By His Power, For His Glory

It seems when I am striving my hardest to live Christ-minded and share with others, my adversary, Satan, afflicts me with a thorn in my flesh.  As I mature, only through and by the grace of God, I have come to realize that Satan’s desperate attempts to make us stumble by pressure, discouragement, distress, and persecution are deliberately timed.  

Whenever we have sin in our lives, Satan will pounce on the opportunity to turn a possible sin like fear or anger into greater evil. His purpose is to make it as difficult as possible for you and I to reach out to others in a Christ-like manner.  What better time to challenge us than when we are facing our own struggles.  

God tells us that our troubles are meant to show His glory which molds us into the likeness of Christ as a direct result of ministering to the lives and needs of others during our own sufferings just like our brother, Paul.  In Corinthians, Paul shares ways to change our discouragement into peace and joy.  “There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me 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.”  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Cor. 12: 7-10)

If we proclaim to have faith in God then why is it so difficult for us to demonstrate faith during our most vulnerable times? Why do we tend to rely on earthly resources before putting our reliance in a God that is so great that He surpasses all knowledge… a God with infinite attributes who allows us to draw on his resources?

Everyone can look back in the past or possibly the present to a time when you didn’t know how you were going to feed your family their next meal, pay the rent or electricity, buy your children shoes, pay medical bills, etc., but yet somehow your needs were met.

I Kings 17 is an example of how Elijah demonstrated his faith and put complete reliance in the Lord and he was fed by the ravens or the poor widow at Zarephath that was preparing her last meal for she and her son. By faith she was blessed by relying on the word of God and never ran out of food. Yet, like some of us, it was not enough. When her son became ill and died, she questioned God as to why she was being punished for her past sins.  It took another miracle of raising her son from dead for her to have complete faith in God.

God works through our weaknesses (II Cor. 11:28 - 12:6) and strengthens us when we are weak and tired. (I Cor. 1: 8, 9) He provides us not with weapons of the world, but weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds. (II Cor. 10:4) We are not alone in facing our troubles. God is faithful. He has proved that over and over in the bible and in our lives.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us hope through our struggles each and every day.  Everything we do by His Power and for His Glory will last to eternity.  Commit to being preoccupied with being holy in all matters of life and demonstrating your faith by total reliance in God.

For this reason, I kneel before the Father. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

Carla Henson

Tuscola, Texas