Issue 6 - Day 7

2 Corinthians 12

2 Corinthians 12:9

9. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Do you set yourself up as better than others? Do you have great skill in certain areas? Are you really weak in others? God does give us skills that we can use to his glory, but he also lets us remain weak in some areas so that when he uses us in those areas everyone knows it is God at work. He also uses the same technique to stop us getting to puffed up with ourselves. You may be brilliant at X, but you are useless at Y, is a sure way to cut down your pride.

We don't know for certain what Paul's 'thorn in the flesh' was, though many ideas have been put forward based on other scriptures. But is it certain that God, having made him a gifted missionary, left him with a physical ailment that made people think little of him. He was forever justifying his position as an apostle, something that the great evangelists of recent years never appear to have to do. Worse still, here was a prayer that seemed to go unanswered. In the end he realised that God had answered, and that answer was no.

We look around ourselves and see who God uses. It is never the people you would expect. Therefore, expect God to use you. If you think you are no good, and have to many struggles in a particular area, pray that God would use you in that area to reach others. If you are proud of your abilities in one area, remember that you are not perfect by any means. Most importantly, pray without ceasing, and recognise when God says no. He will use you, and most likely in ways you least expect. The glory however, will be his.