Shalom my dear brothers and sisters. It has been such an amazing journey with the Lord thus far and more than that, I’m extremely excited and delighted to share with you what the Lord taught me in the last few months.
A great man of God once told me, “Coming to God in brokenness and defeat isn’t gonna bring you victory. You gotta learn to revel in His promises.”
You can’t imagine what a great revelation this was to me! I always thought that since Scripture writes that God doesn’t despise a broken and contrite spirit, I was expected to always be broken before God. But no! That’s a lie. It is true that the Lord doesn’t despise our brokenness, yet we musn’t fail to understand that in that brokenness, there musn’t be defeat. Rather, it has to be filled with victory in Christ. Brokenness that delights in the Lord is one that acknowledges Christ’s power; it is brokenness that holds on to God’s promises – “His grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in weakness” (2Corin.12:9).
We must first understand what God means in 2 Corinthians 12:9:
1. His grace is sufficient for us.
Verse 7 writes that it was given to Apostle Paul a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment him. Remember when Jesus was crucified, He too had a crown of thorn on His head that pierced His flesh. And prior to crucifixion He was beaten with whips that had hooks on them – this too resembled what Paul describes. Yes, it is by His stripes that our wounds are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
We often think we need extra grace from the Lord, when really the grace He poured out on the cross is abundant – it is more than enough! It was His death that pinned all our wounds to the cross once and for all and by that, we are healed.
2. For His power is made perfect in weakness.
The weakness that Paul mentions isn’t one’s weakness or flaw but it is the weakness of man. God knows how weak we are, the fragility of man is depicted in how we were formed – from dust, which can be easily blown away (Psalm 103:14-16). God’s power is made perfect in our weakness because the fact that we are weak makes God strong. His power on the cross is a clear example of this. Jesus came to earth as a man; hence He was weak like anyone of us. His death on the cross displayed the ultimate fragility of mankind, but it is through this fact that God’s power is made perfect – Jesus was resurrected, not with any power he possessed in human body, but in the power of God.
Therefore Paul says all the more we need to boast of our weaknesses, so that Christ’s power can rest on us (v9). Delight in your weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when you are weak in Christ, then you are strong in Christ (v10).
Jesus, Paul, David and many others recorded in the Bible understood the secret to be content in everything. They went through hard times, which I dare say a million and one times tougher than what we go through today. And this secret is in Colossians 1:
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruitful in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” (Col. 1:10-12)
There are four actions explicitly uncovered in the above Scriptures:
1. Bearing fruit in every good work.
Good works that are pleasing to the Lord are those prompted with love and produced by faith (1 Thess. 1:3). Love and faith are of paramount importance. God reminds us to do everything in love, anything done without love in God’s eyes is naught (1 Corin.16:14, 1 Corin.13). From love stems joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians5:22), for love never fails (1 Corin.13:8). And without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6). Our every work prompted with love must be produced by our faith in God. Only when we believe that He exists, will we understand and produce fruit of love, for God Himself is love (1 Jn.4:8). We must earnestly seek Him in all our work because when we trust in the Lord with all our heart and acknowledge Him in all our ways, we revel in His promise that He will direct our paths (Prov. 3:5-6).
2. Growing in the knowledge of God
The key in this is to fear the Lord. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov.9:10). We must accept and store up God’s commands, turn our ear to His wisdom and apply our heart to understanding, then will we understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for He gives wisdom, and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Prov.2:1-6). In order to know His commands, we gotta spend time with Him in studying and meditating on His Word (Ps.1:2), we gotta talk to Him a lot more every time and everywhere (Col.4:2) and we gotta start to listen and
wait upon Him, just be still to let Him speak (Ps.46:10).
3. Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might
As mentioned earlier, we must boast gladly and rejoice in every suffering and pain that we go through that we may experience God’s power and strength made perfect in these situations and in ourselves. When we come before God in brokenness and victory, reveling in His promises, we put our trust and hope in Him. God promises that for those who hope in Him and wait upon Him, they will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings like eagles, they’ll walk and not be weary, run and not be faint (Isaiah40:31). This is how the Lord strengthens us only if we hope and wait upon Him. When we wait for Him in all we’re going through, He will deliver (Prov.20:22). Strengthened by the Lord, we have endurance and patience in all our circumstances. It is our hope in Christ Jesus that inspires the
endurance in these (1 Thess.1:3).
4. Joyfully giving thanks to the Father
Joy is given by the Holy Spirit (1 Thess.1:6). Hence, we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us joyfully give thanks in our sufferings. When you find it hard to give thanks, make a simple prayer to our Father, “Father, fill me with Your Holy Spirit and joy to give thanks.” The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehe.8:10). That’s why Paul writes that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil.4:13). We can now find strength and joy in the Lord to give thanks in all our circumstances. Our thanksgivings are like burnt offerings presented to the Lord and the aroma that ascends to heaven delights our Father (Article: The power of praise changes things, May 22, 2011). A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit (Prov.15:13).
These are not 4 steps to achieving success in this secret. This is 4 actions you must follow concurrently. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God, whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col.3:16-17). Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord (Ps.31:24).
Reminder: Coming to God with brokenness and defeat isn’t gonna bring you victory. You gotta revel in His promises.
Got it? Or, rather, done it?
