These past few weeks overwhelmed, tried, and delighted me. I am pleased to be back into your realm posting weekly devotions. I’ve missed you! Moving from Charleston, West Virginia to Walnut Creek, California was an adventure, to be sure! I am reunited with my husband now, after he “tested the waters” before moving us cross country. This new beginnings for us was not free from trials, however. Alone, I packed and packed and packed. My husband arrived and hauled our belongings to storage, then loaded up our Impala. Shocks smashed flat, she groaned with the weight insulting her free spirit. (Who doesn’t name their cars? Ours is a female named Rosita). She courageously climbed the Rockies and delivered us safely to Walnut Creek, CA. We marveled at the richness and diversity of our country. Finally on the fourth day, we stopped driving West. We settled in and slept soundly.
Praise God for delivering us safely into our new beginnings! Now, we are challenged to find a “new normal”, three hours earlier from our original time zone. Yes, the trials continue, but as I praise God for His provisions, James 1:2-3 reminds me. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” I thank God for my trials, and for you, dear reader. You are so worthwhile persevering through trials for, as God’s child—and my sibling.
Our trials are not done, however. Sometime in the near future, God may change my circumstance where I may be absent from you again for a short while. But in the meantime, let’s move forward in Him whose grace sustains.
Let’s finish God’s grace devotion series today; it is good to be back with you!
SUSTAINING GRACE (Part 4 of 4)
2 Corinthians 11: 23-28, 12:6-11, Philippians 4:11
2 Corinthians 11: 23-28, 12:6-11, Philippians 4:11
2Corinthians 12:8-9: "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'"
Four answers God gives to prayer requests: “Yes”, “No”, “Wait”, and “My grace is sufficient”.
How do Christians respond to life’s circumstances? Confidently--regardless of how our Father answers our prayers.
St. Paul talks about his attitude about life. After his transformation from a persecutor of Christians to a Saint, he learned contentment. (Philippians 4:11). He was whipped, put in prison, stoned, shipwrecked, robbed, weary, hungry, thirsty, and often naked. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
Through it all, he didn’t complain. He felt privileged to have been called to suffer for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But he had one thing that irked him.
He had a thorn in the flesh. No one knows exactly what it was, but we know
it bothered him. Three times he asked Jesus to remove it. Jesus answer to
him was, “My grace is sufficient for you; My strength is made perfect in
weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
What kind of an answer is that? If you were to study the passage in the Bible, the answer is there. Jesus hates boasting. The thorn in Paul’s flesh made Paul humble. When he was in this state, Jesus could use him to the Father’s glory. Indeed, Paul’s weakness was glorified before the Father through Christ’s strength.
Two thousand years later we’re still reading Paul’s letters. These are called Epistles. Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica were cities where he founded churches. His friends, Timothy and Philemon received his letters, as did the Romans and the Hebrews.
Paul found contentment in God’s sustaining grace. Always sufficient, always present, grace expresses kindness and sustaining power. This sustaining power changed Paul’s life from defeat to victory. This same grace enabled him to persevere through trials when tempted to give up.
God wants us to learn to live by His grace. We’re to be salt and light to the world. His grace covers all situations. We’re covered with a canopy of grace that works everything out for our good.
Take Home Nugget
With this canopy of grace covering every circumstance in our lives, we have no excuse to give up when we feel something is too hard. Our life is in the hand of the Sovereign God of the universe. How can we give up when He is on our side?
With this canopy of grace covering every circumstance in our lives, we have no excuse to give up when we feel something is too hard. Our life is in the hand of the Sovereign God of the universe. How can we give up when He is on our side?
The things that come before me
Are too many to list.
But when grace covers everything I see,
Serving God is hard to resist.
Are too many to list.
But when grace covers everything I see,
Serving God is hard to resist.
J.D. Griffith
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