out from under us. Why? Because we don’t know God is all we need until God is all we have! It is then we realize that God’s power shows up best in weak people, people who have had their pride broken, and have surrendered to trusting Him alone!

Are you grateful for your weaknesses? You should be, because God wants to use them!

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