2 Corinthians 12:7-10. What is satan's "purpose" in tormenting us? Revelations 33:55: Under God's control.
Notice as you rad 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 how Paul's attitude changed from one of being down on himself for a weakness that he saw. One I believe he thought, based on his old teaching as a Jew, kept him from God and relationship with Him. By his own writings on grace, the old is gone, behold the new. God was reassuring him, that no matter what weakness he saw in himself, God had put it under Grace! So that rather than keep him from God, the weakness he saw in himself actually God had turned to a good thing, a blessing that allowed Christ's power to rest on him. God's grace, unmerited love, favor, acceptance, cleansing.
It seems the more we see and accept our weakness, the more we have God's grace illuminated to us. There is no place for the dreaded pride of self. There is no place for the anger, the bitterness, the judgement. I can now, as Paul did for Christ's sake, delight in weakness, in insults, hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. I can allow myself to take my rightful place before God. Who wouldn't be weak and embrace it before Our Lord and God?
He was crucified in weakness, yet He lived by God's power. He had accepted His weakness in Him and would now live by His power, not his own. When I am weak, then I am strong! There was no longer a need for the thorn in his flesh. It had done what it was there for. Satan had lost his power over Paul. Now Paul fully understood God's Grace. What rest and peace! He was loved and accepted just as he was. He had to learn and grow right before our eyes. Perfect love casts out fear. Paul had to learn that too. It was God's gift to us.
2 Timothy 1:7-21 2 Timothy 2:22
I surrender all!
In His Love, a work in progress
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