“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Godly character is more important than your personal comfort!
When people become proud, they forget how much they need God’s involvement in their lives, and they begin to drift away from him. God had revealed amazing things to Paul, and so Paul was tempted to become proud. So God sent him something that was a real struggle for him. After Paul cried out for healing three times, God let him know that he needed that painful thing in his life to keep him humble and dependent and usable.
“My power can flow through you because that struggle is making you usable, Paul.”
When God allows pain and difficulty into your life, there may be a number of reasons for it. But one of those reasons is that God wants to shape your inner life, your character, so that he can work more powerfully through you.
What is God trying to do in your life right now?
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