Complete Weakness

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

2Corinthians 12:9

When I first became a Christian, I deemed this as my life-verse. Now, 4 years later, I am receiving it's relevancy and power anew and it is one of the most refreshing experiences of my life. In my fight for the faith there has been a distinct difference in my spirit between those times that I find myself fighting and striving on my own, and when I allow the Lord to fight for and protect me. We mustn't assume that we are walking by the Spirit because of a lable ("I'm a Christian") and we mustn't be quick to think that we are truly leaning on the Lord. Letting God carry us requires more than a mere "tip of our hat" to God in recognition of His reality.

I believe that when Adam and Even were first created, they had the natural desire to trust in and depend on God. After all, He had just made the entire universe for them to experience, formed them from the dust of the ground, and been walking with them in the cool of the day to show that He wasn't distant but near and relational. It seemed obvious they would trust in Him and only look to Him in all circumstances. As I have described before, I believe Eve's first sin was not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but when she failed to call on God to protect and guide her when the enemy was lying to her. She thought she could remember just fine on her own, and since the curse on creation from this time, mankind's natural desire has now been switched from trusting in God to depending on self.

What is grace? I've heard a great many definitions but the one I feel best encapsulates the meaning and experience of grace is: Freely given power/ability to demonstrate God's character in heart and action. That is to say, that God will give us the ability to do and feel what He desires. Practically speaking, before I was a believer, I had an ongoing battle with lust that left me the victim of my own flesh and full of guilt and shame. When I finally came to the point that I just confessed to God that I couldn't beat this sin and I needed his help from the cross of Christ, He richly supplied the grace (free power) to turn from the sin and retain the victory through fixing my eyes on Jesus.

Before then I had missed the key to victory. Scripture declares that "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." It recently hit me the other day in sharing my testimony with another brother that what I had hated was the shame the sin caused and not the sin itself. Who likes to feel bad for their actions? Eventually I got so fed up with the sin itself that I was willing to humble myself and seek help from God. To desire help requires a humble spirit because we aren't trusting in ourselves for strength, but looking to God to receive help releases gratitude in our hearts. This help is grace. It is so amazing to see how God set it up this way and how His Word leads us directly into this Truth. We will never find victory as long as we look to ourselves or our own ability to pray for strength (this is where we just get religious and pray - it is a counterfeit of true desperation and weakness). WE CAN'T DO IT! Even the desire for righteousness comes from God and this is why Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

It was a blessing to see the brother with whom I was sharing this with look at me terrified and say, "I'm scared. Lust has mastered me." I told him to "Examine Himself and make sure he was in the faith." (2Corin. 13:5) He asked, "What does that mean?" Jesus responded through me (because I had never thought of it this way), "It means you go to the cross of Jesus like you've never been there before." So he went and proclaimed to God that he was "a baby relying on God for EVERYTHING." Amen! Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."

So, like Adam and Eve before the curse, like little babies who receive everything from the loving Fathers (and mothers), and like we MUST be at the cross, let us confess our weakness and see how God's "power is perfected in our weakness" to His glory alone.

O Israel, trust in the LORD;

He is their help and their shield.

Psalm 115:9
(Put your name is the place of "Israel" and make it your simple, sincere prayer)