Monday, June 1, 2015

The Strength of a Weakness

Have you ever heard of the saying you can do anything that you set your heart and mind to? That as long as your desire and will was strong enough, it would bring you through successfully? I grew up hearing this all the time, although it wasn't until recently did I really believe that my weakness had nothing to do with what I was capable of achieving. 

You might ask, well how does a weakness have a strength? I was thinking just the same thing as I sat down at my church service that night. I saw many students who were the same age as me, performing and worshipping on that stage with such boldness - a boldness that I desired to have myself. I felt so torn down, asking God, "Why would you place this desire in my heart when I don't have the capability to do it?" My weakness was my shyness, which was far greater than the desire I had in my heart to be bold in serving God's ministry. It was already hard for me to be a greeter, I couldn't imagine how I could accomplish my desire to be bold in speaking God's truth. 

I continued to ask God, "Why God would you put this desire in me when you know I have the exact weakness to hinder me away from achieving this?" What is a passion for without the ability to do it? But from this experience, I found God's voice and truth. God knows the desires you have in your heart because he put it there himself. And he knows your exact weakness because he made you. So why would God give you a desire that doesn't match up with your weakness? 

The simple truth is this: God placed a desire in your heart, but gave you a weakness so that through your weakness you could depend on him. And from depending on God, you could fulfill the desires he has placed in your heart. 

You don't need to make yourself brave, let God make you brave. It is because of God that you can be brave to accomplish the special calling he has for you. It is not because of your strength, but because of your weakness perfected in God's strength can you do all things. You can do all things that God has placed in your heart-and not because of yourself-but because you have a God who can do all things. 

God placed that desire in your heart because he knew you were the best candidate to accomplish it. God places each of us strategically in where he wants us to be. He gives us the desires for his kingdom purpose. God never makes mistakes! Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Depend on God's strength and not on your own-let God perfect your weakness in his strength. Through Christ, you can fulfill the call he has for you. 

A great example in the bible is of Peter and John. They were both ordinary men, who had the heart to follow Jesus and be his disciples. One day they ran into a man who had been lame for over 40 years. From the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John were able to heal the man and he walked. Acts 4:13 says, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." Peter and John were not qualified to heal this man. They were uneducated ordinary men as it says in this verse. However, their courage did not stem from their own strengths, but their courage came from Jesus alone. It wasn't because John or Peter had the strength and power to heal the man, but because they simply depended and believed in Jesus. They could not do anything through their own flesh, but only through Jesus who had the power to do it all. 

I encourage you all to follow Peter and John's boldness and courage that stemmed from God's strength alone. You do not have to be good enough, because God is already good enough. You do have the ability to accomplish the deep desires in your heart that only you and God know. With God, all things are possible. God's strength is enough. So remember, your weakness does have a strength and that is God

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