“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
There are times when we’re stuck in a situation we can’t control. There are times when we feel hard-pressed on every side or we’re struggling through something we don’t understand.
Like the apostle Paul, we pray for a release from the pressure or for the circumstance to change fast. We want to wiggle out of what’s uncomfortable or what hurts.
While Jesus understands our heart’s plea, He’s not in a hurry to rush our process. In His love, He protects us from trusting in ourselves since trusting in anything or anyone other than Him will ultimately lead to death.
His will is for your complete wholeness. His desire for you is life abundant. He paid for it with His blood. But the way in which He performs His purpose for your life is different from your plans.
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we stop trying to be strong in our own strength. And in the midst of our distress we cease forcing, fixing or striving to make something happen, even in the name of having “great faith!”
His Word declares it is only when we are WEAK that His dynamite, unfailing strength is exerted in, through, upon and for us. When we let go and admit “I can’t Lord,” His “I CAN AND WILL” becomes our reality.
Living in Christ under grace is living moment by moment in complete dependence on Him. It’s submitting to the Spirit-led life surrendered to His unearned supply.
It’s relying wholly on His unconditional love, unmerited faithfulness and undeserved favor. It’s releasing the weight of what you’ve been carrying and instead consenting to let Jesus daily bear your burdens because He already carried them on the cross.
As I write this, I am making my 20th-something trip to the hospital for my dad, navigating through a new and unusual season. Amidst other adversities, life has felt like a complete mystery lately.
I know everything is finished. I know I am seated in Him on the throne, and my portion is His rest. Throughout this journey, I am even seeing Him work good in the pain in the form of soul healing.
But it hasn’t been easy. And when I was letting my own heart be troubled from wanting the Lord to do what I wanted Him to do, He said to me clearly, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
That’s when I realized I was wrestling instead of nestling in His Sovereign embrace. I was in unrest and unbelief, leaning on my own understanding. But the Lord was patiently waiting for me to celebrate my limitations by letting Him take over.
Jesus then reminded me that the very area my family and I were being attacked in is the very area where He has already released the anointing for healing, breakthrough and destiny-promises.
God never plays catch-up. He initiates His absolute goodness and the enemy tries to thwart it. But He will always make your suffering serve you. In every single detail of your difficulty, His redeeming love is making all things new.
Jehoshaphat realized he had no power to face the vast army that was against him, so he chose to fix his heart on the Lord alone. He declared to Him, “If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and You will hear us and save us….we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You!” (2 Chronicles 20:9-15).
The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon once said, “Man is never so near Grace as when he begins to feel he can do nothing at all.” This is true. That’s why the weaker we become the stronger we find ourselves in Him.
When a man is drowning, he cannot be saved until he has completely given up trying to save himself. Otherwise, the rescuer will become of no effect. So it is with us. When we finally give up and give it all to our Father, we once again experience the tangible Person of Grace pull us up and out of the depths of despair.
Beloved, the battle is not yours but God’s! When you turn to the Lord and stand still in who you are in Christ, you will see His Deliverance and Salvation.
There’s not one moment in time when He’s not in it with you. But His ways are higher. His thoughts for you and your future are too numerous and glorious for you not to trust His ways.
He is always working on the more profound things; going to the root and heart of things. He is drawing you closer, bringing you into deeper intimacy and setting you up to taste and see His goodness in ways you never would have or could have otherwise.
So no matter what you’re going through, you need to believe and speak that His love is sufficient for you. His presence is sufficient for you. His peace is sufficient for you. His hope is sufficient for you. His comfort is sufficient for you. His provision is sufficient for you. His protection is sufficient for you. His rest is sufficient for you…
His SUPER-ABOUNDING GRACE is sufficient for thee!
“O child of God, I wish it were possible to put into words this All-Sufficiency, but it is not.” – Charles Spurgeon
Resting In His Immense Love,
Annalee Reyes
***** ***** *****
Jesus has been pursuing you relentlessly all your life. If you’ve never received Jesus Christ as your forgiveness, your Lord and your Savior, you can pray this simple prayer from your heart and become born again, a brand new creation and child of Daddy God, your loving Father:
“Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending your Son for me. I believe He came to earth to be born in the flesh to die my death on the cross. I believe His blood washed my sins away and completely cleansed me. I believe He redeemed me from every curse by becoming my curse and was raised from the dead because I was declared justified and righteous. Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I am now fully forgiven! I am a child of God, blessed, favored and incomprehensibly loved. In Jesus Name. Amen!”