Promise 2: His Grace Is Sufficient for You

Do you feel weak today or every day? Are you extremely conscious of your inability to solve your own problems or help yourself through life? I sure am. And if you are too, then I invite you to cling to the promise of God today, for His grace is sufficient for you.

Promise 2 of our 60 Promises for Your Time of Need is 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. This passage says:

“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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NKJV).

Here’s why I love this promise so much:

I am extremely aware of my weakness, and I have been aware of it for many years. A lot of people might think I’m strong because the Lord has put me in a place of preaching His Word around the world. People sometimes ask me, “How do you do so much?” But whenever I’m asked that, I am just puzzled. I can’t do anything except crinkle my eyebrows and shake my head, because they truly have no idea.

They don’t know that I’m the weakest person one could imagine.

I’m extremely weak, and I know it. I often think, “My heart and flesh fail,” like it says in Psalm 73:26:

“My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

If it weren’t for God, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. If it weren’t for God, I wouldn’t be able to do a thing. Life is too hard, and too difficult to face a lot of the time. Yes, I’m blessed; but most of my life has been made up of pain.

I truly am blessed, and I am so grateful. I would never want to dishonor God by failing to acknowledge or thank Him for the many blessings He has given me. But that doesn’t change the fact that much of my life has been made up, for the most part, of pain, loneliness, persecution, abuse, rejection, and so on. And that is really hard on me, whenever I think about it. (So I try not to think about it too much.)

To top that all off, without the Lord’s extreme help and me clinging to Him like I’m dying (because I would die if I didn’t cling that hard), I struggle with discouragement sometimes.

The discouragement has gotten a lot better over the years; I’m pretty stable now, much of the time. But I used to be discouraged to the point of suicidal ideation, and I was that way for many years.

Now, I work really hard to keep my eyes on Jesus. However, I do know that discouragement tends to be a weakness of mine; for without the Lord’s help and extreme fruit of the Spirit (self-control), I tend to take my eyes off Jesus and look at circumstances. You never come out encouraged when you look at circumstances!

So staying encouraged and full of joy and hope is something I’m working on, but it’s taken many years to improve in this at all.

Long story short: I’m extremely weak, and I know it. But here’s the thing that I want you to see today:

When we acknowledge our weakness, Jesus has the opportunity to rush in and put His strength to work on our behalf.

After all, without Jesus we can do nothing. But, with Him, we can do everything. As the Scripture says:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NKJV).

And also:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).

The Scripture is clear: we can’t do anything without Jesus anyway. Why even bother to think we can? Why even waste time entertaining the lie that we are anything without Christ? We have no power, no strength, no joy, no hope, no will to go on without Him. BUT, with Him, we can be filled with all the hope, strength, power, love, and joy in the world.

So I throw myself on Jesus every day, and I encourage you to do so as well.

Let’s look at our Scripture of the day again:

“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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NKJV).

Every time I pray this promise (which is just about every day), I acknowledge my weakness to the Lord. Then, I remind Him of His promise. I say, “But Lord, You said that Your grace is sufficient for me, for Your strength is made perfect in weakness.”

And then I pray:

“Lord, let Your grace be a tangible force in my life today. Let Your grace be sufficient for me. Make Your strength perfect in my weakness. Jesus, PLEASE: Let my weakness be a playground for Your grace, right now today.”

I’ll say that again:

“Lord, let my weakness be a playground for Your grace.”

When I pray that, I imagine the power, grace, strength, and help of God rushing into me and my life like a mighty, rushing wind.

I imagine His mighty grace whirling and twirling around in my life with exuberant joy, filling in all the many cracks and crevices of my existence. I imagine His grace and strength searching out every weak spot in me, and then filling those weak spots up–supporting them and strengthening them–with a substance (grace) that is stronger than the thickest steel girder.

And I sense His joy in my surrender, for I fully acknowledge that I’ve got nothing–but He has everything, and is everything.

And as the apostle Paul recorded in our passage above:

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Those words were breathed out by God the Holy Spirit Himself, so we know they are true. When we are weak, then we are strong.

So what are you waiting for, beloved? Can you acknowledge your weakness today?

Can you acknowledge your physical weakness, so that His physical strength can be manifest in you?

Can you admit your emotional weakness, so that His emotional strength and grace can be sufficient for you?

Can you release your financial weakness to Him, so that His financial strength and power can be manifest in you by His grace?

Can you let His grace and power whirl and swirl through your body, soul, and spirit, shoring up every weak place and making you stronger than you ever dreamed?

When you are weak, then you are strong–in Him.

Don’t hesitate today. Claim the promise that His grace is sufficient for you in prayer. Confess all your weakness to Him, and ask Him to let your weakness be a playground for His grace.

Do you need God’s grace to go to work in your life today, being sufficient for all your needs? Did this word speak to your heart? If so, leave a comment below!