Tag Archives: weaknesses

July 28, 2023 · 5:37 AM

God Will Strengthen You

one of my favorite Bible verses is 2 Corinthians 19:9. Jesus told Paul, “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak” (GNT). Normally when we are losing our strength or having a weak moment, we try to compensate for it, but here Jesus is reminding us to trust in His strength. He is the one who makes us strong through His strength. It’s ok to not be strong all the time. When we feel that we have to be strong all the time, it’s actually pride showing up in our life. It’s when we surrender and admit our weakness, that God reveals His strength in us. You don’t have to have the strength because His strength show up in its greatest effectiveness when we admit we can’t do it on our own.

Here are some Bible verses on God strengthening you.

1. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

1 Peter 5:10 NLT

2. “I am the Lord your God; I strengthen you and tell you, ‘Do not be afraid; I will help you.’”

Isaiah 41:13 GNT

3. Lord, strengthen my inner being by the promises of your Word so that I may live faithful and unashamed for you.

Psalms 119:116 TPT

4. O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear.

Psalm 10:17 ESV

5. But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you [setting you on a firm foundation] and will protect and guard you from the evil one.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 AMP

Photo by Francesca Veronesi on Unsplash

Exposing Your Chains

This past summer, I helped drive our church’s youth to their summer conference. Being a conference junkie, I made sure to sit in on the different sessions. I was shocked when almost every session had to do with mental health and suicide prevention. We never had anything like that, but the kids today are being brought up under different pressures. Social media, texting, internet with access to every piece of information and music apps that let them listen to anything have changed life. Their insecurities and weaknesses are exposed on a worldwide scale rather than in their neighborhood. Bullying isn’t done to their face, it’s done on a keyboard. For the most part, they’ve become afraid to be who they are and live under the pressure of being perfect.

I love the people God used in the Bible. All of them were flawed and God still used them despite their insecurities. Moses had a speech impediment, yet God used him to speak to Pharaoh and set an entire nation free. Elijah suffered from bouts of depression and God used him to perform incredible miracles and draw a nation out of idolatry. Gideon was insecure about who he was, but God called a mighty warrior out of him. I could go on, but none of us are perfect. All of us are human making us flawed. God can use us despite our weaknesses. My pastor likes to say that people are drawn to our strengths, but they connect to us through our weaknesses.

Paul was a person who killed or imprisoned Christians. After becoming a Christian, he suffered the same fate. Philippians 1:14 says, “Because of my chains, most of the brothers have renewed confidence in the Lord, and have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear [of the consequences, seeing that God can work His good in all circumstances]” (AMP). His chains emboldened others to share their faith. The weaknesses that seem to bind you will help encourage others who are going through the same thing. Paul learned to celebrate his weaknesses and insecurities for the sake of the Gospel. He didn’t hide who he was or project an image of perfection. God isn’t looking for perfection from you. He’s looking for you to be who He created, flaws and all, so He can use you to connect with others and encourage them on their way. When you expose the chains of your weaknesses, it sets you and others free.

Photo by Joey Kyber:

Embracing Weaknesses

Every one of us likes to know what our strengths are. We take those silly tests on social media to find out which character we are so we can read about the good things in us. You may have even taken the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment to find out your top five strengths. I loved finding out what mine were, but do you want to know what we don’t want to know? Our weaknesses. We don’t like to focus on those because we see them as things that hold us back, minimize our potential and become a detriment to our productivity. However, they’re the things that I tell leaders to know and understand just like their strengths so they can build well balanced teams. I think we should be focused on our strengths, but be aware of our weaknesses.

Usually our strengths are God-given talents that have been developed over a lifetime. He uses those to place us where He wants us and to help us accomplish our purpose. What I also know about God is that He loves using our weaknesses to do great things. You see, when He accomplishes something through our weakness, we can’t claim it was us who did it. We’re forced to rely on Him and His strength. Acts of faith are rarely done through our strengths. That’s why we always feel like we can’t do something God is asking us to do or feel inadequate. If you have those feelings, you’re right where He wants you. Take that leap of faith, embrace your weakness and trust Him to use His strengths through your weaknesses.

Here are some Bible verses on finding His strength in your weakness.

1. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that reveal my weakness [the things by which I am made weak in the eyes of my opponents].

2 Corinthians 11:30 AMP

2. So now we come freely and boldly to where love is enthroned, to receive mercy’s kiss and discover the grace we urgently need to strengthen us in our time of weakness.

Hebrews 4:16 TPT

3. He remembered us in our weakness. His faithful love endures forever.

Psalms 136:23 NLT

4. But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 GNT

5. So be made strong even in your weakness by lifting up your tired hands in prayer and worship. And strengthen your weak knees, for as you keep walking forward on God’s paths all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed!

Hebrews 12:12-13 TPT

Photo by Jill Heyer on Unsplash

Embracing Our Weaknesses

I was speaking with a friend the other day, and I asked how his shoulder was recovering after his replacement surgery. He said it was improving, but now he was being treated for Tennis Elbow in the other arm. It turns out that while he was having trouble with his shoulder, he was overcompensating with his other arm to make up for it. Now it has created a whole new problem that will require more work to correct.

Each of us have strengths and weaknesses. Like my friend, we try to overcompensate for our weaknesses. That’s not God’s plan for us. Our weaknesses remind us of our need to rely on Him in our lives. When we try to bypass Him no do things on our own, we create more problems in our life. We need to learn to embrace our weaknesses, and allow them to push us to rely on God more in our lives.

Here are some Bible verses about trusting God through our weaknesses.

1. We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them.
2 Corinthians 13:9 MSG

2. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that reveal my weakness [the things by which I am made weak in the eyes of my opponents].
2 CORINTHIANS 11:30 AMP

3. God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.
1 Corinthians 1:27 GNT

4. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

5. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Hebrews 11:32-34 ESV

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Tagged as christian living, Christianity, daily devotion, Devotion, Devotional, embracing our weakness, encouragement, God's promises, god's strength is made perfect in our weakness, limitations, memory verses, trust, trusting God, weakness, weaknesses