7Because of the surpassing greatness of therevelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me athorn in the flesh, amessenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!
8Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, withdifficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
-2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Think about those verses for a bit. My favorite is verse 9. He said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.." There are so many times when we are weak. But when we feel like we're at our weakest points we really aren't, we're at our strongest, because God is there with us. The end of verse 10 states, "for when I am weak, then I am strong". Key point of these verses: our strength lies not in us, but in God. I hope these are as encouraging to you as they are to me =]
I know most of my posts are about God stuff, and that may seem strange to some people. But think about this statement: "A lot of people attend church once a week. Some of those people go home, put God out of their minds, and go about the rest of their week how they want, without thinking about church until the next Sunday. Others go home, pray over a Sunday dinner, have a great end to their weekend, and then go about their weeks how they want. And then, some other people leave the church building, but don't let God leave their thoughts, actions, lifestyle, and week. They keep Him close, and act on that closeness. Which of the three categories do you fit into?"
If you had to answer that question, how would you answer it? When I consider people I know and take a look at their lives, I sometimes answer this question for them based on what I see. So many people fit into the first category of going home after church, putting God out of their minds, doing what they want, and not thinking about church until the next Sunday. It always makes me wonder why... why don't people acknowledge God as much in their daily lives as they do at church on Sunday? It seems so wrong to me. In my mind, it seems the same as living in a house with your father, being with him all the time, and only speaking or acknowledging him on Sundays. Most of us would never act that way to our own fathers... but thats exactly how it is with God! He IS our father, and when we go to church on Sundays and worship Him, but don't seem to care about His presence the rest of the week, we are doing the same thing as if He were our earthly father.
We are so unfaithful to God, and yet He is always faithful to us. We leave church on Sunday, go about our week how we want, and forget about God.. but He's still there, waiting for us. Waiting for just a simple conversation with His dear children, but pushed out of minds because we're too busy, have other plans, or just don't feel like spending some time with Him. But here is the point: God is ALWAYS there, He never lets go of us. Ever. Through our good and bad weeks, He's always there, so we really don't have a reason to push Him out of our minds after church and until the next Sunday. The song below is You Never Let Go by David Crowder Band, and it talk about how God never lets go. Through everything... He never lets go.
