God’s Power Works Best in Our Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:9(NLT)
“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”

Janice’s daughter was modeling a beautiful wedding gown in a department store fashion show. With a mother’s pride, her eye’s filled with joy as her daughter elegantly strolled the runway beaming with confidence. She thought about how much her own self-esteem had been trampled after finally being free of a three-year abusive relationship. Things between Janice and her on-again-off-again boyfriend worsened during the restrictions and hardships of Covid-19. The arguing was out of control, and her ex-boyfriend dealt with the losses they both experienced by taking it out on her. The verbal and physical abuse was so bad that she began to think she might not survive. Finally, she ended things for good, and after she did, new feelings began to pleasantly resurface. They did so in ways that both surprised and fueled her motivation to live free and make wiser choices.

It doesn’t matter who we are or what station we’ve secured in life, choosing a wrong partner can do a number on your mentality and emotional well-being. We sometimes lose touch with the person we thought we were, and life becomes tainted with disappointment and trauma. Some of us tell ourselves things are going to get better, and we try our best to make them work out, but our self-esteem just gets buried beneath an avalanche of grief. Many of us don’t realize this is happening until we’re actually outside the walls of all that heaviness. We then realize that we had forgotten how to breathe and how to walk in the freedom that God wants every individual to have.

1Timothy 6:12(NLT) tells us, “Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses.”  The word “fight” as it is used in this verse means to contend. It makes us think about the contest of athletes who give their all for the prize. In the realm of faith, to fight the good fight of faith is to exert and extend ourselves until we obtain the goal that God has set for us. We are to remain tenacious and encouraged, and we must persevere amid any and all hindrances, believing with all our hearts that we have victory in Jesus Christ.

1John 5:4(NLT) tells us, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” Every living and sane individual has a God-given capacity to live the life of abundance that Jesus Christ made available, and we are empowered by Heavenly Father to fight for this level of existence. The battleground of this fight is in our minds. That’s where we prove our faith or lack thereof. Make no mistake, as Christians, we’re commanded by Christ in Mark 11:22 to have faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that in order to please God, we must have faith in Him. We must believe that God exists, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Our minds and hearts, our thoughts and actions, either confirm that we trust and love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, or they affirm the opposite. The mind is the place where the struggle to be free takes place. Jesus Christ gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins to free us from sin and death. He paid the price of our liberty, and through him we are free. Galatians 5:1 tells us that now that God has freed us through His precious Son, Jesus Christ, we should never allow anything or anyone to put the shackles of slavery on us again.

2Corinthians 3:17(NLT) says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” This is the truth. God has rescued us from any kind of bondage or oppression. This is where our faith and believing must be. Domestic violence and abuse is oppression. It’s a tactic of darkness to imprison an individual in fear and rob them of the power and liberty that Christ made available to us all. To prevent this imprisonment, we must remind ourselves what God told the Apostle Paul in 2Corinthians 12:9(NLT), “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” We are weak, but God is strong, and the way to be released from oppression is to believe what God has said in His Word. It’s to trust that He will strengthen us and continually come to our aid.

In Isaiah 46:4(NLT), God told His people, “I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” Our Heavenly Father is our Rescuer. Any step we take that is aligned with our faith in His willingness and ability to bless will change things internally and externally. When our actions reveal our faith in Him, light is released in us from God’s Spirit, and the exhilaration of being free in Him is manifested in our emotions. We obtain new confidence, as Janice did, because we remember our identity in Christ and align with it. This is what God wants for us. You may not be able to envision it now but begin to study His Word and build your faith in Him. Look to Him for all you need and watch and see what He does for your life.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“God's Power Works Best in Our Weakness”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.