“Three times I begged the Lord to make this suffering go away. But he replied, “My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am.”
2 Corinthians 12:8-9
This is a very crisp idea, Paul flips things upside down and then gives it a shake. His attention is directed at bringing clarity and understanding about these issues of pain, weakness and conflict. There is an understanding that Paul passes on that has personally worked its way through his own heart. Truth that has taken that pathway is very precious.
Paul shares a conversation he had with the Lord Himself. It really does seem that this subject was a continual topic between them. He mentions it to Jesus three different times. This tells me, that suffering and pain are issues where it’s hard to get resolution. When we hurt, we want Jesus to intervene, asap. It is a real riddle to us, “Why am not healed?”
It seems to me that Paul comes to the point over and over and its not resolved to his satisfaction. When the Lord does bring Paul to an understanding; it is basically the whole dynamic of the Christian experience. And it is this, when a believer is sick, or weak–it’s then the strength and power of Jesus can be accessed. Simply put–No pain, no power.
Paul ‘begged’ for resolution, and the ultimate response was the Lord was showing him the secret for his strength was in that presence of pain. It gave him a power and force and might that he would not have otherwise. Now Paul had a very intense ministry. He would deal with issues and conflicts that would shrivel up most believers. The list is long (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28) and painful. But the gist of it was Paul being abused and attacked by other people, over and over.
Paul had to have an extra boost to fulfill his ministry. He needed affliction and weakness to connect him to a huge ‘underground river’ of grace and love that flowed under his feet unseen and unknown. The difficulties that Paul dealt with were actually what propelled him in his ministry.
There can be no power without pain; no discipleship without some kind of ‘disability.’
Paul tells the truth, “I boast in my weaknesses. Just tap me into His power”. Trials are the power outlet for the believer. When he says things like that, it is good to pay attention. The earnestness of Paul’s language in these verses gives us a sense of what is real, and how we should trust these ideas, as we are propelled into our ministry to the Lord.
“The power of the Church is not a parade of flawless people, but of a flawless Christ who embraces our flaws. The Church is not made up of whole people, rather of the broken people who find wholeness in a Christ who was broken for us.” –Mike Yaconelli
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- A Slave Of Christ Jesus (bummyla.wordpress.com)
- Blessed By Brokenness (csahm.com)
- Extraordinary Gifts from Ordinary People (compassiondave.wordpress.com)
Broken Believers 
This is encouraging stuff, Pastor, Thank you.
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I love this post!
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What a wonderful blog place you have created! Praying for you and for all of us you help. I am a caregiver for my daughter who has special needs . . .PDDNOS . . .it’s like a higher functioning autism.
I love what you are saying here . . .when we’re weak and sick that is when we can access power from Jesus. :) When my daughter first was diagnosed, I was praying for her to be healed. What I think Jesus told me was that she was healed in Him, but others around her would need healed.
Thank you for all you do for Him! deb
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Debbie, I’m glad you stumbled across BB. I really hope that you feel comfortable and at home here. Being diagnosed is a major step, but seeing what’s next is never really expressed. I so hope we can be in a place that we could bless.
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Yes . . .the what’s next. That is where we have been at for many years and asking Him to show us how to be a blessing to others. :)
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I a always surprised at how my illness has given me a sense of reliance and humility on Him that I never had when I was well and could depend on me.
Now I am recovered though, I have kept that humility, it is possible to have power and not be in pain, IMHO.
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I have heard this testimony, and I trust that it will continue its ‘hidden work’ in you as well. Welcome to BB and I hope it energizes you to follow Him, even in weakness.
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