II Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficent for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”…

Do you know how many times I have asked God to make certain parts of my life, not so hard? Probably 26,439 times… a day. Maybe not that many, but you get the picture. Sometimes I just pray & pray & pray to God to help me, & to make things easier, & to help my loved ones, & to bless me & my family & to not let this happen & to not let that happen & then I end it up with whatever Your will is, help me to bear it. But, do I really mean that?
I feel a lot like the apostle Paul did when he was praying for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away. Now, we don’t know what this thorn in the flesh was. Some say it might be that his eyesight was not the greatest in the world. Some say it was either a physical, spiritual, or emotional affliction. But it really does not matter. What matters is, it was something that Paul hated dealing with. Something that he would really just rather not have happening in his life. Paul may have thought if he did not have this “thorn in the flesh” he might be able to have a better ministry. Perhaps he thought he could serve God more effectively without this happening to him. Whatever it was, it kept him humble. He prayed to the Lord 3 times for it depart from him. But the Lord just said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

” In II Corinthians 12:7-10 the apostle Paul talks about what he has going on:
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was give to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
v.8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
v.9And 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.
v.10 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.
It’s not specific what Paul’s thorn in the flesh is, maybe so that we can relate to him. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” could very well be our answer, too. Why don’t you try plugging in your trial? With this method, Christ teaches Paul, we could use this as our answer, as well.
When we feel discouraged & just want to give up remember Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” When it seems like everybody & everything is against us, remember Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” When our health fails, when loved ones turn their back on us, when we lose our job, when our child is sick, when we just don’t have enough money in the bank, when we don’t look like the gorgeous size 2 models that are plastered all over the t.v., magazines & internet, remember Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

We just don’t need anything else but the Lord’s blessings. And we have so many of those. Food to eat, clothes to wear, cars to drive, air conditioning to keep us cool in the summer, heating to keep us warm in the winter, shoes to wear, people to love us, see where I am going with this? We don’t have to have it all, to have it all. We don’t have to have all of the material things money can buy, to have all the love God gives to us freely. He takes care of us. No matter what. God did not take away the apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh. He just showed him how to handle it. This goes to show us, even the most important people to the Lord, still do not miss out on the problems of the world, the flesh. Jesus gave Paul a way to bear his problems, but did not take them away. I just think sometimes if I had a lot of material blessings, would that make me humble? Maybe not.   Jesus wants us to be humble so that we may serve Him & tell others about Him. It humbles me to think God’s grace is sufficient for me. Grace -being the Lord’s love, salvation, blessings that we do not deserve, but is given to us anyway. Wow. That really is sufficient for me!

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me. I love it when you come by for a while. Today I need to remember-I need to quit looking at what others have & be thankful for the blessings God has granted me.  Little ‘ol me!  I am important to Jesus & he blesses me.  He does the very same for you.   God won’t take away all of our problems, but he will always, always show us how to handle them.  I have to be going now, because I should be washing clothes.

***This blog post was inspired by our preacher Bro. Brad’s lesson Sunday. Thank you Bro. Brad for proclaiming the Word.